Background

Established in 1965, NT Gent is a city theatre with four locations spread across Gent, Belgium. Putting on more than 250 performances a year, the theatre aims to showcase high-profile productions centred around social and cultural topics. They target a diverse audience and use theatre for social debate.

NT Gent intended to use digital signage solutions to modernise their marketing strategy, using interactive and moving images to reflect the innovative nature of the company. The theatre knew that this would be an effective way to attract and inform a larger target audience than they were previously reaching.

Challenges

The theatre wanted to invest in an outdoor display that would be used to display promotional materials for upcoming performances, but were worried that it may be damaged by adverse weather or vandals and may not stand out in bright sunlight.

Additionally, to maximise engagement, NT Gent wanted an indoor display that would provide information in an interactive way. However, as this display would be used by a high volume of patrons, it needed to be robust whilst also looking appealing.

Finally, the theatre was already utilising digital signage at the ticket office to show times and dates of productions. Therefore, they wanted a solution that would allow them to continue using their current displays, as well as enabling these existing displays to have the same software as the new ones. Due to the high number of screens that would be required to meet all of NT Gent’s needs, all of the displays also needed to be remotely updateable.

Solutions

With their IP65-rated outer casing, mild steel enclosure, and thermally-toughened glass, our Outdoor Digital Advertising Displays are weatherproof and vandal-proof. This made this product the perfect solution for NT Gent’s outdoor digital signage needs. Additionally, as these displays use commercial grade ultra-high brightness panels, they have a brightness of 2,500cd/m² – around ten times brighter than a domestic television. Combined, these features meant that NT Gent could be confident that their outdoor display would be robust and sunlight-readable.

For the interactive indoor display, we recommended our Infrared Freestanding Multi Touch Screen Poster. The infrared touch technology means that no direct contact with the screen is needed for touch gestures to register and so less damage is incurred over time, even with heavy use. In addition, the 450cd/m² IPS panel ensures that content is vivid and striking from almost any viewing angle, whilst the super-slim profile and giant tablet styling gives the display an eye-catching aesthetic. Finally, with both Android and Windows operating systems installed on the integrated PC, NT Gent had ultimate flexibility in what application they could use to create interactive touch screen content.

To address the software challenge, we supplied NT Gent with several Android Cloud Network Media Players, which were then connected to their existing screens. This meant that both the new and old displays could all run the same content and be updated form the same software. Furthermore, using this media player ensured that all the displays were networked, meaning every screen could be updated simultaneously from anywhere in the world with an internet connection.

Results

Our digital signage solutions were installed with great success. After realising how effective the displays and media players were, NT Gent were so impressed that two months later they decided to also use digital signage to display their menus. For this purpose, we supplied another Outdoor Digital Advertising Display for the foyer area and a Digital Menu Board for the indoor café. As our Digital Menu Boards come with an integrated Android media player, one year free CMS software, and access to our template library, this was a complete yet budget-friendly solution. In the future, NT Gent intend on investing in more indoor and outdoor displays, with Allsee as their digital signage manufacturer.

This project has had such a noticeable positive impact on NT Gent that another theatre in the area has expressed an interest in implementing a similar digital signage solution later this year.

 

Download PDF version of this case study