5th Annual Pro AV Spotlight Awards Judges’ Award: ProStop Convenience Stores
Jul 18, 2012 2:44 PM
Award Winners
Best Education AV Installation
Best Healthcare AV Installation
Best Entertainment/Arts AV Installation
Best Corporate AV Installation
Best Hospitality/Restaurant/Casino AV Installation
Best Government AV Installation
General Communications, Draper, Utah
The ability to market through dynamic audiovisual channels has been central to the ProStop store concept since its inception. This objective calls for attracting customers from the fuel pumps into the store, and then encouraging them to purchase products promoted through the digital signage and user-prompted audio systems.
ProStop stores offer a dynamic sports-themed customer experience created through high-quality images and video of sports action. The customer is presented with slide and video promotions across three four-panel videowalls stretching 22ft. behind the sales counter. The videowall was strategically placed to not only be within full-view throughout the sales floor, but it is also visible from outside the building at the fueling islands and the street. The audio component of the installation includes a distributed sound system to carry audio from the videowall throughout the store, but it also provides the unique ability to project audio messages to customers when opening any of the doors at the beverage cooler.
This user-prompted audio component is unique within the marketplace. The largest obstacle has long been determining how to trigger a message in which a potential customer would have interest without resorting to running messages on a mindless loop. This installation solves both challenges. Audio messages are triggered by the customer when opening a door to either the soda cooler or beer vault, thus ensuring an audience. Messages are then assigned to promote items in or near that door, product tie-ins or other products that a shopper selecting that door might have interest in.
This AV system was designed to achieve the client’s request for a 36-month ROI, but due to stronger-than-projected vendor and partner support, it’s anticipated the ROI to occur within 24 to 30 months per installation. In addition, the client is experiencing faster return rate on products promoted through the system, spurring vendors to create more aggressive marketing and rebate programs. These agreements have opened a new revenue stream.
An unexpected result of the system deployment is the interest expressed by third-party partners in promoting their products to ProStop customers. This interest has been leveraged into a cross-promotion model wherein ProStop hosts the advertising campaigns of partner businesses that then promote the ProStop brand to their customers. As partners have increased in public profile, the value of the advertising received from cross-promotion agreements has more than tripled ProStop’s conventional marketing budget.
The AMX control system, as well as the SpinetiX digital signage boxes, reside on the store’s network. This allows the client to control the system using an iPad or laptop, and also allows the client to be able to load new content on the signage boxes wirelessly within the store as well as remotely.
The system not only provides for switching between sources manually using a touchpanel but also advanced programming to provide automatic switching at various times during the day. The client has created various store commercials that play every few minutes. When the commercial is played, all displays automatically switch to the commercial, audio from the commercial is routed to the room’s speakers, and the audio level is increased slightly to bring attention to the commercial. When the commercial ends, the system automatically reverts back to the previous inputs.
