Situation:

Merial, manufacturer of Frontline, Heartgard pet medications, Oravet dental defense system and in partnership with Procter & Gamble (Eucanuba pet food) wanted to test product kiosks with dynamic signage to improve sales at veterinary offices. The traditional way of promoting products was brochures placed at tables in waiting rooms. The problem: The brochures drowned under other brochures. The client requested a digital dynamic signage system that could be updated remotely and would display product information in veterinarian offices nation wide. The content would consist of Merial TV commercials in a digital video format, product information and pet-health tips in a dynamic slide format. Content packages would be offered the veterinarian office with information such as services, pet advice, pet news, employee profiles, phone numbers, business hours etc.

The client requested an integration of a digital display and an easy-to-access, stylish looking kiosk with several shelves for products. The multimedia information would be created with pointers to the products in the shelves below the screen...piquing people’s curiosity and making it easy for people to find the right product.

Solution:

NORVISION designed several kiosk sizes that would fit into any veterinary clinic. The kiosk had an LCD screen on the top and two or three shelves of products with display cases in front. The kiosks were placed in the waiting room and videos from Animal Planet were mixed with "Did you know" messages, product commercials and clinic information. All kiosks were networked to the centralized content management server and the content was organized in three levels:

Global Channel: Product commercials and videos controlled by Merial's marketing department. Updated monthly.

Regional Channel: Promotional material controlled by Merial regional sales reps. Updated weekly.

Local Channel: Clinic information controlled by the veterinarian and staff. Updated daily.

After three months of testing, the first sales revenue numbers came back from the veterinarian clinics and compared to the control group clinics without kiosks. The solution had worked better than expected. In average, the kiosks had increased the sales on the products advertised (Frontline, Heartgard Oravet and Eucanuba) with an average 111% across all clinics. The best performing clinics had an 300% increase in sales. The worst a 15% increase.

After the initial test, the system was deployed at more veterinary clinics and is currently running across the United States. The kiosk design and content is constantly refined to increase sales numbers.