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Supercharging the fan experience at Target Center

TARGET CENTER | TIMBERWOLVES | SPORTS & ENTERTAINMENT

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The challenge

The Target Center project had two focused [2] objectives:  1] consolidating multiple technologies through a single system, starting with a new IPTV platform intended to replace the existing Cisco system; 2] strategic activation of the entire fan journey across the venue – featuring digital menu boards, digital signage across the concourse level with wayfinding/directional signage and additional assets/inventory available to drive sponsorship, and an overhaul of the in-suite experience.

Many venues and teams wait for off season to take on a full-site digital signage project of this scale.  We were able to work between events, and across nights and weekends without negative impact to the operation, to complete the 100+ endpoints within a 4-month period. We paid particularly close attention to Concession end points and saw significant opportunities for improvement to leverage a new approach to digital menu board design to extract new revenue and more profitable transactions. That was something that the end-user team did not have prior knowledge on how to achieve, so we were poised to lead the way in this regard.

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The solution

We converted the back wall with displays and brought displays out to the perimeter for better visibility and a new means for additional traffic flow. This strategic location allowed for unique triggers, content take overs, as well as live game streaming, so live action is never missed. We also integrated new form factors with Blue Fin displays as part of the suite environment, that served as name plates that changed and rotated to personalize the space and connected IPTV for total viewing.  The integration of unique form factors create a bit of disruption across the concourse, while enabling multi-zone content display opportunities.

The Triple Play IPTV platform was connected to our purpose-built CMS platform called Clarity, for F&B at concession – again, so guests never miss a game moment even during ordering.  Finally, we set up the template approach for content creation and on-boarded the Client team to manage it independently – creating outsourced labor savings and operational efficiency.

The results

We’ve increased the venue’s inventory on assets now fertile to maximize value and sponsorship revenue to drive incremental profitability.  We’ve noted upticks for food & beverage sales metrics with our Clarity CMS platform, as well as incremental ROI from POS integration, and the impact of what dayparting and tailoring content specific to a theme or event brings to the overall performance of concession. Moving from static digital menu boards to digital we see 5x more views of the displays and have come to rely on 7 out of 10 guests to make an unplanned purchase, which leads to incremental sales.  The overall experience reduced the perceived wait time given that digital engages more emphatically than static media. And lastly, when we feature items [eg, premium beer] we can double sales and, in some cases, achieve up to a 65% lift in orders when we dedicate space to spotlighting important items to promote.

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