The resort town of Bournemouth bustles with business and tourism in England’s southern coast, generating hundreds of millions of British pounds a year and employing thousands of workers. A major goal of Bournemouth’s Borough Council is making locals and visitors aware of the region’s many activities and events. This task brought with it an internal communications challenge. The Council had struggled to efficiently coordinate communications and disseminate news to its staff. Direction Marketing & Communications and Scala offered a solution to solve this — a centrally managed digital signage network that informs the council’s staff, based in various locations within the city, simultaneously and instantly if needed. This is the first system of its kind in the region.
“Keeping staff informed across a wide range of departments and buildings is a major problem for any large organization, and we are no exception,” said Jayne Young, Bournemouth Borough Council’s Internal Communications Officer.
Scala Certified Partner Direction created a widespread network of displays strategically positioned in prominent public areas throughout the town. Bournemouth’s new network, called INfo Channel, is currently deployed in the town hall and an outlying depot, with a view to potential expansion to many other community centers such as the local libraries. It comprises a central server running Scala 5 Content Manager software with Scala Media Players driving three 50-inch high-definition screens in the town hall reception area (public facing), the staff Terrace Café and the Southcote Road depot (both staff facing). An additional 10 24-inch staff-facing screens have been deployed throughout the rest of the town hall complex.
Using Scala Content Manager, the Council communications team can now efficiently schedule and distribute all content for each of the displays from a single location. Direction provides customized content, as well as live news feeds for local news, weather/traffic reports and national news. Altogether, the network is replacing paper-based posters, memos and newsletters; reducing staff workload; and improving communications with more up-to-date details on upcoming events.
“This project clearly demonstrates the incredible versatility and user-friendliness of the Scala software. The Bournemouth Council will surely benefit from its network by distributing up to date information fast and at a low cost,” said Damon Crowhurst, Director of Business Development & Services for Scala, EMEA.
“INfo Channel allows us to improve, extend and significantly enhance internal staff communications, and has reduced operational costs,” concluded Young.
For a full case study about how digital signage has saved money in British resort town, visit www.scala.com/news/studies/bournemouth.
About Direction
Founded in 1989, Direction Marketing & Communications has established a distinctive reputation for honesty and integrity much appreciated by its UK-wide client base. The agency is unique in offering world-class 3D animation and illustration in addition to a complete portfolio of marketing communications services; it added Scala digital signage to its portfolio in 2007. More information is available at www.direction123.com
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