Introducing “Smart Player for Windows”

Smart Player Launch window
We’re happy to announce today the availability of our new Smart Player.

The Smart Player for Windows™ (“Smart Player”) is a free application that runs a ScreenScape Display. It runs on media players that use the Microsoft Windows™ operating system. It’s designed as a replacement for the “old” ScreenScape browser player.

Download the new Smart Player for Windows here.

Advantages

What are the advantages of the Smart Player over the old browser player?

  • Simplicity – The Smart Player is a dedicated application that does one thing: run a ScreenScape Display.
  • Low cost of operation – With fewer setup steps, fewer maintenance tasks and automated version updates, deployments with the SmartPlayer have a lower cost of operation.
  • High reliability – Unlike a consumer Internet browser, the Smart Player is a purpose built commercial application designed for running digital signage content. Critical capabilities like offline support are built in from the ground up. Classic stability problems like browser / Flash Player compatibility are eliminated.
  • Efficiency – The Smart Player is free of the “sandbox” security restrictions of the browser. Improved access to local resource results in benefits to areas like hardware acceleration and asset caching.

Recommended

The new Smart Player is our recommended option for all new deployments. We also recommend existing venues to convert to the Smart Player at their convenience. However, no action is required; the “old” browser version of our player will continue to function as normal.

For more information about the Smart Player, check out our FAQ.

Case Study: Canlan Ice Sports

Canlan Ice Sports Corp. is the North American leader in the development, operations and ownership of multi-purpose recreation and entertainment facilities. Canlan uses ScreenScape to power Canlan TV. What follows are a few select excerpts from a recently published case study (also available in PDF).a picture of visitors watching Canlan TV
 

Canlan TV

Canlan TV is a place-based media network that spans 500 screens in 20 ice sports facilities and Thirsty Penguin restaurants. Each year more than 10 million people see a Canlan TV message. Let’s hear what the key people of Canlan say about working with ScreenScape.



Live Display: See what’s playing on Canlan TV right now.


Flexibility

“ScreenScape is a cost effective and efficient sales tool that we use to coordinate all of the promotions we run in our facilities. It provides us with the flexibility we need to direct an event or product promotion to a specific audience at a specific place & time.” – Tim Sullivan, Sales and Marketing Manager Canlan Ice Sports.

 

Boost National Promotions

“We use ScreenScape to add value to our national promotions. Larger companies and brands that we partner with provide us with their promotional content to run in concert with our own. Based on the increased visibility ScreenScape provides to sponsors, it has increased demand from new partners and from national brands that want access to our audience. This drives revenue for Canlan. – Kevin Ball, Director of Sales, Canlan Ice Sports.”

Complement traditional marketing

“For instance, our partner Coca Cola works closely with all the different media types we have to offer, ScreenScape being one. Coca Cola already runs digital promotions which we can now accommodate and publish on Canlan TV. They also advertise on our walls and in our restaurants with traditional place based marketing. It’s great how place-based media complements and extends the promotional mix that we can offer our sponsors.” – Kevin Ball, Director of Sales, Canlan Ice Sports.
Case Study: Canlan Ice Sports
 

Ease of Use

“People don’t understand just how simple it was to subscribe to ScreenScape. We established our account within minutes. Better yet, when we transitioned from our conventional digital signage platform, we were able to use our existing hardware. That made the transition very easy.” – Tim Sullivan, Sales and Marketing Manager Canlan Ice Sports.


Download a PDF of the Canlan Ice Sports case study here.


Bonus Video: Hear from Canlan directly!

Live global link-up of 4sqday event sites!

Where does the time go? 4sqday is coming soon! Again we are happy to lend our support to this global event as we have for the past couple of years.

Using ScreenScape, a simple computer and an HDTV you can quickly set up a powerful visual aid to welcome your guests and enhance your 4sqday gathering. Also, by joining the 4sqday group (on ScreenScape), you can automatically receive content updates directly to your screen from the official organizers of 4sqday and thus participate in a live global link-up of foursquare day event sites!

This is a new kind of simulcast of the location-based services variety…and who knows where it could go! In 2011 we had 14 locations participate. In 2012 there were over fourty. With your help we can drive that number even higher!


Learn more

  • For a quick primer and some background on the event please visit last year’s blog entry.
  • You can learn more about the event and how to participate in the global link-up by visiting the 4sday blog here.
  • You can learn more about ScreenScape and how to get set up by visiting our Support Portal or by visiting our Youtube Channel.


Tips & Tricks

Once you get your account on ScreenScape set up, here’s some tips and tricks to getting great content on your displays right away.

Keep it fresh! Use any of our YouTube templates to add your YouTube Channel. That way when you update your channel with the latest videos, your display will be automatically updated.
If you are taking photos of your live event, pop them into a service that supports MRSS and use one of our MRSS templates to automatically update your display as you add new photos. You can use services such as Flickr, ScreenFeed, Photo Bucket as your MRSS source.


Also be sure to add the Foursquare template to remind people to check into your location!

To get you in the mood here’s the live ScreenScape display that’s in our lobby which we’ve pimped out for 4sqday. Hopefully this will spur some creative juices out there!

Finally, follow us on twitter to see how others are using ScreenScape on 4sqday.

From all of us at ScreenScape…Happy 4sqday Everyone!

Case Study: Wella, The Salon Professional Division of P&G

Salon owner Michael Muia uses a ScreenScape-powered Screen Display to engage clients with professional video.


The Challenge

“In order to be successful in the salon business, like any service business, it’s difficult to overstate the importance of onsite marketing,” says Michael Muia, owner of Michael’s Hair Salon in Thunder Bay, Ontario.

In over twenty-five years in the business Michael has spent thousands of dollars in graphic design fees and printing costs to try to educate his clients and engage them with beautiful visuals while they visit his salon.


The ScreenScape Solution

All that changed with the introduction of a new visually-rich retail marketing tool called ScreenScape. ScreenScape is an online software tool Michael uses to quickly populate digital screens inside his salon with beautiful images of hair product and educational messages featuring his latest in-store promotions.

Michael is emphatic when it comes to the simplicity of ScreenScape. “ScreenScape is easy-to-use software for savvy retail marketers who want to engage their customers with brilliant high-definition video but don’t have the budget to pay graphic designers or videographers thousands each year to do it. With ScreenScape, I can do it. And if I can do it, anybody can do it!”

Watch this video to see how easy it is to add content to your ScreenScape display


Business Enablement

Wella, The Salon Professional Division of P&G introduced ScreenScape to Michael as a means to lift sales.

“We are always happy to help our salon partners and we see ScreenScape as a real business enabler. When one of our salons joins ScreenScape they can easily subscribe to our professional content that shows off the latest Sebastian, Wella or Nioxin product in full high definition video. By creating and curating these videos and additional product messaging on our end, on an ongoing basis, we are able to enhance the salon experience while saving our stylists thousands in the process.” – Jeannette Keir, Commercial Leader for Wella, The Salon Professional Division of P&G, Canada.


Case Study: Wella, The Salon Professional Division of P&GEnhancing the Customer Experience

Professional salon owners use ScreenScape for more than just video and product messaging. By choosing from hundreds of templates, any user of ScreenScape can create and post their own custom messaging. By promoting your services, on sale merchandise and informing every customer about the exciting things happening at your salon, you can turn ScreenScape into a retail marketing engine that lifts sales while enhancing the salon experience for your customers.

Read more of the Wella, The Salon Professional Division of P&G case study here.

Profile: Credit Union deploys ScreenScape in four weeks

Recently, Mennonite Savings and Credit Union (“MSCU”) installed ScreenScape displays in its branches. The displays are intended to bolster customer communications and enhance the in-branch experience. We thought you’d like to hear a little about the project directly from the stakeholders.

A network-centric approach

“Amongst the potential solutions we reviewed, ScreenScape offered a higher level of functionality and was very competitive on total cost of ownership. What really appealed to us as a credit union and cooperative is ScreenScape’s unique network-centric approach. This offers MSCU the ability to enhance our signage with content from our community partners,” says Frank Chisholm, marketing manager at MSCU.

On time and on budget

Beyond delivering a ‘state of the art’ platform, ScreenScape also played an instrumental role in getting our branch locations operational on time and within budget. We had a very tight four week deadline and were absolutely impressed by the speed with which all eight branches were operational. The ScreenScape Client Services team, working in conjunction with Tech9, exceeded our expectations in terms of knowledge, project management and responsiveness.”

Tech 9, a ScreenScape-certified partner, has a team of experts that can professionally deploy and manage all the physical equipment needed to power a digital signage network.

A growing trend in retail financial services

“ScreenScape has been helping financial institutions to more effectively engage their customers during visits to their local branch,” said Kevin Dwyer, President & CSO of ScreenScape. “It’s gratifying to see that financial institutions such as MSCU, Libro Financial, Consolidated Credit Union and many others see the value in using ScreenScape to educate, inform and communicate directly with their members where it matters most, inside their branch.”

To hear directly from more ScreenScape Customers visit our Youtube Channel.

ScreenScape appoints Ken Schneider CTO

We are very pleased to announce that we’ve appointed Ken Schneider to Chief Technology Officer here at ScreenScape. Ken is a software industry veteran who spent the past 6 years working at RIM and brings 30 years of experience to our leadership team.

“I am extremely pleased to have the opportunity to be part of such an exciting company, which within a short period of time has emerged as clear leader in an explosive market…” said Ken Schneider, ScreenScape CTO.

“To appreciate the potential of this industry you have to understand what’s happening at the device level,” continued Mark Hemphill, ScreenScape’s CEO. “The rapid evolution of smart TV, the advancement of the Android™ platform along with steep declines in the price of Internet-connected devices are combining to simplify the way businesses deploy place-based media solutions.”

Welcome Ken, it’s great to have you working with us!

Made with ScreenScape.com – Your chance to win $500 for your favourite charity!




Have you tried the new ScreenScape.com? By simply showing off your ScreenScape display you could win a $500 donation to the charity of your choice.


With the holidays fast approaching we are getting into the spirit of giving and you should too! It’s Made with ScreenScape.com: the contest. And it’s easy to enter!

Once you’ve created a beautiful display on the new ScreenScape.com, simply tweet the web address of your ScreenScape display and add the hashtag #madewithScreenScape. That’s it! You’ll be automatically entered in a random prize draw to win a $500 donation to the charity of your choice. Draw date is December 12th, 2012, so there’s still plenty of time to sign up for ScreenScape, if you haven’t already. Creating your own display is simple and takes a matter of minutes. Good luck!


Not on Twitter?

If Twitter is not your thing you can participate by emailing a link to your ScreenScape display to screenscape@screenscape.net. We will collect all entries submitted before December 12th and make sure they are included in the big draw.


Official Contest Rules

Want to win some ScreenScape gear?

It’s a summer tradition here at ScreenScape that we all look forward to — staff t-shirt time! This year we went for a simple black t-shirt sporting our logo in white. The team loves them.

Problem is, I ordered too many. Everyone has their t-shirt and I somehow ended up with leftovers!

What’s a girl to do with all this extra ScreenScape gear?

Running a give-away sounds like a fantastic idea to me. So how ’bout you hop on over to Facebook and “like” our page. That will enter you into a draw for a limited edition 2012 ScreenScape t-shirt!

Draw date: September 17, 2012. Good luck!

ScreenScape features and benefits

Want a concise look at how ScreenScape can be used at your location outlining features to maximize your marketing efforts?

 

For Venues

Perfect for small business who want to maximize their marketing efforts on site.

Some features include:

  • An easy to use interface to make content creation simple
  • Turn a simple TV into your own digital marketing engine
  • For only $9.99 a month operate a display to activate your customer and boost sales
  • Keep your content fresh with YouTube® channels
  • Connect with other members in the ScreenScape Community to leverage each other’s content

Download the PDF for venues here:

For Groups

If you have more than one location our group features will allow you to distribute your content to all of your sites simply from your ScreenScape group account.

Some group features include:

  • Operate you own digital signage network or build a content sharing network
  • Professional grade content distribution tools to make large or complex networks easy to manage
  • Flexible tagging system allows you to organize your network by geography, by product category, or by promotion
  • Real time reporting, content owner controlled reporting settings
Download the PDF for Groups here:

Contact us if you’d like to learn more about how ScreenScape is being used for sales promotion, customer service, product launches, customer loyalty, increased social media participation, education, entertainment and more.