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2009 Digi Awards Winner
Client: Regal Entertainment Group
Industry: Entertainment
Project: National Roll-Out of Digital Menu Boards
Provider/Integrator/Project Manager: Schult
PROFILE
Regal Entertainment Group operates the largest and most geographically diverse theatre circuit in the United States, consisting of 6,782 screens in 549 theatres in 39 states and the District of Columbia as of May 28, 2009, with over 245 million annual attendees for the fifty-three week fiscal year ended January 1, 2009. The geographically diverse circuit includes theatres in all of the top 33 and 44 of the top 50 U.S. designated market areas. Regal operates multi-screen theatres and has an average of 12.3 screens per location, which is well above the North American motion picture exhibition industry 2007 average of 6.5 screens per location. Regal develops, acquires and operates multi-screen theatres primarily in mid-sized metropolitan markets and suburban growth areas of larger metropolitan markets throughout the U.S.
Schult is a leading national provider of décor signage, menu systems, poster cases, enclosures and displays specializing in end-to-end digital integration services. For over 30 years, Schult has designed, manufactured and installed a complete range of digital and energy-saving signage, menu and display products and services to national theatre, quick service and retail customers including Regal Entertainment Group, YUM! Brands Express Division (Pizza Hut, Taco Bell, KFC, Long John Silver's, and A&W), Cinemark, AMC Theatres, Carmike and H&R Block.
For the Regal Entertainment Group national digital menu project, Schult operates as integrator, designer and project manager for the roll-out, installing three phases of digital menu systems. Schult also provides ongoing managed technical support and maintenance of the digital menu systems.
The initial three phases encompassed over 4000 digital displays across 305 Regal Entertainment Group theatre locations - the single largest worldwide Digital Concessions initiative in movie theatre history.
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SCOPE/CHALLENGES
Project objective: to modernize concession area menus with multi-screen digital menu systems (averaging 12-24 digital screens per location). Each concession area encompasses 40-55 feet.
Desired outcome: to attractively promote and draw attention to Regal Entertainment Group's food and beverage offerings at the point of sale and assist in patron order decision making.
The Regal Entertainment Group Digital Menu Project was a phased roll-out of over 4000 digital screens across 305 locations coast to coast. The project SOW required taking down, disposal and replacement of old menu light boxes with 12-24, 40" digital menu boards per location - complete with wall or suspended truss supports across the entirety of the concession area. Installations included all associated hardware, the design and integration of the visual distribution system and site modifications. Due to the tight roll-out schedule, Schult trained and managed 12 teams of 3-4 men in the field at any time.*
The existing ceiling and soffit area conditions at each location were initially unknown and required Schult theatre environment expertise and on-site solutions across a variety of trades including carpentry, tile, trenching, wall and ceiling reinforcements, blocking, mirror and glass cutting and paint. Further, each phase of the national roll-out was tightly timed to finish prior to annual peak movie theatre attendance. Site working hours were limited to non-operational hours (midnight to 8 a.m.) and required the concession area to be clean and functioning for food transactions each day of the installation.
As part of the project, Schult designed, manufactured and installed a custom truss for the menu system. The Schult truss provides venting and filtering of digital screens for improved display life and maintenance, hidden cable management paths across an expanse of displays and automatic screen registration to a 15-degree viewing angle. Configurations included flat, angled and curved platforms. Schult's truss system cut the installation time on the project by 35% - a considerable savings for this size project. Screens registered perfectly from the first display with the built-in leveling attributes and eliminated the issue of sagging cables (common to other standard mounting systems).
RESULTS
4000 Regal Entertainment Group digital menu boards, across 305 locations, were successfully up and running for transactions within a period of 10 months from start to finish. Schult successfully managed to a 3-day installation average per site to achieve project requirements.
"The new digital displays at our concession stands draw greater attention to our food and beverage offerings. These attractive signs help to promote this important aspect of our business."
Dick Westerling, Senior Vice President of Marketing and
Advertising, Regal Entertainment Group.
"This is a very dynamic time in digital theatre concessions, requiring companies to respond to custom requirements not readily available in the marketplace. Schult has the pleasure of a long-standing signage relationship with Regal Entertainment Group. They trust us to design and deploy new solutions for them and meet their rigorous opening schedules. With the formation of our SI Group, we were able to accelerate our digital signage and service offerings to meet Regal's national program requirements."
Robert Martin, Chief Operating Officer, Schult
* To meet the aggressive multi-site roll-out schedule, Schult Strategic Initiatives Group (SI Group) expanded their relationship with Christie Managed Services, who functions in tandem with Schult to support the national program.
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