DailyDOOH

Gail Chiasson, North American Editor

Christie, a major player globally in visual displays and audio technologies, has acquired Montreal-based Arsenal Media Inc., a multi-award winning digital signage agency specializing in experiential installations, interactive content and strategic digital signage installations.

Arsenal Media will become Christie Creative Media Services, operating within Christie’s Global Professional Services group.

Sean James, vice-president, Global Professional Services at Christie, who will oversee this operation, says, “We are committed to better serving our customers with end-to-end digital and experiential installation solutions. Arsenal Media’s expertise in creating award-winning content, supported by a common thread strategy from concept to implementation, will allow Christie to broaden its digital signage capabilities. This acquisition is very timely, given industry participants are increasingly gravitating towards providers with comprehensive offerings.”

Arsenal Media boasts an enviable track record in delivering high impact digital signage and experiential installations that include collaborations with clients such as Viacom, Caterpillar, Nielsen, Cineplex, Morguard, Freeman XP, Chicago Mercantile Exchange, Gemological Institute of America, TAD Associates and the Montreal Convention Center.

Past collaborations between Christie and Arsenal Media have included the Miami Dolphins’ BuzzWall, Sun Life Financial’s branded gesture-based display at the Dolby Theatre, and Christie’s award-winning 24K and 8K lobbies in Cypress, California and Kitchener, Ontario.

As part of the acquisition, Arsenal Media’s co-founder, Denys Lavigne, will join Christie as the senior director, experience strategy and creative services within Global Professional Services. However, he and the Arsenal team of approximately 20 people will remain based in Montreal and the company will also continue to service its own clients under the Arsenal Media name, but these clients will now also have access to all that Christie offers in terms of services and expertise, as well.

“Negotiations for the agreement took place quite quickly,” says Lavigne. “And there is no thought of us moving. Christie knows that there is a huge amount of talent in Montreal and wants to leverage that. However, I’ll probably be doing more traveling on a global scale than I have been.”

It is believed that, while Christie deals with various creative people around the word, Arsenal is the first creative company to actually be integrated into the Christie family.

Speaking about the synergies being created, Lavigne says, “We have cultivated an excellent relationship with Christie over the past six years, and this blending of expertise makes for a natural progression for both groups. We share a common passion for exceeding customers’ expectations and, as part of the Christie family, we feel we now have all of the tools to continue delivering next-generation digital signage experiences for our clients.”

Founded in 1999, Arsenal Media is a creative agency specialized in the development of experiential digital signage projects and innovative interactive installations. Arsenal Media’s comprehensive understanding of the digital signage media blends solid creative and technical skills that help clients define, create and deploy best-of-class digital experiences.

Kathryn Cress, Christie’s vice president, Global and Corporate Marketing, says that the acquisition supplements Christie’s existing relationships with digital media partners, who will find in Christie’s Creative Media Services team an additional resource.

“I’m confident that Christie’s rental staging, projection mapping and other solution partners will increase their offerings and business when they take advantage of the new, expanded and improved Christie Global Professional Services,” says Cress.

To date, Christie’s digital signage products and solutions have included indoor and outdoor HD LCD flat panels, LED-based MicroTiles with proven DLP technology, Christie Spyder image processors, the multi-touch Christie Interactivity Kit and the Christie JumpStart content management system for large-format displays. Complementing these proven products and solutions are services offered by Christie’s Global Professional Services division. Christie can drive projects through to completion from consultation to design and installation by experienced field application engineers. Christie’s Network Operations Center provides peace of mind by keeping systems running 24/7 with monitoring and maintenance of digital signage installations. Projects completed by Christie Global Professional Services have included installations for The Walt Disney Company, Barneys New York, and LVMH Moët Hennessy’s Fresh retail stores.

Christie is committed to creating the world’s best shared experiences through a wide range of visual display and communications options for retail, architectural, digital out of home and corporate environments. Backed by decades of industry experience, award-winning technology and solutions that capture attention, communicate information and deliver experiences, Christie is now a one-stop shop for customers, partners, dealers and integrators.

Arsenal Media was advised by Wildon-LJJ Inc. in the completion of this acquisition.

This entry was posted on Thursday, June 5th, 2014 at 21:12 @925 and is filed under DailyDOOH Update. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.