Digital Corporate Communication at Heineken

The company asked Polycom integrator Talk & Vision to deploy a custom corporate digital signage network across a range of large-format screens, which were to be installed in breakout and reception areas across all 8 Heineken locations. As a Scala Platinum partner, Pixel Inspiration were tasked by Talk & Vision to deliver the digital media network in partnership with their video conferencing engineers.

The finished network allows for the latest Heineken news, as well as high-quality, purpose -produced video content, to be displayed to staff nationwide. This can be achieved at the push of a few buttons, either on a scheduled basis or as a live event stream.

The solution uses Scala content manager at the head end, coupled with Polycom’s Media Manager and a Scala media player at each of Heineken’s chosen locations. As a unique feature of this project, Pixel Inspiration built a customised content management user interface that connects to the Scala back-end digital signage content management software.

This interface provides integration with Heineken’s internal Active Directory, providing a single sign-on environment in which non-technical users to schedule any of the video-based content assets imported from the Polycom system to one or more displays, depending on their role and set location.

As a result, this less technical and fully customised management interface ensures Heineken staff members have full internal control of its content, leaving the technical aspects of the network management to in-house IT personnel, supported by Pixel.

The bespoke content management system not only allows Heineken content editors to schedule every item of content that is delivered to the screens but also integrates with the company’s Polycom media management and video conferencing system.

This unique set-up enables the Scala-driven digital signage network at Heineken to populate the screens with live and recorded video content that comes straight from the company’s Polycom video conferencing system.

In particular, the system design provides the ability to schedule and then broadcast live events across the digital signage network with the use of Scala’s live H.264 stream support and some clever use of content triggers and scheduling.

The digital signage network also uses a number of web-based feeds to generate automatically updated content on some custom-created templates, including local news, weather and traffic information alongside social media feeds from the various Heineken brands.