Mirada Media digital signage at health food supermarket Avril

Digital menu board at supermarché santé Avril

Avril health food supermarket opened its 3rd location at Quartier Dix30 in Brossard, QC on 10/10/2010 with a few Mirada Media installed digital signs.

Combining the ‘natural lifestyle’ with an avant-garde design, the new health store features a digital menu board in its café, video boards in its produce and cosmetics sections promoting their products and deals, and a screen in its demonstration area with current and upcoming events.

We’ll have more details soon but in the meantime you can have a look at Avril’s press release.

Mirada Media`s Powering COOPSCO`s In-store TV Network

We recently started deploying an in-store digital merchandising network for COOPSCO cooperatives which operate retail locations in francophone schools and universities in the province of Quebec.

Both the marketing arm of the headquarters for the cooperative and the independent retails have access to a web-based content management system to create and distribute content.  On a weekly basis, HQ provides ad campaigns created in Flash to supplement their paper-based marketing. Managers at the retail level get notifications in the form of a digest about new content and they can pick and choose ads based on their goals or inventory.

The retail locations can also create their own content based on templates to advertise products or communicate school events and charitable work.

Here’s a couple pictures of one of the locations in northern Montreal:

The complete release is below or download a PDF:

Mirada Media Provides Custom Signage Solution for COOPSCO’s In-store TV Network

The COOPSCO network of cooperatives, which operates retail locations in the majority of Quebec’s francophone colleges and universities, has selected Mirada Media to develop and deploy an in-store and point-of-sale digital signage network in the institutions it serves.

Mirada Media, a Montreal-based digital signage integrator and software developer, is pleased to announce its recent engagement with the Fédération québécoise des coopératives en milieu scolaire (FQCMS). Mirada has been selected to provide FQCMS with project and content management solutions for their in-store digital signage network at cooperatives in the educational sector, which operate under the COOPSCO banner.

The COOPSCO network, which includes 60 cooperatives with over 100 outlets inside French-speaking high schools, colleges and universities in Quebec, will be rolling out LCD screens powered by a custom version of Mirada Media’s ChannelView player and content management system at participating school supply and book stores, clothing boutiques and cafeterias.

COOPSCO chose to deploy digital signage not to replace other media, but rather to support their existing media channels and have it as an essential part of their integrated marketing communications strategy. “It was important for us to boost our message frequency and printed material does not always give us this flexibility,” says Paul Rondeau, Merchandising Director at FQCMS/COOPSCO. He adds that “the Web is good for us, but we must wait for customers to come visit us. On the other hand, the electronic displays have the reverse effect. We can blast messages to our customers and provide support to our website.”

Mr. Rondeau also notes that “Our first goal is to have the opportunity to advertise products quickly and in a visually dynamic way. By installing a digital signage system, we have managed to better inform our customers with a very short turnaround time. On the client side of things, we’re realizing that the signage interests them and that they’re eager to know about new promotions. It’s a good way to capture their attention.”

While digital signage is used primarily to promote products and specials, a significant part of the content for the COOPSCO network is dedicated to informing members about the cooperatives’ events, initiatives and profit-sharing program.

Although one of the goals of cooperatives is to work together for the mutual benefit of members, COOPSCO’s diverse locations and large footprint necessitated some content independence. Mirada Media customized its ChannelView web-based content management system to allow the Fédération to post ads to a collective media bank, from which store managers are able to select individual media files to display in accordance with their unique marketing strategies. The ability to display certain ads may be restricted by the Fédération in order to accommodate time-sensitive promotional campaigns such as limited-time or seasonal offers. Managers are automatically notified of new content postings via system e-mails and are able to mark items as “read” to better manage their campaigns.

Mirada Media will be including the functionality developed for COOPSCO into the next release of its flagship ChannelView digital signage software offering, slated for Fall 2010.

Mirada Media Installs Digital Menuboard System at New Montréal Eatery

WrapCity Gourmet, a new urban restobar chain, gets an all-digital menu board installed by Mirada Media for its inaugural location in downtown Montréal.

Wrapcity logo

WrapCity Gourmet, a new urban restobar chain, gets an all-digital menu board installed by Mirada Media for its inaugural location in downtown Montréal.

Montréal, Canada – August 25th, 2008 – Mirada Media, a local digital signage integrator, has announced the recent installation of a digital menu board system at Wrapcity Gourmet, located in downtown Montréal. The restaurant was fitted with a three-screen system: two for menus and the last as a promotional board.

“We wanted to be trend-setters, not followers,” says Petros Louladakis, one of the Wrapcity Gourmet co-owners. “We saw digital signage in other restaurants across Canada but it wasn’t used for menu boards, only advertising. We realised there was a lot of potential in having the menu boards digital as well,” adds Mr. Louladakis regarding the restauranteur’s reason to go all-digital for their menus.

Mirada Media helped the restauranteur realise this potential by providing the consulting, hardware and software needed to run their digital signage. Two of Mirada Media’s ChannelView Players were setup to serve the content to the screens and, in the future, provide advertising space on the restaurant’s flat screen televisions. The menu screens themselves are commercial-grade 46” LCD monitors with slim borders to focus on the content and not give patrons the impression they’re looking at TV’s.

Digital menu boards are a relatively new concept for the restaurant industry and, other than some major chains, few restaurants in Canada have any digital signage other than for bathroom advertising, but that could soon change.

“I believe we’ll see an upsurge in the adoption of digital menu boards and digital signage in Canadian restaurants now that more businesses in general are using the new medium,” comments Eric Morello, Mirada Media’s Director of Marketing, on the burgeoning national digital signage market. “Restaurant owners are going to start noticing the captive audience networks and digital merchandising that is now prevalent in other hospitality and leisure businesses, like bars and clubs, and realize that the dynamic nature of the media can impact their sales and branding efforts positively”, adds Mr. Morello.

Wrapcity digital signageThe Wrapcity owners understand the potential of dynamic media and it was the major reason why they decided to adopt digital menu boards in their new restaurant. “We wanted to have limitless customization possibilities at our finger tips, the possibility of advertising whatever, whenever we want,” says Mr. Louladakis.

Of the many possibilities, the owners of Wrapcity believe digital menu boards will help increase sales by advertising high-margin and featured products and targeting different promotions depending on the time of day. Day-parting, to allow different breakfast and daytime menus, was another feature only made possible by going digital.

Wrapcity can also add, change or remove menu items with relative ease. Via a web interface custom-designed by Mirada Media programmers, restaurant managers can modify items on the fly to test different price points or correct their initial estimates—something that would be almost impossible and very costly with a static menu.

Digital menu boardThese marketing-conscious entrepreneurs have positioned themselves as an upscale restobar, targeting young urban professionals, and are pushing their brand and chic design in everything from their décor to the grill marks on the sandwiches (yes, the wraps are branded!). Getting digital menu boards was an obvious addition in the equation to get that wow-factor they were looking for. “The look is second to none,” say Mr. Louladakis of the restaurant’s digital signage.

“They wanted to animate elements of the menu, their logo and feature shots of their fresh ingredients and menu items in their ads. These things add to your patron’s experience, entice them into trying your different offerings and make them remember you,” says Mr. Morello of Wrapcity’s goals. “Our digital signage consultants work hand-in-hand with their designers to get to what works, avoid what doesn’t and make sure their promotional efforts go from the idea stage to the screen quickly and smoothly,” he adds.

Menu boards are obviously an essential element of quick serve restaurants and failure can be costly. “Everything from the 24/7-rated screens and media appliances to preventive maintenance schedules have to be carefully picked and setup to assure uptime,” says Mr. Carlo Pansera, Mirada Media’s VP of Operations. Mirada Media’s solutions provide extensive post-purchase services such as monitoring and issue resolution done remotely via the ChannelView digital signage software and technical assistance to make sure their installations are running.

Wrapcity is planning to extend their chain of restaurants to two new locations in Laval and the West Island later this year.