The installations - involving nearly 300 TUBES - are now operational in the shop windows of selected flagship O2 retail outlets around the UK. Inbuilt into customized two-metre wide racking, the VersaTUBE linear LED fixtures are running a 15 minute loop of high-impact, low-resolution video visuals.
Imagination wanted a turn-key solution for the project. It also sought a supplier able not just to specify the right product, but to offer the requisite amount of technical expertise, support and back up, both during the installation and thereafter - in the specific area of digital media. This is why PID was chosen for the job. VersaTUBE was chosen for its brightness, reliability and streamlined design.
PID's David March and Rob Fowler worked with Imagination senior project managers Dan Sloane and Tony Fox, and with Becky Hughes, Head of O2 store marketing. March commented: "It was really exciting to work with clients like Imagination and O2 who are fully prepared to embrace the latest digital media technology".
PID supplied and installed 80 Versa TUBE's along with all cabling and control, to each of four initial high profile stores in Mansfield, Coventry, the Trafford Centre near Manchester and Bluewater in Kent. Mansfield is a slight variation due to available space, with two one-metre wide frames using 40 tubes. All the VersaTUBES are the standard 1 metre, 16 pixel LED linear effect variety. The short lead-time between the project receiving the go-ahead and the installation having to be completed meant there was no time to manufacture any customized lengths or fixtures.
O2's store fitters, Bedford & Havenhand were responsible for the overall installation at each store, while PID co-ordinated the placement and wiring of the frames and tubes. PID completed the work on schedule, allowing O2 to take-over its new stores immediately.
PID also worked hand-in-hand with Element Labs European sister and American mother companies, Element Labs Europe in Germany and Texas based Element Labs Inc., on the logistics of manufacturing, shipping and delivering a large quantity of TUBES and technology to the UK in a short lead time. "It was a real international effort on our part" says PID's March.
For control, PID specified the PC-based VersaDRIVE D2 device, which receives live video via its DVI input and transmits the video data to VersaTILE and VersaTUBE systems. This in turn is triggered on and off at the start and end of each day by an Electrosonic environmental store controller.
Imagination commented, "Retail is not a market that has seen this technology before, preferring high-res digital signage, so the project was a challenge. PID went beyond the call of duty to allow us to demo the system before an order was placed. The product doesn't lend itself to the usual presentation techniques for approval being so large-scale, but PID allowed us to have a full size demo for testing and client sign-off."
(Sarah Rushton-Read)
