Preset DSE Mixer: Sponsor/Partner Profiles – Cineplex/Blue Bite

February 21, 2012 by Dave Haynes

Round Two of our profiles of the companies that are helping out in dollars or arms, legs, brains and gear with the upcoming Preset Group DSE Mixer in Las Vegas in a couple of weeks.

Sponsor – Cineplex Digital

When I first did a mixer in Las Vegas in 2009 at the weird and wonderful flaming fire pool and red velvet Peppermill Lounge, there were a couple of guys there even before I turned up. They were from DDC, and in ensuing years there has always been a big crew from that Toronto-based company, now known as Cineplex Digital Solutions.

When we had the mixer in 2010 at a place in the Palazzo, and the manager unilaterally decided our pre-paid drink tickets had an expiry time (!?!?), I had that corrected in a heated little exchange … and then the guys from DDC gamely helped me  exhaust the remaining tickets. Ouch.

Anyway, despite being card-carrying Canadians they do very good work, and have won a bunch of awards for taking projects from the pure concept stage and carrying them through execution and management. They do strategy at one end and ongoing management at the other end, with projects ranging from pro sports complexes and big chartered banks to roll-in, plug-in digital POP in owner-operated beer stores in the Canadian prairies.

Good people, and the company’s scope and resources have increased quite a bit since they were bought by the biggest cinema chain in Canada (which also does pre-show and digital place-based advertising).

Technical Partners – Blue Bite

Blue Bite is arguably the most active mobile-marketing solutions player in the digital signage-digital OOH space, and the one that seems to most aggressively be making the case for the use of Near-Field Communications. NFC, if this is foreign, is technology that would enable consumers to just tap their smart device against a digital or analog poster (or anything with a chip) and instantly download information, coupons, links, ringtones and so on. It’s the short-range radio frequency tech that is widely expected to replace QR codes, which are cool but can be cumbersome to use because of the need to launch apps, fire up cameras and hope they scan.

With offices in NYC and San Francisco, Blue Bite has had a number of media campaigns in the field, and they offered to take a very active part in the mixer and   show this stuff in use. NFC and QR codes will both be part of the name badges attendees will get when they show up and are integrated into the overall experience. Blue Bite has also ponied up a drool-worthy prize that incorporates NFC tech.

Still looking to get in: Small hint – the waiting list can work, though some people who’ve had tickets released STILL haven’t acted on them.