DailyDOOH

Formetco has announced its new enterprise grade F360 CMS software’s open architecture design will connect independent operators, turning many small operations across the country, into a larger group with a stronger voice. F360 allows independent operators access to an array of services that cannot be easily obtained without the support of being part of a united front.

Evolving from the IBO Fusion initiative, F360 allows all digital manufacturers to coexist on one platform and gives operators the tools typically designed for the largest outdoor operators in the billboard industry. Demand Side Platforms (DSP’s) will easily connect to simplify the participation of operators and assist them in the march towards embracing programmatic buying trends. This will increase the inventory footprint for independents to fulfill advertisers’ needs and maximize operator revenues.

Formetco’s VP of sales, Jock Gibb told us “Opening up the tools to make OOH easy to buy is not only good for the independent operators but the entire OOH industry. We think the days of forcing an operator to use one digital manufacturer’s software or charging big fees to switch software is a thing of the past.”

IBOUSA is a networking group of companies that have a common interest of promoting all things of importance to independent billboard owners.

Pikasso Iraq has announced that it has won the advertising concession of Magma Square, the vibrant, social, and entertainment open-air destination in Sulaimaniya, part of Malia Group, which will open its doors in May 2019.

Magma Square is strategically positioned at the entrance of Sulaimaniya on the Erbil-Sulaimaniya highway, two kilometers away from Sulaimaniya International Airport in a catchment area serving two university campuses, the University of Sulaimani and the American University of Iraq Sulaimani, as well as a trade zone of 1.4 million inhabitants.

Magma Square is designed to offer an outdoor atmosphere and its 20,000m2, of which 17,500 are leasable, are laid out over 4 interconnected floors. The complex will be home to a wide selection of retail shops for convenience and services, restaurants, coffee shops and pubs, a health and beauty center, a kids entertainment area, as well as a large 8-screen movie theater and a supermarket. Visitors will also benefit from a 580-space car park.

Ali Hamadeh, General Manager of Pikasso Iraq, told us “We are very pleased to have been chosen by Malia Group for the advertising concession of Magma Square. This will allow us to launch Malls Advertising for the first time in Iraq and will give advertisers a new opportunity to reach a high local purchasing power audience.”

Thomas Touma, General Manager of Magmaline, said “At Magma Square Sulaimani, we are equally delighted to have Pikasso Iraq part of this iconic project and looking forward to setting together remarkable success.”

As part of this contract, Pikasso will deploy a comprehensive range of products inside Magma Square: a 2m2 Scoller Network and Large Format Backlits, as well as Specials such as the vinyl branding on the entrance doors, windows, escalators and elevator doors.

Advertisers will also find an imposing LED screen located in the key central area of Magma Square, the Main Piazza, an impressive Rooftop overlooking the Erbil-Sulaimaniya highway, as well as the popular Overhead located at the entrance of the car park.

Pikasso is the number one Out-of-Home advertising company throughout the Levant (Lebanon, Jordan and Iraq), leader in North Africa (Algeria and Tunisia), and has recently extended its activity to West Africa (Mali, Ivory Coast and Senegal). With more than 13,000 advertising faces, 260 digital screens, 65 exclusive concessions across 367 cities in eight countries, and 450 highly qualified professionals, Pikasso places quality and innovation at the heart of its development.

Pikasso CEO Antonio Vincenti will present in London on Thursday May 16 at the European Out of Home Media Summit. His presentation is titled ‘Building an International OOH Group in Emerging Countries‘. Registration for the summit will be open shortly.

London Digital Signage Week takes place May 13-17, 2019 and as with its counterpart in New York, the week is for anyone involved with digital signage and interested in retail, employee communications, smart cities, digital out of home and of course digital signage!

Vista Entertainment Solutions Ltd, a leading provider of cinema management software for global cinema exhibition, and Veezi, Vista’s SaaS cinema management solution for Independent Cinemas, have approved Olea Kiosks to support Vista with self-service kiosk hardware.

Since May 2018 Vista has been deploying Olea kiosks bundled with Vista’s industry-best kiosk software solution as a prelude to this announcement timed for CinemaCon 2019. Throughout 2018 Vista assessed Olea on behalf of its customers. This included testing the durability of the hardware, its ability to integrate with Vista’s platform, and accommodate the varying needs of theatre sizes. During this time Olea won the 2019 Frost & Sullivan Customer Value Leadership Award, which ranks industry participants by value in terms of price, product performance, service, and brand loyalty.

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The 8K Association will be hosting a free-to-attend seminar at the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) event in Las Vegas on April 10 from 9am to 3pm in room N221-222.

The goals of the seminar are to:

• Provide an overview the state of the 8K industry today and prospects for tomorrow
• Describe the benefits and challenges of 8K
• Describe what the 8K Association is doing
• Gather industry feedback to guide the actions of the 8K Association

Anyone involved in 8K production, distribution or display, or interested in learning more about the 8K ecosystem, is welcome to attend.

The seminar will include presentations from experts throughout this ecosystem, plus panel discussions and audience Q&A. Confirmed speakers include:

Pete Putman, President, Roam Consulting

Chris Chinnock, Executive Director, 8K Association

Bruno Munger, Director of Business Development, ColorFront

Keiya MOTOHASHI, NEP/NHK

Benjamin Bross, Project Manager, Video Coding and Analytics Department, Fraunhofer Heinrich Hertz Institute

Thomas Burnichon, Product Marketing Manager, Ateme

Jean-Baptiste Lorent, Product & Marketing Manager, IntoPIX

Thomas Wrede, VP New Technology & Standards, SES Video

Michael Cioni, Senior Vice President of Innovation, Light Iron / Panavision

Rob Tobias, CEO, HDMI Licensing

Tristan Veale, Market Analyst | Media & Entertainment, FutureSource Consulting

Stephen Choi, Samsung Electronics America

Registration is now open, click here.

For more information contact Chris Chinnock, Executive Director, The 8K Association, 203-831-8464, chris@8kassociation.com

Frontrunner Technologies has been accepted to join the MaRS Discovery District, based in Toronto. One of the world’s largest urban innovation hubs, MaRS helps entrepreneurs launch and grow innovative companies that are building the future of Canada and beyond. It helps them through providing expert advice, market intelligence, and access to capital as well as to corporations, investors, mentors, university institutions and labs to test their concepts.

Nathan Elliott, FrontRunner’s co-founder and CEO told us “MaRS embraces the journey of entrepreneurs, from education and incubation to validation and marketplace. We are looking forward to the direction MaRS will help provide us in bringing our breakthrough ideas to worldwide market at scale. Being part of MaRS allows our team to surround ourselves with like-minded individuals and to meet with a diverse mix of tenants, including Facebook and PayPal to name only a few.” 

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DPAA, the leading global organization working to drive out-of-home into its digital future, announced today that NRS DOOH Media has joined its membership ranks.

National Retail Solutions (NRS), a subsidiary of IDT Corporation (NYSE: IDT), operates a point-of-sale (POS) terminal-based platform for independent retailers and bodega owners nationwide.

Barry Frey, DPAA President & CEO, said, “NRS DOOH Media recognized that independent bodega owners and retailers had a significant need in that they could not redeem scannable coupons from manufacturers. NRS not only solved this need by developing a POS platform for these store owners, but simultaneously created an exciting new advertising opportunity for brands with customer-facing screens on the terminals. We welcome this innovative company to our membership ranks and look forward to working with them on our many initiatives.”

Elie Katz, President of NRS told us “The platform provides a robust portfolio of tools to help our retailers compete more effectively including rewards programs, integration with communication and payment service products and advertising on screen at eye level.”

NRS DOOH Media, a subsidiary of IDT Corporation (NYSE: IDT), operates a point-of-sale (POS) terminal-based platform for independent retailers and bodega owners nationwide. The platform provides a robust portfolio of tools to help these retailers compete more effectively including rewards programs, consumer coupons, wholesaler discounts, and integration with Boss Revolution® communication and payment service products. Consumer packaged goods (CPG) suppliers are able to leverage the NRS platform to provision promotions, coupons and special offers to independent retailers and their predominantly urban, ethnically focused customer bases nationwide.

With NRS DOOH Media’s advertising offer advertisers will reach a captive audience in the growing independent retail market. Their sleek POS allows advertisers to reach a broad demographic of all ages and cultures, including but not limited to the Hispanic, Asian, African-American and global multicultural markets. With five million+ nationwide consumer impressions a day, their POS displays build B2C and B2B branding awareness, boost retail sales and increase customer loyalty.

AOPEN, a global technology company that specializes in smart products and edge solutions, and Quividi, the leading audience & content analytics platform for digital signage and visual retail, have partnered to offer a Quividi-compatible solution on the newest line of AOPEN products.
 
The AOPEN DEV5400 has been extensively tested by Quividi to ensure the full capabilities of Quividi’s VidiReports software – the market standard for measuring a digital signage audience and contextualizing communications for visual retail and DOOH.
 
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Daktronics (NASDAQ-DAKT) of Brookings, South Dakota, recently partnered with Vision Sign, Inc. of Las Vegas, Nevada, and Caesars Entertainment for several new LED display installations at multiple Caesars Entertainment-owned properties.

Daktronics, in partnership with Vision Sign, Inc., installed more than 21,000 square feet of LED video at four renowned Caesars Entertainment resort locations in Las Vegas. The exterior signage renovations were completed in late 2018 and early 2019.

Vision Sign Inc., President & GM Ed Wasserman told us “As a leading custom sign integration provider serving Las Vegas, we are pleased to announce our involvement with Caesars Entertainment and Daktronics. Vision was selected to design, engineer, fabricate and install all primary and secondary steel structure components along with installing all electronics for all of the digital assets for the new LED video marquees.”

Top Left to Right: Caesars Palace Marquee, Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino Main Marquees, Paris Las Vegas Balloon Monument Marquee, Harrah’s Las Vegas North Entrance, Harrah’s Las Vegas Four-sided Marquee.

• Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino: Daktronics, in conjunction with Vision Sign, Inc., installed a large marquee pylon display and an exterior building-mounted display in late 2018 at Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino. The marquee display measures 76 feet high by 101 feet wide with a continuous curve around one side to create a double-sided feature. The other exterior display is mounted to the building’s façade with a barrel curvature. It measures 57 feet high by 34 feet wide.
• Harrah’s Las Vegas: A four-sided marquee featuring 15HD technology on all four sides and measuring approximately 49 feet high by 65 feet wide dramatically modernizes its predecessor. At the top of the marquee, a Harrah’s channel logo display comes alive with the help of Daktronics 35-millimeter freeform LED elements which populate the approximately 6.5-foot-tall by 24-foot-wide display. In addition, Harrah’s Las Vegas north entrance features two wall mounted screens. A 10-millimeter screen measuring approximately 7 feet high by 44 feet wide is positioned beneath a 15HD display measuring approximately 33 feet high by 44 feet wide. These displays welcome guests with dynamic marketing content.
• Caesars Palace: The Caesars Palace flagship marquee was also revamped with the static and digital screens trading positions. The marquee now features two new sides of large 15HD video, each measuring 32 feet high by 44 feet wide.
• Paris Las Vegas: Paris Las Vegas’ new video displays consist of three sides, each measuring approximately 26 feet high by 37 feet wide. Daktronics 15HD video technology replaced the previous stationary flex faces inside the ‘basket’ beneath the iconic Paris Balloon Monument Marquee. The new displays are visible from all angles of the Las Vegas Strip to cars driving by and pedestrians walking on either side of the street.

Chris Holdren, executive vice president and chief marketing officer of Caesars Entertainment said “Partnering with Vision Signs and Daktronics, Caesars Entertainment will create highly engaging marquee displays which will attract even more visitors to experience all that our Las Vegas resorts have to offer.”

The new displays allow each respective venue to show on-premise advertising and branding, while also promoting upcoming shows, concerts, events, current tenants, restaurants and more. The control functionality allows for scheduled content and adjusting content at a moment’s notice.

No stranger to Vegas, Daktronics’ first Las Vegas installation was in 1984 at Caesars Palace. Since then, the company has installed more than 250 LED displays in the Las Vegas area.

Daktronics LED video and messaging display technology features industry-leading environmental protection for a long lifetime with consistent performance and low power consumption, providing value and excitement for years to come.

Caesars Entertainment is the world’s most diversified casino-entertainment provider and the most geographically diverse U.S. casino-entertainment company. Since its beginning in Reno, Nevada, in 1937, Caesars Entertainment has grown through development of new resorts, expansions and acquisitions. Caesars Entertainment’s resorts operate primarily under the Caesars®, Harrah’s® and Horseshoe® brand names. Caesars Entertainment’s portfolio also includes the Caesars Entertainment UK family of casinos. Caesars Entertainment is focused on building loyalty and value with its guests through a unique combination of great service, excellent products, unsurpassed distribution, operational excellence and technology leadership. Caesars Entertainment is committed to environmental sustainability and energy conservation and recognizes the importance of being a responsible steward of the environment.

In New York City, on Thursday April 4, 2019 at 8.30, Talon Outdoor are holding a Breakfast Briefing ‘Making Global OOH Smarter As Standard‘.

They tell us “The landscape of OOH is changing across the world, with data, technology and creativity at the heart of this global evolution. Join us at our breakfast event to hear how Talon is building the most sophisticated global OOH agency network to lead our clients through these exciting times of change”.

More information on speakers and timings will be coming shortly, in the meantime you can register your interest by contacting inspire@talonoutdoor.com.

The event is being held at Subculture, New York City.

UC EXPO which takes place at ExCeL London on Wednesday and Thursday May 15-16, 2019, during London Digital Signage Week (May 13-17, 2019) has announced a partnership with NEC Display Solutions.

For the corporate sector this year, NEC Display Solutions and NEC Enterprise Solutions will collaborate to present a highly targeted Unified Communications solutions set for computing and collaboration.

UC EXPO is Europe’s largest dedicated unified communication and collaboration event attracting over 7,000 visitors, and it would seem to provide the ideal forum for NEC to reaffirm its position as an expert consultant and key supplier of UC, IT and AV solutions to the corporate sector.

Bradley Maule-ffinch, director of strategy for UC EXPO, told us “We’re pleased to announce the partnership with NEC in bringing a world leading influencing brand to the event to share their insights, experiences and success stories.”

With UC EXPO falling within London Digital Signage Week; end users, solutions providers and channel partners across a broad ranging interest group will appreciate the benefits and opportunities which greater industry collaboration brings.

Gill Slater, marketing manager at NEC Display Solutions said “This is an exciting evolution, by investing in established vertical tradeshows, we can deliver a much more targeted experience, focusing resources where it will most benefit the end user, our partners and the wider industry. We will be announcing involvement at other key vertical shows as the year progresses but we are already making plans for Passenger Terminal Expo, InnoTrans (Rail) and IFSEC (Security), amongst others.”

London Digital Signage Week takes place May 13-17, 2019 and as with its counterpart in New York, the week is for anyone involved with digital signage and interested in retail, employee communications, smart cities, digital out of home and of course digital signage!