News

Ben & Jerry's Japan store first in system to deploy digital signage

June 18, 2012

Scala Inc. announced that its software is powering the digital menu boards and a live "Twitter Ticker" at Ben & Jerry's recently opened flagship store in Tokyo.

The Scala-based digital signage adds a contemporary tech café feel to the brand's trademark 1960s-era store design theme.

The digital menu boards in the Tokyo store — in both Japanese and English — mark the first time Ben & Jerry's has used digital signage in any of its worldwide locations. The signage presents menu and promotional information for customers that can be changed quickly and easily. The Twitter Ticker allows the store to drive engagement with customers via social media.

"Scala was an ideal choice because its software provides a flexible solution that met all our needs — digital menu boards, social chatter and standalone video," said Shintaro Nakagawa, Ben & Jerry's brand manager. "Having digital signage provides a new, cool way for us to connect with customers and helps us build on creating a memorable experience they cannot get anywhere else."

Scala worked closely with branding and design company Tesser, which created the global look for Ben & Jerry's and the Tokyo store design, and also conceptualized the menu boards and Twitter Ticker.

Scala also collaborated with Solution Forge LLC, network consultant on the digital signage project. Scala 5 software was used to drive content design, management and distribution for the Ben & Jerry's digital signage.

The digital signage runs on NEC Display Solutions displays and the Twitter Ticker on NanoLumens LED displays.

"The Scala team in the U.S. and Japan were instrumental in translating the technology for Tesser's digital signage and live Twitter and Facebook feed concepts into layman's terms, making the digital communication easy to incorporate into the store design," said B. Todi, account manager, Tesser. "Scala software is so powerful and flexible there were no limits on the creativity that we could apply to our design concepts."

Read more about digital signage and digital menu boards.