Capital City Posters (CCP) has partnered up with Hitachi Asia to
install a first-of-its-kind, high-tech imaging screen at Singapore's
Changi Airport.
The Hitachi Selectop On-Glass Projection System, launched on November 1,
is potentially a new, sophisticated medium for advertisers at the
airport.
The screen uses a film technology developed by Hitachi, which allows
images to be projected onto normal glass surfaces coated with the
film.
CCP managing director Peter Kemeny likened the effect to a set of
hanging images that "come out of nowhere".
In Japan, the less-than-a-year-old technology has been used in retail
shops and convenience stores, but Changi is the first airport in the
world that features the screen.
Compared to traditional light-boxes where images are static, the
Selectop can project more sophisticated images.
"It can do anything that a computer can do since it's a computer
technology," said Mr Lim See Kor, business development manager of
Hitachi Asia.
He said that the screen's translucent effect is a plus point, as it
allows retailers to see what is going on outside their shop windows and
security officers in airports to observe movements outside the
immigration area.
Mr Kemeny said there had always been a demand for advertising space at
departure points at Changi but it was not easy to convince the airport
that they should occupy those space with advertisements.
"Eventually, they said we could do it, as long as we didn't touch the
walls," he said. "When we came across Hitachi's revolutionary film, we
saw a way of doing it."
CCP is test-running the screens in four locations at Changi's departure
halls for a period of three months before marketing the medium to
commercial advertisers.
During this time, Mr Kemeny said they are "testing for complete product
reliablity", and want to be able to offer an "almost 100 per cent
guarantee to advertisers".
Eventually advertisers will be able to buy 10-second spots in two-minute
cycles, running 20 hours a day at 20-30 locations within the airport,
for S$20,000 a month.
The screens measure at only 120cm by 90cm but Mr Kemeny said they could
"easily put four to six of those in a row to make a 20-foot long
screen".
While he saw the potential in the new medium spreading to other areas in
Singapore, such as the glass walls along the MRT tracks, he believed
that only the airport can justify the high costs of running the
screens.
The costs include regularly replacing the lightbulbs and other
components to maintain the quality of the images.
Currently, he said, the screens' resolution is "fairly low", and rely on
computers to run.
Mr Kemeny said they plan to eventually control the images remotely from
their office, but for now have set up a maintanence unit at the
airport.
CCP has spent almost S$300,000 to install the screens at Changi.
