Sound & Communications October 20, 2008 Issue

CONTI prepared this concept photo for the second phase of a large digital signageproject on the subway system in Vancouver. This provides the client with an imageof the planned work.venues typically require interactivewhiteboards and projectors.” Askedabout house of worship installs, henoted, as compared to the US, themarket is smaller in Canada and nota significant part of the CONTI mix.Geographically, the firm primarilyserves British Columbia and Alberta—thetwo westernmost provinces.The company first pushed into digitalsignage three to four years ago,when clients began requesting it aspart of their systems. Now, accordingto Harder, CONTI’s expertise iscompetitive with any other Canadianprovider. The firm’s talent is showcasedby the digital signage systembeing used for SkyTrain, a BritishColumbia mass transit line.According to Harder, “Last year,we did three stations in the transitsystem, working with Lamar TransitAdvertising. They have an advertisingcontract with the transit authorityhere, so they invested in a digitalprogram that put 11 signs in as atrial. [The Lamar Commuter DigitalNetwork] allows them to distribute acombination of advertising informationand rider and safety informationout to people on train platforms andthe ferry platform here in Vancouver.”The program, which provedsuccessful, is being expanded.As technologies advance—oftenwith a commensurate increase in abstruseness—education,training andcredentialing have come to the fore.CONTI has attained Gold certificationin InfoComm’s Certified Audio-Visual Solutions Provider Program,which signifies that 75% of all sales,customer service and technicalstaff have and maintain InfoCommcertification.However—and despite an aggressivemarketing effort undertaken byInfoComm—Harder remarked mostclients do not fully apprehend sucha credential’s meaning. “It’s moreof a selling point than a marketingpoint,” he observed. “By that,I mean, when we get down to thenitty-gritty with a customer, we cansay, ‘You know we’re going to do thejob right, because we’re a Gold-certifiedintegrator.’ But it’s not so much32 Sound & Communicationswww.soundandcommunications.com