"Apple came to us in December because they wanted to do something unique and eye-catching to announce the arrival of the iPod mini in February," said Jeremy Hochman, vice-president of marketing at Element Labs. "So we visited their headquarters and then designed a store fixture around the Versa Tube."
"Because of the amazing colour range of the Versa Tubes, we were able to closely match the colors of the iPods themselves," Hochman continues. "We have a high level of colour control with our specially matched LEDs, so we were even able to match the gold-coloured iPod mini. By using video circuitry to drive the LEDs we have precise control that is above and beyond a lot of other products."
Apple provided Element Labs with a video displaying what they wanted the lights to do. "They designed and timed the sequences of colours and patterns and we matched that in the programming," Hochman says. "We also built a custom housing for the controller that's in keeping with Apple's white, minimalist design theme."
Each Versa Tube fixture in the display is about 44 inches tall. "We used the same special diffusion material that we normally use on the standard Versa Tube product - but here it's in a custom 3" diameter," Hochman says. "This allowed the light to look like a monolithic cylinder sticking out of the ground, so that none of the wiring is exposed and you can't see any of the aluminum components."
Some of the stores have their windows on the left-hand side of the entrance and others have them right, so Element Labs made custom programs for each store's controller to match either the left or right side. Once the fixtures were completed, the systems were shipped from California directly to the Apple stores, where each store manager was easily able to install the system by following the included instructions.
According to Apple store managers, the display is so engaging it stops traffic - they feel it's one of the best showcases they've ever had. This successful approach will be revisited when Apple opens its 80th store in Austin, Texas this month.
(Lee Baldock)
