PRESS RELEASE: Mirada Media is providing digital signage to Vasco Travel Agencies

Mirada Media has struck a deal with Vasco Travel to install the digital signage at their franchised agencies found in Zellers stores. We will also be managing their network of Quebec and Ontario sites.

Vasco Zellers modular store concept

Vasco TV will feature two LCD panels on the outside of Vasco Zellers modular stores to promote vacation deals and attract the passing foot traffic.

The screens are managed using Ryarc’s CampaignManager Digital Signage software from a server setup in our offices (n.b. we offer a French-language version of the software suite).

Here’s an example of a screen and content:

Vasco TV digital signage screen
Getting married under the sun...

You can read the complete press release below or download it as a PDF.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Vasco Travel to Promote Vacation Deals with Mirada Media Digital Signage

Vasco Travel, a network of travel agencies headquartered in Quebec and Ontario, has selected Mirada Media to provide and manage the infrastructure and platform of their storefront digital signage network in Zellers stores.

Montréal, Québec, May 21 – Vasco Travel, a network of travel agencies specializing in cruises, packages, and tours, have included digital signage as part of their new turn-key franchise package and partnership with the Hudson’s Bay Company (HBC), that will see Vasco outlets opening in Zellers stores across Canada. Montreal-based Mirada Media has been chosen to provide the technological platform, setup and network management of the signage architecture.

New Vasco-Zellers outlets will be outfitted with two 40” commercial-grade HD LCD panels, one at each side of the entrance to the agency, each powered by Mirada Media’s ChannelView player. The distribution of content will be done via Mirada Media’s head office in Montreal.

“As a technology leader in the travel industry, digital displays were a logical response to an extensive advertising campaign orchestrated in affiliation with HBC,” says Guillaume Racine, director of technology at the Atrium Group, Vasco’s parent company. “We had to be innovative and make a big splash in all our branches, which was possible with digital signage,” he adds.

Branded as Vasco TV, the network will feature a variety of videos and images to attract shoppers to the agency, inform them of the latest vacation deals, promote Vasco’s participation in the HBC Prime Points loyalty program and Deferred Payment Plans, and display advertising from preferred suppliers. Dynamic content, such as vacation hot-spot weather feeds, will also be shown to entice shoppers into booking the vacation of their dreams.

“Our agencies and their customers love our new screens. For them, it is a colorful and innovative way to attract the eyes of their customers in the highly charged environment of a department store. Moreover, the flexibility of content display immediately attracted our partners, who see digital signage as a novel and professional approach to promotion,” says Mr. Racine.

The first Vasco-Zellers outlets were opened in Quebec and Ontario, where Zellers has 56- and 105-store footprints, respectively. Vasco Travel’s three-phase expansion will continue into 2012, at which point they plan to be in 80% of Zellers stores across Canada. The Atrium Group, Vasco Travel’s parent company, which has more than 160 travel agencies in 7 provinces across Canada, also plans to bring digital signage to other agencies under their banner in the near future.

About Vasco Travel

Vasco Travel is a subsidiary of the Atrium Group, a network of over 160 travel agencies that operate in 7 provinces across Canada. Vasco Travel and Gama Travel Group were named Best Travel Agency in the province of Quebec in 2004, 2005 and again in 2008. A team of 25 employees is always available to assist franchisees with all aspects of successfully operating a Vasco Travel agency. Vasco Travel also offers unique tools to help franchisees rise above the competition, such as their groups and cruises network department, an Intranet, training programs, a marketing and advertisement development plan, a special “Service to Members” hotline, an events and corporate travel organization division, the most complete search and reservation platform for travel agents on the market, a reward and loyalty program, Web advice, and much more.

About Mirada Media

Mirada Media is a Montréal, Québec-based full-service provider of digital signage technology and creative design services. The company has extensive expertise in content design and efficient digital signage network management. Mirada Media also offers marketing strategy services and multimedia design that complement any digital signage initiative. For more information about this press release or the digital signage industry, please contact Mirada Media at (514) 789-1989.

New Richtree restaurant opens with Mirada Media multi-station digital menu board system

Richtree Market Restaurants installed a 15-screen digital menu board system in their new location at the Promenade Shopping Mall in the Greater Toronto Area. The installation also marks the beginning of a software integration partnership between Mirada Media and SilverWare POS that allows Richtree employees to manage menu items via their quick-service POS terminal.

TORONTO, ON & MONTREAL, QC – February 24th, 2010 – Richtree Market Restaurants, a chain of market-style restaurants with locations across Ontario, has installed a 15-station digital menu board system in its new location at the Promenade Shopping Mall in Thornhill, Ont.

The installation is the first of its type for the restaurateur. Traditionally, static and chalkboard-style menus were used over stations but Richtree is trialing digital boards in an effort to increase efficiencies, modernize their operations and as part of a larger brand refresh effort.

The boards are powered by a system born of the integration partnership between Mirada Media, a digital signage software developer and integrator, and SilverWare POS, a developer of front-of-house  and back-office solutions for the hospitality industry. The combined solution allows restaurant managers at Richtree to modify items that appear on the menu boards using the same interface that manages order entry and inventory.

Increasing overall revenue was also a benefit Richtree sought out. Mirada Media’s web interface allows the remote update of images and videos in certain areas of the screens to be used for merchandising and promotional efforts and to attract patrons into the restaurant.

“We always look for opportunities to simplify the integration of digital menu boards into our client’s work flow,” says Carlo Pansera, Mirada Media’s VP of Operations. “With more than a dozen menu boards and quite a few more employees, it was important to create a solution that fit the often hectic environment of a quick-serve.”

Mirada Media Expands Digital Signage Offerings to Education Sector

École Secondaire Hormisdas-Gamelin, a public high school in Gatineau, Québec, has engaged Mirada Media to install digital signage in their high-traffic areas.

Digital signage for education

Montréal, February 5, 2009 – Mirada Media, a leading provider of digital signage integration for the province of Québec, is pleased to announce the recent installation of its ChannelView system at Hormisdas-Gamelin high school, located in Gatineau, Québec. The project marks Mirada’s entry into digital signage integration for the education sector.

Digital signage contentHormisdas-Gamelin needed a medium through which it could complement its oral announcements and reduce paper-based bulletins, as well as a means to increase the effectiveness of its communications to the over 1600 students who are enrolled at the school. With these objectives in mind, Mirada installed its ChannelView digital signage system with five commercial-grade 40-inch LCD screens at Hormisdas-Gamelin. Four of these screens are located in the cafeteria, where virtually every student will be able to view them. The remaining screen is placed at the front entrance, and is viewable by students, staff, teachers, and visitors upon entering and leaving the building. The system is used to keep people abreast of in-class news and extracurricular activities such as school trips, sport team performance, and interscholastic competition rankings.

The use of digital signage in the educational sector has largely been restricted to universities until recently, and installations in K-12 schools are becoming more popular, as children continue to be exposed to digital media at younger ages. Eric Morello, Mirada Media’s director of marketing, expects this trend to continue, arguing that “Digital signage is the natural evolution of audio- and text-based communications within schools. With today’s generation growing up in a media-rich environment, using printed and verbal announcements no longer has the same effectiveness that it did years ago. Digital signage is the ideal solution for communicating to students, as it is a visually engaging medium that can help in distributing the message to a media-savvy audience.”

Digital signage in a cafeteria

Ease of use was also a key selling point for Hormisdas-Gamelin in adopting Mirada’s ChannelView digital signage system. In just a few minutes, users can log into an intranet site, prepare the text, add images, and publish their content. Remi Racine, one of Hormisdas-Gamelin’s vice-principals, enjoys the ChannelView system, and says that “the system is easy to use and almost no training was required”. In addition, should any changes to the school’s content be required, modifications can be made in real time via the user-friendly ChannelView system without disrupting the display and cycling of content.

About École Secondaire Hormisdas-Gamelin

École Secondaire Hormisdas-Gamelin offers many vocational and training programs in addition to its general education (grades 7-11) offering. These programs can be consulted at http://web.cscv.qc.ca/030/.

For more information about this press release, please contact Mirada Media at (514) 789-1989 or visit www.MiradaMedia.com.