- SCALA – a provider of end-to-end digital signage software – has announced that SF Bio AB of Sweden has deployed the most modern digital signage network throughout its movie chain.
- For years SF Bio AB has been the leading theater chain in Sweden with 36 movie theatres and 242 “halls” across the country. SF Bio’s vision is to offer and continuously develop the best movie experience for their customers. To attain this goal, they are focusing on the overall experience including: picture quality, sound and food service delivery to cater to the 15 million movie visitors throughout the country.
- In 2006, SF Bio AB introduced a project in eight movie theatres in Stockholm, Jönköping and Göteborg to install a digital signage network combining screens for digital menuboards, dynamic movie posters, and for previewing film trailers. SF Bio turned to SCALA Certified Partner Zone Systems in Sweden to design and implement the SCALA-based digital signage network.
- The implementation calls for four screens in a group with as many as 16 groups in a given movie theatre. As an example, Bergakungen Movie Theater in Göteborg has totally 85 screens and Sergel Movie Theater in Stockholm has between 40-50 screens.
- Based on the goals and objectives of SF Bio AB, Zone Systems chose SCALA InfoChannel for the theatre deployment. SCALA InfoChannel provides dynamic content management with the flexibility to assign playlists to specific screens based on their local requirements, anywhere in the country. The theatres have special “theme” nights and the content on the network automatically changes to adapt to the specific theme playing in the theatre.
- “This flexibility for local content combined with the reliability and scalability provided by SCALA InfoChannel loomed prominent in the decision to deploy a digital signage network throughout SF Bio’s theatre chain,” says Anders Broden, manager digital signage at Zone Systems.
- The benefits gained from the implementation of our digital signage network are many. Our goal of developing the most modern movie theatre experience in Sweden by focusing on the overall experience including: picture quality, sound and food service delivery to cater to the 15 million movie visitors throughout the country is being realized every day.
- The most obvious benefit is our projected cost savings associated with creating, printing and transporting menus and posters. “While we still contract with Zone Systems for creation of our dynamic content, our expertise in the area will grow over time and our costs associated with content creation will decrease,” says Mr. Timan.
- Our digital signage network provides for fast and easy change of menus, provisions for day-parting special promotions, and more modern and eye catching content to deliver a stronger, more focused, message to our customers. We have learned, that while employing digital menuboards, it is important to get a balance between still pictures and dynamically content. The advantage of dynamic content is that is seems alive and is attention grabbing. All of this translates into more sales for the movie theatres.
- Together with our digital signage network project, SF Bio has rebuilt the entire counter experience. The result was a better sales channel with more revenue. “We can definitively see an increase in sales. We are very happy about our network; it just looks so much more stylish and ‘fresh.’ We still haven’t discovered all the possibilities with the software, so it will probably look even better in the future,” says Mr. Timan.
- Mr. Timan continues, “We plan to continue this project during 2008 with several new movie theaters. We still haven’t decided where, but both Malmö and Linköping could be relevant.”
- For more: www.zone-systems.com or www.scala.com.
