When the 2004 Paris Car Show opened its doors to 1.5 million visitors September 23rd, Barcos display solutions were featured at over 85% of the booths at the show. This year Barcos displays formed part of the Mercedes Benz, Audi, Volkswagen, Corvette, General Motors, Alfa Romeo, Lexus, Toyota and Ford booths.
With set-ups which include curved, concave LED displays which move 360 degrees around a booth (Opel booth, by Barco rental partner Creative Technology), or MiPIX blocks which have been integrated into walls to become invisible until they are switched on (Toyota booth, by Barco rental partner ETF Event Engineering), Barco announced that over 31 automotive manufacturers chose its display solutions for the 2004 Paris Car Show.
Our worldwide network of rental partners has delivered a total of some 700 square meters of equipment to this years show in Paris, stated Barco Events General Manager, Steve Scorse. With a strong belief in our technology enabled, market driven approach, we provided on-site support to our rental partners throughout the critical build-up phase of the show. Whereas Barco started out as equipment supplier a mere five years ago, we have evolved with the market and its needs to become a reliable strategic partner to our clients. With rental partners from as far afield as the USA, Italy, Germany, the UK and Belgium providing equipment to the show, it is important for them to know that Barco is there to support them during even the most critical times. It also demonstrates our unfaltering belief in the importance of the long-term relationships we aim to build with our clients,
The Barco LED display systems are represented at the Paris Car Show via many of Barcos worldwide rental partners including CT (Creative Technology), ETF, Gahrens & Batterman, Sono, ICT, VPS, Perfect, Procon, Novid and XL Video.
Barco entered the lucrative car show industry in 1999, initially capturing almost 50% market share with its early LED display solutions. Over the next four years, Barco increases its focus on developing display solutions tailored to the needs of the demanding entertainment and event markets. By developing products such as the ILite 6XP, the ultra-high resolution ILite 3 or the award winning MiPIX LED blocks, Barco claims that it has seen a growth in market share from 50 to almost 90 percent.
Over the past five years we have seen a marked evolution in the needs of the Events market, states Barco Media & Entertainment president, Stephan Paridaen. Five years ago, automotive manufacturers used LED displays mostly in a straight-forward 4 by 3 aspect ratio. The screens were part of the booth, but architectural integration still lacked the finesse of the creations we see on shows today. At this years Paris Car Show, a trend that has been growing over the past few years culminates beautifully in some of the most creative booth designs seen to date. LED displays no longer feature as stand alone imaging devices, but are artfully integrated to become part of the booth structure, blurring the lines between imaging, lighting and architecture, adds Paridaen.
