In the theater lobby arena, Christie has purchased Allure, a cinema-focused company with a background in digital solutions for Box Office, Concessions, and Directional Displays. It has also formed the Christie Experiential Networks (CEN) which will manage the installation, creative development, content management, and advertising sales for a broad range of dramatic displays including Christie’s LED Super Wall or projection mapping solutions.
At CinemaCon, Christie showcased examples of the possibilities these groups can create and announced a couple of new installations. For example, at the CinemaCon venue in Caesar’s Palace, Christie projectors were outside on the Coliseum façade showing dynamic projection-mapped content using Christie Boxer projectors and Pandora’s Box media processors, displaying featured content from Allure. These digital, easily changed visuals are far superior to the static, hanging banners and fixed artwork that grace most cinemas. Inside the Coliseum lobby, there was the ‘Hero Wall’—an elaborate visual display of digital content composed of eight 55” Christie LCD panels arranged in a herringbone pattern to deliver sophisticated advertisements.
Meanwhile, in the Milano room, a futuristic cinema lobby was set up to show what is possible.
Customer engagement and transaction technology from Allure and Christie Experiential Networks (CEN) were showcased. Demos included POS platforms, digital signage and menu boards, digital box offices, mobile solutions and interactive lobby displays.
Allure showcased their AutoFocus solution for advanced content automation for digital signage and devices. It enables exhibitors, retailers and other food service operations of any form, to drive consumer behavior and revenue by automatically adapting the digital messages in real-time in response to their environment. The company says that AutoFocus has proven to grow revenues and reduce operating costs at more than 2,000 retail sites where it is in use.
AutoFocus aims to reinvent digital signage network operation by dynamically applying pre-established “rules” to prioritize, configure and present digital content elements without the need for human oversight to manage content changes. Interfacing with multiple data sources such as point-of-sale, inventory systems, ticket sales, external news and weather feeds, and more, Allure AutoFocus is an advanced software platform featuring a highly adaptive and intelligent “rules engine.” The engine applies a series of relational algorithms that drive the Allure Content Management System with the what, when, where, why and how content is presented on any digital display or device on any digital network.
In terms of rollouts, Christie, CEN and Allure announced the deployment of their fully integrated digital lobby platform at CMX Brickell City Centre in Miami, the first US site for the Cinemex theatre chain. Inside is a broad range of dramatic displays including an LED Super Wall that is 12 feet (3.6m) high and 36 feet (10.8m) wide, driven by the Christie Spyder X20 platform. Allure will drive the installation and software platforms for the CMX box-office and food & beverage displays.
Allure also recently completed deployment of twelve digital menu boards at the Pacific Northridge Fashion Center in Northridge, CA. This deployment marks the fifth installation of Allure Optimized Digital Menu Boards for Pacific Theatres in the metro Los Angeles area, all focused on increasing guest engagement, providing insights into attendee analytics, as well as driving revenue alongside enhanced customer experience in the concessions area. – CC
