The Air Jordan Toronto location on Yonge Street wanted to be more than just a store. To match the electricity of their namesake, they wanted to create an experience for customers shopping three levels of retail space. [related]
The space itself isn’t typical, either. The location is equipped with an underground kids-only concourse, an industrial-designed retail level, and an upper athletic training facility.
In order to immerse guests on every floor, Nike hired Canadian AV integrator and digital signage specialist Advanced in partnership with an experiential design firm to build and install an engaging AV system including displays and projectors complimented by multi-room audio and automation.
The Solution at Air Jordan Toronto
The store’s biggest AV priority was music, so Advanced set out build a user-friendly multi-room audio system that would be flexible depending on the space.
The system was built around a Creston multi-room audio controller, powered by 22 QSC AD-S12 and 18 QSC AD-S12-SW-B wall mounted speakers, and 11 QSC AD-6PT ceiling speakers.
For easy-to-use control of the system, Advanced installed an Apple iPad Mini equipped with Spotify and a custom-designed interface so that staffers can easily change the song or volume.
The main retail level and the kids-only concourse share an audio zone because they play the same low, ambient music that operates as pleasant background noise. A few unique zones accessible to staff were added as well as an integrated DJ input for future parties and events.
The third floor, which acts as a full-service training facility, includes two interactive, display-based grid tests called the Jordan Standard; it compares each player’s agility to that of Michael Jordan.
In order to distinguish the two game grids’ audio from the rest of the audio in the store, Advanced integrated a pair of QSC speakers that send audio directly into the player’s ear.
They also designed drop-down speakers at the corner of the grid targeted directly at the center, removing the entire floor’s background music as if they were wearing noise cancelling headphones without disturbing the rest of the room’s audio.
Each Jordan Standard grid also features a fine pixel pitch SiliconCore LED videowall, also easily controlled with an iPad Mini.
Advanced was also responsible for each game’s video processing which was fed from an XBOX Kinect video signal managed by PCs in the central rack room, and the split into two for each LED display.
To complement the store’s unique audio system, Advanced was tasked with building a visual projector-based system to contribute to the aesthetic of the main level retail space.
Four of the space’s eight-foot tall windows were converted into digital canvases by installing perforated projection film screens.
Four custom-mounted Panasonic 8500 Lumens 1-Chip DLP projectors were installed in portrait format so that, starting at sunset, the store will exhibit a display of motion projection images and videos on the windows facing Yonge Street.
The Advanced team used pixel mapping to separate the images to each window and integrated a dedicated BrightSign player to send content to each projector.
The projectors and BrightSign media players were also integrated directly into the store-wide Creston control system so that staffers can easily turn it on or off and change the content.
Impact of Each AV System
The new Air Jordan Toronto store has certainly generated a lot of buzz and has patrons coming back again and again for the experience.
The focus was to provide technology solutions that really helped connect with customers.
The end result seemed to truly turn heads during the opening which garnered thousands of visitors. Advanced says they were thrilled to have contributed to the immersive Air Jordan Toronto store, which strives to go above and beyond what’s expected of a brick-and-mortar retailer.
AV System Equipment Highlights
- Crestron Controller
- QSC Speakers
- iPad Mini
- Panasonic Projectors
- BrightSign Media Players
