British company Smiths Aerospace (Hall 2B, H12-13) prides itself on its performance as a producer of integrated systems. And to get the message across loud and clear to strolling show-goers it has deployed one of the most attention-grabbing audiovisual displays at Paris 2003.
Developed by two British companies - exhibition audiovisual and IT supplier ATC and event management and multimedia design agency Rapiergroup - the display cleverly combines two screen technologies, a replica of an interwar biplane fighter built by two enthusiasts from Smiths' Wolverhampton facility, and a video programme in which the old aircraft's primitive systems morph smoothly into their modern equivalents.
Clutter
"Our brief was to help create a product-free stand," explains Rapiergroup director Kim Scott. "What Smiths wanted was a stand that eloquently told their integrated-systems story and avoided the conventional clutter of boxes and components. And it had to do it in a way that would capture the attention of viewers for longer than the 1-2min attention span of the average show visitor."
The vehicle for the ATC/Rapiergroup solution is a pair of screens - a large LED 'wall' and, suspended in front of it, a smaller plasma screen. The big screen presents Smiths' '100 years of flight' main narrative, while the plasma unit moves back and forth under computer control to provide supporting information derived from 20 product-specific programmes also developed by Rapiergroup.
"We think the result is an exceptionally rich and spectacular multimedia combination," says Scott. "The big screen captures the attention and presents the main narrative, while the smaller high-definition plasma unit delivers complex graphical detail on each of Smiths' product groups in turn."
ATC director Tony Wall is confident that his company's partnership with Rapiergroup has come up trumps for Smiths. "We're putting across a very broad message in a very concise way," he says. "And we're capturing the attention of visitors - people regularly stand and watch the entire 7-8min programme."
Source: Flight Daily News
