Discerning Infiniti customers throughout Europe can now be completely immersed in the Infiniti brand the instant they walk into any of the automotive manufacturer’s 27 showrooms that have been newly equipped with digital signage. Customers are welcomed by modern architecture with inspiring aesthetics, a personal greeting and a sophisticated interactive system that puts customers squarely in the driver’s seat to design their very own dream machine.
Infiniti contracted with Scala Certified Partner Soft Audiovisuel to create Infiniti Europe’s digital showroom and underlying platform, i-view — a suite of digital services designed to complement the vehicles, the environment and the salespeople by offering a range of interactive audio-visual information to customers. Through i-view, customers can see, review and personalize car options depending on their personal preferences, and they can do so with or without the consultation of an Infiniti sales consultant.
Videos of Infiniti’s full range of car models, colors, options and accessories are accessible through the new digital signage system powered by Scala 5. Customers control the experience with options to pause the video and interact with the content to select and change various car options such as interior trim, body color, wheel design and accessories. Then, with the help of a sales consultant, customers can see the paint color and finish, feel the trim or the upholstery and, if necessary, compare this to a car in the showroom.
The first 27 showrooms equipped with i-view have already been gaining in popularity by customers who are attracted to the high level of one-on-one interaction, variety of choices and fun, digitally masterminded personalization. In fact, Infiniti has seen a significant increase in customer visits since rolling out the network. Infiniti plans to roll out i-view to all 80 of its showrooms by 2012.
“We wanted to provide our customers with a clear and meaningful way of engaging our brand through the use of our centers as experiential touchpoints,” said Nha Thi Liew, Customer Quality Manager, Infiniti Europe. “The digital component was designed to complement, simplify and add value to that experience, and we’re pleased to say that our customers agree that their experience has been enhanced by the adoption of this digital marketing technology.”
Soft Audiovisuel partnered with Scala to provide complete end-to-end digital signage, interactivity and content management software plus additional consultative services. Scala implemented its suite of content creation and asset management systems to enable Infiniti and its marketing partners to control the creation and distribution of specific content to all participating dealerships.
Using the Scala system, all content is created by Infiniti’s marketing teams for use throughout the network. It is then scheduled and distributed to Infiniti centers through a satellite distribution platform. Scala designed the system to unify a wide range of content both from single sites to groups, and to cater for a variety of languages. This technical flexibility ensures that Infiniti’s content creation and management is as tailored as possible to the needs of each showroom.
“The complexity of Infiniti’s i-view system belies its outward simplicity, which is sublime to look at and easy to use,” said Oscar Elizaga, Vice President of Scala, EMEA. “It enables customers to totally immerse themselves in the brand by virtue of the digital technology, carefully specified and deployed to simplify the car buying process. We’re delighted to have contributed to the creation and ongoing management of this network.”
For a full case study about digital signage’s role in Infiniti Europe’s new interactive showrooms, visitwww.scala.com/news/studies/infinitieurope.
About Infiniti Europe
Infiniti has come a long way. Now, finely tuned to conquer the demands of European roads, it’s ready to make its mark once more. It’s an exciting time for us — but it’s even more exciting for you. Born in the U.S. from our Japanese parent company Nissan, Infiniti now has a presence in China, Russia and Switzerland, with headquarters near to Geneva. We’ve been building up gradually over the last 20 years to make certain our brand DNA — what we call “Modern Japanese Luxury” — is at the heart of everything we do. Adapting this for the most sophisticated automobile market in the world, and the most discerning drivers, has taken time to craft.
Our Infiniti Centers are known for their awe-inspiring architecture, welcoming environment and unique services. And over the coming years, we will continue to build these with the care and attention to detail for which they have become renowned. By the end of 2010, 30 more centers will be open across Europe. Infiniti has arrived, and we promise it’s been worth the wait. More information is available at www.infiniti.eu
About Soft Audiovisuel
Soft Audiovisuel is one of the principal Audio/Visual companies in the French market. With a national coverage of 15 agencies and an international network of over 300 collaborators, the Soft group offers 35 years of experience and expertise. Soft specializes in the consulting and implementation of services and audio/visual equipment and broadcast, with activities in France and throughout Europe. On the basis of its strong foundation as an Audio/Visual architect, Soft has developed a particular set of solutions for digital signage. More information is available at www.soft.fr
About Scala
Driving more than 500,000 screens worldwide, Scala is a leading global provider of digital signage and advertising management solutions. Scala is the world’s first connected signage company, offering the leading platform for content creation, management and distribution in digital signage networks and the first unified platform for advertising management of both traditional and digital signage networks. The company’s digital signage customers include Rabobank, IKEA, Burger King, T-Mobile, Virgin MegaStore, Warner Brothers, The Life Channel, Rikstoto, Repsol, NorgesGruppen, Audi, ECE Flatmedia, Kaufhof (Metro Group) and thousands more. Advertising management customers include CBS Outdoor, Clear Channel Outdoor and Magic Media, among others. Scala is headquartered near Philadelphia, USA, and has subsidiaries in Canada, The Netherlands, France, Norway, Germany and Japan, as well as more than 450 partners in more than 60 countries. More information is available at www.scala.com.
Source: Scala