First Look: Oakley’s Ambient Ceiling in NYC 5th Ave Store

May 22, 2014 by Dave Haynes

 

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I was in New York for a couple of days this week and made it something of a mission to get up to 5th Avenue and 46th Street to see what Montreal’s Moment Factory creative shop did with Oakley’s store on that high-end shopping strip.

I wrote about recently, and ran some provided photos, but it’s different to walk in and see what was done. In short, this is a new favorite reference for how to do digital in retail when the goal is to set a tone and drive experience.

Instead of screens on walls or screens suspended from poles, the screens are set into the ceiling in such a way that a series of three-wide panels are stair-stepped from the entry towards the back, on an angle and gradually lowered so a series of separated displays become one solid image as you stand in the entry-way.

Instead of pushing product, this suspended video wall is all-ambient lifestyle images that slowly transition, but not with pedestrian dissolves and fades.

The enclosures are designed in such a way that from the back they just look like powder-coated black louvers.

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The set-up was all done overnight during shop closing hours, over the space of a week or so, I was told by a shop staffer.

Very, very nice. Shows what happens when a company that isn’t really in the digital signage business comes in and looks at the opportunity and challenges, and doesn’t apply conventional thinking about the mounting gear available and where things would typically fit on walls.

This approach will get copied. Repeatedly. And this project will win awards.

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