Callao City Lights: a cost-effective example of external digital advertising analyzed in BIT Broadcast 2014

With a pragmatic and realistic title: "I already have a DooH display, And now what do I do?", the workshop of the company Espectáculos Callao, that has developed the interactive project Callao City Lights, has made it clear that a well-planned business model and exploitation of digital media based on providing value for customers is profitable.

The CEO of Callao City Lights, Gerardo Baranowski, has explained in the workshop given in BIT Broadcast 2014 how to undertake an interactive digital communication project in a central public thoroughfare in Madrid, through proper MRP, Model of development and exploitation of the system of screens, can be a profitable business.

The road to achieve this has not been easy, since they have had to spend "more than ten years and three legislatures of Government to explain our project and achieve the license -explains Baranowski-. In that time we have also traveled a lot to know ideas, ask and copy the good projects that were carried out in other countries".

In this sense, Callao City Lights is based on the New York model, although at a lower level in terms of deployment of visual supports: A square in the center of the city, with intense human trafficking, where multiple activities occur that are displayed on screens and capture people's attention, engaging across social media and devices, creating a very positive experience.

With that concept, in the year 2003 begins to capture the first sketch of Callao City Lights, as well as its business approach, "As for what experience we wanted to show people., what value we could offer advertisers and how to feed systems and interactivity back into a profitable business model.", Points this manager.

Kilometer 0 of culture

The coordinates for its implementation were clear, since they started from a central square in the center of Madrid of more than 3.000 square meters, in the road artery with the largest influx of tourists and citizens, with a wide cultural offer and shows.

"We started working on the concept 'Km. 0 of Culture', since although we are a cinema, In this area many things happen daily and there is a wide range of shows -he points out-. Our challenge was to offer quality content, Generate value to the advertiser with a greater commercial impact, Since our limitation is precisely that we cover only one place, not a global display network, so we cannot compete in quantity and coverage of supports, but in quality".

The result of this approach is that customers adapt their content to the capacity of the screens and activities in the Callao City Lights area., "And that is precisely what gives it value," says Baranowski.. In addition, We continuously carry out special actions, as premieres and visits of international movie and entertainment stars; We develop and participate in the activities that take place in the Plaza, as a broadcast of musical events on our screens, summer cinema in HD quality, Video games..., All this so that people have a good time and interact in the networks visualizing themselves on the screens, Where we offer geolocation systems, QR codes, Etc. that advertisers provide for real-time promotions". This whole process is based on an organization, composed of fifteen people, that follows a model of structure similar to that of a television, since in Callao City Lights emission is made, continuity, contents, Commercial activity…

Versatile technology and CMS

In this sense, Daniel Gonzalez, TV Account Manager&Average of Ericsson, Company in charge of implementing these systems, He explained to the professionals that "this entire business model is based on versatile technology.. Success in DooH is having a proper information point, with a well-defined screen size layout, A large viewing angle and a luminosity in which changes in light and the incidence of the sun are minimized to the maximum; as well as valuable content".

This interactive and commercial support offered by Callao City Lights, based on five large LED and Full HD screens from the North American manufacturer Daktronics on the facades of the historic cinemas and on the canopies of the Palais de la Presse, Underpinned by a powerful digital content management system (cms), that "allows you to transfer all those contents, Around thirty different daily contents on each of the screens, with efficient workflows, cataloguing, Security and legal copy, Etc. based on metadata", specifies Gonzalez.

For both managers, the Callao City Lights project is a success and has become a benchmark for outdoor digital advertising, offering users and advertisers interactive capabilities, augmented reality and 3D image emission to connect with more than 113 millions of people who pass through this pedestrian square every year.

Daktronics DVX LED screens, of 101 m2 of picht 10 (1.009.800 Pixels); another of 130 m2 of picht 10 (1.396.000 Pixels), both with 3D image-streaming capability; along with the canopies located in the Palacio de la Prensa, from 36m2 of picht 10 (356.400 Pixels) on the front, and two sides of 8,80 m2 , overlooking the Gran Via, offer in total more than 10.900.000 daily impacts.

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