The final piece to the puzzle
As part of a large-scale rebranding, Norway’s biggest bank DNB has created stunning Scala-powered video walls, made-up of 473 one-meter LED displays, in the windows of its four new flagship branches designed by renowned Norwegian architects Snøhetta.

The corporate identity project not only included these impressive video walls, but also included the design of a new logo, new messaging, the construction of new corporate headquarters and the opening of four flagship branches throughout Norway.

“With the entire corporate redesign project, DNB has become one equal brand,” said Christian Lie, Senior Advisor Digital Signage, Design Xpress at DNB. “We’ve gone from being 5 strong brands to being one. We now have a single culture, design direction and profile which makes it easier to maintain and manage the brand.”

The installation of the giant mosaic LED video walls was a central element of the project, which went live in May 2013. The largest videowall, located at the flagship branch in Trondheim, measures approximately 60m (195 ft.) wide.

Initially designed by Snøhetta to simply add atmospheric light to the windows, the LED panels quickly evolved to take on a supporting role for video content and integrated marketing communication following several tests in co-operation with Scala and partner Atea.

Project Details The overall project totals 473 256×32 pixel LED panels, each of which is about one meter (3 ft.) wide. The panels are arranged in an eye-catching mosaic pattern, covering the window displays at the bank’s four new flagship branches.

Scala played a vital role in this project, providing software and content delivery as well set-up support. One Scala player is assigned to each window display, which provides the full LED wall with synchronised content.

This consists of colourful patterns, text crawls and small videos, which are shown where the mosaics form larger surfaces. Through Scala’s content manager, dedicated day- and nighttime content has been scheduled to run on each LED wall in order to prevent the bright lights from disturbing the banks’ neighbours during the hours of darkness. The back sides of the panels, which are visible inside each branch, bear the corporate colours of DNB and blend in as a natural part of the interior design.

The installation also features a queuing system by Q-matic, which is displayed on several screens inside the branch as well as on a 4-screen video wall behind the counter.

Simple and Effective: How Scala met the Challenges
The main challenge presented in this project was enabling one Scala Player per video wall to playback all of the content. The large number of LED modules demanded a very high number of video outputs, which no graphics card could deliver. To address this issue, Scala’s advanced monitor function was used to remap the output. The remap allowed content to be distributed through just one Player – using just one graphics processor – to all of the LED panels in a single branch.

DNB also wanted the video content to span across the entire length of the artfully-shaped video walls. This required some out-of-thebox thinking. The challenge of displaying video content on walls differing in size was overcome by encoding the content using an efficient codec. The Scala team produced the video content as one big project in Adobe After Effects. Four 4k movies are stacked next to each other and the single Scala player allocated to each wall simply plays all the content smoothly.

Business benefits
Located at prime locations in Norway’s biggest cities, the external-facing panels play an important role in making the bank stand out. They attract the attention of people passing by the branches every day and deliver useful information like opening hours, information about the bank’s products or about upcoming seminars.

Both the panels and screens located inside the bank are used for integrated marketing communications. For example, the bank is currently running a marketing campaign encouraging people to save for retirement. The TV commercial has been adapted to run on the larger LED surfaces, accompanied by text next to the video. Queuing system screens inside are showing the same campaign and the same commercial can also be found running on the digital signage installation at the corporate headquarters.

“What we like most about the Scala solution is its simplicity and effectiveness,” said Christian Lie. “The Scala technology provides the possibility to publish marketing material in DNB’s branches, in an easy an efficient way. A good way to view and control what is shown on our branches monitors.”

With this installation in place, DNB has accomplished its mission of becoming one fresh, equal and modern brand. Aside from the breathtaking interior and exterior of the flagships, the bank is leading the way in the financial world by showing how marketing can be done across a variety of media and locations.

About DNB
DNB is Norway’s largest financial services group and one of the largest in the Nordic region in terms of market capitalisation. The Group offers a full range of financial services, including loans, savings, advisory services, insurance and pension products for retail and corporate customers. DNB’s bank branches in Norway, in-store postal and banking outlets, Internet banking, mobile services and international offices ensure that we are present where our customers are. For more information, visit: www.dnb.no

About Atea
Atea is the leading Nordic and Baltic supplier of IT infrastructure with approximately 6,500 employees. Atea is present in 84 cities in Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. Atea delivers IT products from leading vendors and assist its customers with specialist competencies within IT infrastructure services with its approximately 3,700 consultants and 7,500 technology certifications. For more information, visit: www.atea.no

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