Profile
Bidvest Premier lounges are situated in the international and domestic departure zones at all major South African airports; including Johannesburg, Cape Town, Durban, Port Elizabeth, George and East London.
Whatever airline you fly and whatever class of ticket you hold, Bidvest lounges are an oasis of comfort, relaxation and pleasure amidst the hustle and bustle of the airport.
The lounges offer free WiFi, daily local newspapers and friendly staff, as well as showers and toilet facilities for the disabled. Complimentary snacks and beverages are also available.
Challenges/Requirements
Bidair Media, the advertising rights holder in all premier lounges, wanted to incorporate a digital out of home (DooH) advertising solution into the existing television screen infrastructure. The television screens show live satellite broadcast feeds that are distributed throughout the airport over a legacy analogue RF system.
The main requirement was to deliver a solution that would allow automatic switching between the live RF feeds and scheduled advertising content, played off a local device. Lounge staff and customers also needed to retain the ability to select the TV broadcast channel from the available bouquet.
Isenzo’s digital signage software already had the capacity to programmatically switch between live video inputs and locally stored content on a scheduled basis – the challenge was to integrate this feature with a compatible analogue RF capture solution.
A further complication was the limitation of the physical environment. The lounges had recently been refurbished - so media players had to be small enough to fit behind screens which had been incorporated into bulkheads and drywall cavities. No major construction/physical alterations were permitted.
Solution
In partnership with Avermedia’s OEM division, Isenzo developed a custom hardware solution to match the exact specifications of the project.
The hardware solution consisted of mini-PCs with internal video capture cards supplied by Avermedia’s business solution division. These specialised OEM cards accept multiplexed analogue RF signals and enable channel switching through software.
The software solution consisted of Isenzo’s digital signage SaaS which enables granular delivery of content to each lounge as well as the ability to monitor all sites in real time.
To lower costs, the custom player PCs were assembled and configured by Isenzo and then shipped to the individual lounges. Bidair Services utilised their existing internal IT resources to install the hardware.
Result/Benefits
The solution was implemented as a pilot project at Cape Town International Airport and successfully demonstrated to the Bidair Media management team. Subsequently, the solution was rolled out to all Premier lounges in South Africa.
Isenzo’s digital signage software allows for complex scheduling of live television and “canned” HD content that is distributed to the player PCs over an Internet connection. Lounge staff and customers can still select different broadcast channels using a remote control.
Bidair media is now able to offer premium brands the opportunity to complement their printed POS campaigns with a digital offering.
Full proof of playback reporting is provided to advertisers on a weekly/monthly basis and the system is periodically audited by physical inspections.
Project Partners