Contemporary Research

The Home Depot’s Atlanta Store Support Center knew its 5,000 employees were getting the word on human resource events and resources. The problem was that staffers didn’t always remember, missing key opportunities. E-mails can be forgotten, bulletin boards overlooked, and flyers have to be posted and removed. Digital signage looked like the answer, but typical systems were too expensive to deploy and support. Their solution, the first in the nation, is to broadcast a digital employee signage channel over RF, tuned in by standard flat-panel TVs, delivered by Contemporary Research and X2O Media technology.

The X20 Media digital signage platform enables simple, yet compelling content creation. A multimedia “smart template” combines moving backgrounds, RSS news and weather feeds and live video with staff-created PowerPoint^® pages on employee news and events. The widescreen image is processed and sent as digital TV channel through the campus RF coax system.

Contemporary Research’s Display Express system controls the 50+ LG displays through the same RF coax that carries the channels. Running display power, volume, and channels by a daily schedule, Display Express can also force TVs to emergency news or weather channels with a single click. The displays are placed by elevator bays, where virtually all employees congregate several times a day.

Shares The Home Depot Television Manager Bruce Covey, “Once you’ve solved delivery, content is everything. By integrating PowerPoint, more people can contribute with a tool they already understand. Our goal was reinforce the messages employees were receiving by other pathways – and the system is meeting that need superbly. Our annual free Flu Shot event normally attracts several hundred people. With the new signage channel, we served over 3,000. By any marketing standard, that’s amazing.”

About Contemporary Research

Contemporary Research designs and creates solutions for an HDTV world, offering cutting-edge products, HDTV display control, digital signage, and tuning. In addition, CR supports a proven line of analog TV tuners, closed-captioning tools, as well as commercial and educational media systems. For more information about Contemporary Research products, visit us on the web at www.crwww.com or call (888) 972-2728.