Police radar maker Tribar Industries has launched its version of the newest wave in out-of-home media technology – full color video – and is using its unique background to distinguish itself from heavyweight competitors Sony and Panasonic.
The Downsview, Ont.-based company is busily courting signmakers such as Neon Products and Steel Art Signs, along with outdoor advertising companies such as Gould Outdoor Advertising and Mediacom, in an effort to convince them to lease or buy its Lumatronx video systems for their outdoor advertising clients.
Among other selling points, Tribar, which has been selling law enforcement tracking radar since 1967 and now sells to 48 countries worldwide, promises accurate billboard tracking methods using similar technology.
‘In the end, bright lights are bright lights,’ says John Chiappetta, president of Tribar, adding that the possibility of tracking traffic through radar certainly makes his company’s positioning unique.
However, he adds that the Lumatronx will attract advertisers for other reasons as well.
Up until now, outdoor moving images have used one of three techniques: The somewhat-limited wedge-based technology (a bunch of colored light bulbs that progressively flash on and off, making a few select images); the led (light emitting diode) scrolling system, which is the red-only moving visual, often seen at the bottom of some billboards or in community policing programs (‘You’re driving too fast’); and what Chiappetta describes as the ‘horrendously power-hungry’ Jumbotron-style or crt (cathode ray tubes) systems.
The led system – which featured red images only – was limited because red was the only color visible at high intensity, according to Chiappetta. And, although the crt system addresses the problem of color, he says it is both more expensive and incredibly upkeep-intensive compared to the other two options, thus explaining why Jumbotrons are mainly confined to sports stadiums.
About a year-and-a-half ago, however, there was a new development in led that increased the light output substantially, says Chiappetta, allowing the spectrum’s missing colors – blue and green – to join red, thus creating the possibility of a huge, and brilliant, outdoor tv set.
Chiappetta compares this development in the semiconductor industry to the introduction of Pentium technology in the computer industry – a massive jump in technology that opens up previously-locked doors of opportunity.
According to Chiappetta, the new led’s cost sits somewhere in between the two other systems – but with more impressive results. The Lumatronx video wall is essentially a pc with a massive monitor, says Chiappetta. Everything can be programmed into the pc under Windows, making the format easy – and interactive.
In fact, ads can be tailored to the environment. For example, along Toronto’s busy Gardiner Expressway (where apparently half the billboard space is already approved for moving messages or video boards), a Lumatronx video wall could have ads rotating, depending on the traffic speed. In other words, a client could pay for the ‘prime’ time of a traffic jam and even create an ad for such an occasion. This can all be done from a laptop right in the middle of the highway, he adds.
Of course, this ease of use opens up the possibility of hackers getting into the system. Imagine the fun a media guerrilla group could have in accessing – and altering – one of these boards with the click of a mouse?
Chiappetta says that security is always a concern with effortless technology but adds that measures are in place to reduce the possibility of tampering. ‘You’d have to really know what you were doing,’ he says, adding that Tribar always has the option of shutting down the targeted system if something went awry.
Besides tracking the speed and quantity of traffic, the Lumatronx can also measure light levels, says Chiappetta. Not only does this save energy costs (because the system would lower its intensity at night when it doesn’t have to compete with the sun) but it also allows the possibility of creating advertising appropriate for day or evening audiences. For example, an alcoholic spirits advertiser may want to promote cocktails only during drive-home traffic.
