InAVate recently caught up with Andy Hawkins, Group Sales & Marketing Director, and Geoff Robertson, Chief Executive Office or MediaZest, an interesting player in the outdoor media market. The company draws on its agency experience and AV background to blur the lines between creativity and installation.
Explain the origins of MediaZest, and the how it is currently positioned in the market place.
MediaZest (MZ) floated on AIM in February 2005 and raised capital in order to exploit the growth in the digital outdoor market, particularly in the retail sector. We saw an opportunity to be a ‘full service’ provider across a whole range of audio-visual systems with the key aim of delivering innovation specifically against individual client briefs.
We are now firmly placed as a creative (in all aspects of the word) outdoor display company and deal with design and creative agencies, as well as directly with clients to deliver solutions across every aspect of our customers’ requirements. Our sister company, audio-visual provider TouchVision (“TVâ€), means we can deliver on our promises, and so we are not just an ‘ideas factory’ but can also deliver on a practical basis, because TV supports all aspects of MZ’s engineering, technical, maintenance and servicing needs.
We believe that in the AV/ Digital Signage market we are unique in our ‘across the board’ offering. We pride ourselves on our independence from any one manufacturer or supplier and our ability to offer our clients a ‘best practice’ solution, whatever their brief.
What is its relationship with Touchvision (TV) your other brand?
TV is a wholly owned subsidiary and is run by the same management and, although we are joined at the hip, we utilise the strength and positioning of each company to the overall benefit of the Group.
TV’s positioning is as a high quality, experienced and reliable AV company that is also ‘best practice’ driven and our ability to deliver the most efficient technology at competitive prices is a USP.
All equipment ordering for both companies is handled through TV, through increasing our buying power across the business. In fact, the majority of our employees work across both brands (directors, finance, procurement, technical, engineering) whilst the two areas we separate are sales and marketing, giving us the ability to be targeted and knowledgeable in our own spheres of operation.
You say that MediaZest work tends to be based more on temporary installations, how does this kind of work stack up against fixed install as a money making proposition?
The best analogy might be printing where, once you’ve done the set up for a one-off job the run ons tend to get cheaper (and easier)….the same is partly true of AV displays.
The advertising market is also famous as being somewhat fickle, particularly in a down market, so it is more difficult to predict and target pro-actively.
There are jobs where we have gone from a short-term promo to a permanent install because the client likes it so much, so the two areas do have synergies. Because we are dealing with a comparatively new technology offering for the promotions market, many companies tend to be reluctant to go for a permanent installation in the first instance as they first need to see evidence of how successful such deployments are. Once they have seen how MediaZest’s solutions can help their company and the ROI has been proven, many of our clients sign up for permanent installations.
What do you think are the most interesting technologies at the moment for MediaZest in the retail market?
Generally the technologies we find interesting are the ones that deliver the right solutions at the right time and these vary, depending on the clients brief - it could be audio through Whispering Windows or a much talked about holographic display. Its all horses for courses!
We are completely convinced of the benefits of Vikuiti projections, which convert a static sign to a moving poster and, although relatively simple, tick the box in terms of driving footfall and sales for our clients.
Qualitatively, they also add to the retailers branding and image amongst their consumers.
The flexibility to not only effect customer reaction but to target different customers by time of day, day of week, even weather conditions, gives the retailer a valuable selling tool…not to mention ease of use and guarantee of quality fulfilment, with no posting costs and a reduced carbon footprint.
Additionally we are seeing more and more clients interested in interactive technology that can convert a ‘static’ customer to an involved one. Our two methods of interaction are body movement and touch technology.
What you believe the effects of the current economic climate might be on your business?
Currently we are not seeing any effects from the talked about down turn but this may be a time lag. Interestingly enough one of our strongest areas of growth is in the banking sector, so the concerns about potential lack of investment do not seem to be real at the moment. Why is this?
Our belief is that the retail sector will only be seriously affected if house prices fall significantly and thus consumer confidence is damaged.
Overall we are a strong believer that the retailers will have to continue make considerable investments in their sites, making them more attractive and intriguing, for them to compete against on-line retailing. They have to have an ambience and feel that is welcoming and interesting, and we can deliver against these criteria, making us optimistic for future revenue growth
What’s next for MediaZest? You seem to have a strong base in retail, but where else can you apply your agency / integration talents in the same way?
We are looking at various ways of using the talents and experience we have in other, connected, markets. This will also add to our ability to offer the ‘total solution’ to clients and become an even bigger force in the market.
We have partnership agreement with Cisco who is very active in the Digital Signage market and we feel this will also bring its rewards in future.
The brand work (as opposed to retail) that we do should also not be underestimated. Clients such as L’Oreal have benefited from our knowledge of POS marketing and we see more brand companies following.
Other than that I’d be foolish to give our competitors and handle on our plans! But watch this space….