Products:

• 1x 50” Android Freestanding Digital Poster
• 1x 43” Outdoor Digital Android Battery A-Board
• 1x 55” Ultra High Brightness Window Display

Background

Canterbury Cathedral is one of the oldest and most famous Christian structures in England and is located in Canterbury, Kent. It was built over 1,400 years ago and is a major tourist attraction for the town. As well as being a place of worship, visitors can purchase tickets to tour the cathedral and its grounds. All money made is then put back into the upkeep of the magnificent building.

The cathedral first approached us in February 2020 and were looking to modernise their signage and hopefully attract more visitors. They wanted to easily share information about the cathedral’s history and events with visitors as well as promote the cathedrals own visitor centre shop.

We suggested they work with one of our partners, SFL Group, since they focus on the development of audio and visual projects for churches. They stood out as the perfect partner for this project and we have worked in partnership with the cathedral ever since.

Challenges

The cathedral wanted to install a striking digital signage display inside the cathedral itself, this screen would be used to promote current and future events to visitors and congregants all day long. As the building is extremely old and has an incredible historical value, the cathedral would not allow any damage to the walls of the building. Additionally, they were looking for a signage solution that they could easily move around and place in different areas of the building to maximise on footfall.

Being such a popular tourist attraction the cathedral has its own visitor centre and shop on the grounds of the church. They wanted a fully portable outdoor display to advertise the cathedral shop and also show important visitor information. They wanted the flexibility of where they placed the screen on the cathedral grounds so were ideally looking or a screen that didn’t need to be directly plugged into a power source at all times. The screen needed to be fully waterproof and also bright enough to be read outside during the day.

At the visitor centre they also wanted to install a large ‘eye-catching’ digital signage screen at the entrance of the visitor centre, in order to attract more visitors after lockdown restrictions were lifted, by utilising the cathedrals existing videos and marketing materials.

With the screens destined to be seen by thousands of tourists the cathedral wanted to know if they could ‘brand’ the digital signage screens with their logo.

Solutions

Based on the cathedral’s requirements we knew exactly the screens to recommend. We supplied a state of the art Android Freestanding Digital Poster, which has discrete integrated castors that makes it easy to move the display around. More importantly, being a freestanding display, no historical walls had to be damaged for installation and we were able to fully preserve the building. These displays are also capable of being used 24/7 so they can display content all day long and their tablet styling and tempered glass front are sure to catch visitors’ attention.

Additionally, for the visitor centre, we supplied an Outdoor Digital Android Battery A-Board. This was the perfect solution for what the cathedral needed since the display is completely battery powered, meaning that no cables or wires had to be connected from the inside of the building to the screen. The battery has an incredible runtime of up to 27 hours as well, so it can display content all day long for the cathedral and its visitors. Not only that, but the screen is also fully waterproof with an IP65 rated enclosure and features a brightness of 700cd/m², which is almost 3 times brighter than a standard domestic television.

For the entrance of the visitor centre, we recommended a 55” Ultra High Brightness Window Display. This screen features an incredible 3,500cd/m² brightness and ensures visitors can’t miss the screen and the content playing. This non-traditional window display was installed in the foyer of the visitor centre and is the perfect solution to attract visitors, allowing the cathedral to display vital information and promotional material in a safe way. This display, along with the other solutions, are currently being updated with USB Plug & Play, a straightforward way to upload content onto a screen by simply copying the images and videos onto a USB stick and inserting it into the display, making the content play on a continuous loop.

On both the Android Freestanding Digital Poster and the Outdoor Digital A-Board we were able to apply vinyl logos for the cathedral. With this small bespoke modification, the cathedral has been able to personalise their screen while also strengthening their own brand recognition.

Results

These digital signage solutions were installed by our partners at SFL Group over the past year with great success. The Ultra High Brightness Window Display was installed during the summer and it has helped the Cathedral reopen safely after lockdown, allowing visitors to have access to information with no face to face contact necessary.

Gerardo Calia, the IT Support Technician for Canterbury Cathedral, said:

“I wanted to say thank you – all concerned are very pleased with the superb display that you recommended and provided for the shop here at Canterbury Cathedral. I really appreciate all you have done, especially getting it here so swiftly once we committed to the order! [The High Brightness Window Display] looks fabulous even with bright sunlight flooding in to the foyer area, currently playing a video welcoming visitors back to the cathedral. Clearly visible from outside which is exactly what was required.”

The displays have been such a great success that Canterbury Cathedral has showed interest in investing more in digital signage in the future.

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