Pattison starts rolling out screens in Canuck malls

November 6, 2008 by Dave Haynes

Almost two years after mall operator Ivanhoe-Cambridge put out an RFP looking for ideas on an ad-driven screen network in its shopping palaces, a deal is finally in place and Canadian outdoor giant Pattison Outdoor Advertising and joint venture partner Onestop Media are rolling out.

Work is already underway, but the announcement was just made Wednesday.

Ivanhoe Cambridge, Pattison Outdoor Advertising and Onestop Media Group launch a state-of-the-art digital communications and advertising network, aptly named “ICTV”. Deployed through a joint venture between Pattison Outdoor Advertising and Onestop Media Group, installation of ICTV has commenced across Ivanhoe Cambridge’s Canada-wide shopping mall portfolio.

ICTV is the first of its kind in Canada, offering coast to coast reach and exposure to over 365 million consumers per year. High-definition LCD screens will feature a diverse array of commercial advertising, real-time messaging tools for mall specific content, local/community messaging and a proprietary, system-wide emergency broadcast system.

“Our new Digital Media system, ICTV, and Partnership with Pattison and Onestop will position Ivanhoe Cambridge at the forefront of communication delivery in the shopping centre industry in Canada, and is consistent with our corporate mandate to improve our eco-footprint across Canada – a significant reduction in the printing of promotional posters throughout our malls will be possible with the introduction of this new tool in our properties,” says Kim McInnes, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of Ivanhoe Cambridge.

Michael Girgis, President of ONESTOP Media Group adds, “ICTV sets an important communication precedent for companies operating in the public space to deploy digital communication infrastructure supportive of emergency messaging.”

ICTV provides mall management with the ability to communicate relevant, location specific, messages instantaneously with consumers, an essential element in providing the best shopping experience possible to mall consumers. It also provides unparalleled flexibility to (i) mall specific operations/marketing teams and (ii) advertisers interested in mass-reach with a local and/or time specific message. ICTV’s emergency override system enables Ivanhoe Cambridge to rapidly alert mall patrons and staff at any location, of relevant issues, concerns or urgent situations (for example, a missing child or local weather warnings). 

If you play in this space you know the Amber Alert thing comes up a lot, and the overall emergency messaging system element is also starting to be a fundamental requirement for public networks. 

OneStop is already doing work with Pattison in Canadian airports, and has been on a bit of a roll, with its screen network in the Toronto subway system also expanding. 

Pattison is probably the most aggressive OOH company in the digital space up here in the tundra, with a network also building out in office tower elevators, competing with Captivate. This is an intertesting move for Onestop, which is more than a service supplier and has “skin” in the game as a JV partner in the mall network.

Image from Media in Canada 

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