NEC solutions for the refurbishment of cinema halls

Movie-goers expect a premium Cinema experience – from building anticipation to fulfilling the dream, from the foyer to the theatre; NEC Display Solutions can deliver the perfect visual experience through all stages of the customer journey.

Popcorn in hand, settled in their seats, the audience expects to be transported to another world. The combination of screenplay, high quality image with super wide colour replication, enhanced sound and sometimes 3D experience must result in an exciting climax to their much anticipated leisure time. The advertisements, promotions, live gaming and trailers provide valuable opportunities to engage with the audience, build loyalty and invite more sales even before the film begins.

The digitisation of cinema projection, including new technical possibilities such as 3D, HFR, iMAX and 6P creates new opportunities, helping to establish loyalty in an increasingly competitive leisure activities space. Creating an ‘out of this world’ experience with captivating and immersive imagery is business critical. Delivering high brightness, superior image quality, advanced colour replication, longer performance lifecycles and lower operational costs, only Digital Cinema Projection can meet today’s demands, and there’s a solution in NEC’s Digital Cinema Portfolio for any screen size and venue.

Associated digital solutions such as Integrated Media Servers allow faster and more versatile exchange of content and intelligent playback of predefined playlists. Cinemas can benefit from flexibility in setting the screen size appropriate to the changing demands for each venue or audience without costly site alterations with projection features such as motorised zoom.

From the facade to the foyer entrance, digital display solutions capture the attention of passers-by with a memorable glimpse of the immersive experience on offer inside. Choosing the right signage solutions can help cinemas to gain, entertain and retain customers, delivering a 360 degree cinema experience.
Combined with a cutting-edge, best in class cinematic experience, digital signage helps to build customer loyalty, extend dwell time and increase per seat revenues. From the street, a fine pitch LED video wall is the perfect crowd pleaser, enticing with its eye-catching brightness, vibrant colours and precise picture quality. High brightness displays and video walls present fast moving dynamic content to engage the movie-goer even before they enter the foyer with the promise of a breath-taking visual experience to follow.

Digital screens also save money for the venue, allowing instant and scheduled content changes. Traditional paper based poster boards require regular access via cherry-picker equipment, a highly challenging and resource hungry operation. Large screen video walls can be divided to allow different content to be streamed simultaneously, ideal for movie premieres where live red carpet footage can be screened beside movie highlights.

Cinemas are transforming, operators are seeking ways to create a 360 degree entertainment experience which will keep visitors returning and staying for longer. By developing personalised social spaces and gaming areas, visitors are encouraged to make the cinema a destination for social gathering and entertainment, quite separate to the movie itself. Today’s display technology plays a key role in turning the lobby into a virtual amusement park.

Digital signage helps to enhance sales opportunities through better communication, maintaining engagement with audiences even when they have left the venue and to capitalise on a high resonance advertisement space with the flexibility to fit the environment. The lobby can become host to a large number of display surfaces ready to play any combination of content over scheduled times and connect to social media and viral activities. Playing live or scheduled content in selected zones can be achieved with simple single touch controls.

Data exchange from large screen to mobile devices is increasingly popular in the personal journey in public spaces. Be ready for the change and upshift in visitor expectations with NEC sensor driven solutions such as leafengine and ensure that your audience is presented with content which is of particular interest to them and to maximise the engagement opportunity.

A visit to the concessions stand is de rigueur for the cinema goer, it’s a rite of passage before settling into your seat for the main event. For the cinema owner this represents the ideal opportunity to increase revenues with well conceived signage. Digital menu boards can greatly influence concession sales, promoting time appropriate food choices, combo meal deals and cross sell opportunities within the venue. With instant and scheduled updates the messages and menu options can be changed throughout the day. Here, advertising can appeal to the senses, temping with subliminal messaging in life-size dimension: the fizz of the coke, the popping of the corn – it’s powerful point of sale upselling!

The restaurant, bars and concession areas are central to the cinema experience, a social space to meet with friends and family, to soak up the atmosphere and enjoy the ambience. Digital signage and digital interactions greatly influence the enjoyment and behaviour of visitors helping to enhance the overall experience. By segmenting by visitor demographics and offering sophisticated adult bars and buzzing teen spaces, the messaging and interactions can be even more powerfully relevant and enticing. Linking with social media and building loyalty with personalised messaging will greatly appeal with special offers sent to the customers’ smart phone.

Smaller theatres which may not offer their own restaurant facility might negotiate contra deals with neighbouring establishments with cross selling promotions advertised via digital posters. NEC has more than 10,000 Digital Cinema projectors installed in Europe, Middle East and Africa alone, underlining the crucial role NEC plays in creating the optimum Cinema Experience and keeping it operational. NEC is a name to trust.