PanoScape’s software turns static signage into interactive walls with abundant possibilities

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Chicago-based PanoScape has developed patented software that it thinks can defeat "display blindness," the phenomenon where people subconsciously ignore digital signage in public, especially static displays. PanoScape's software enables between one and 64 digital displays of any make and size to become an interactive wall, creating a more inviting user experience and capturing first-party data for its clients. The interactive touch display system possesses a flexibility that dozens of sports organizations, including Caesars and the Syracuse University athletic department, are already finding useful.

Syracuse has commenced a multimillion-dollar, multiyear project to upgrade the John A. Lally Athletics Complex and needed an arresting visual display that could convert visitors to the building into donors.

"Most LED walls don't allow for the engagement and that was a big part of it," said Morey Mossovitz, Syracuse associate athletic director, facilities and event operations. "We were looking for something that allows people to touch it, allows for more interaction."

PanoScape founder and CEO Jeremiah Fitzgerald said the company was trying to create a revenue-generating storytelling platform. Three big questions propelled the creation of PanoScape's operating system, which debuted a few years ago: How do you get the right story to the right person? How do you engage multiple audience members simultaneously? And how do you understand if your digital signage strategies are working?

Caesars has used the PanoScape tech in multiple ways, including as a foundational aspect of Caesars’ Truck Tour, which saw a tractor trailer whose walls opened out to become a mobile sports lounge tour cross-country during the 2022 NFL season. The truck was the site of numerous activations, including meet-and-greets with former players at the Super Bowl. Visitors couldn't place bets on the interactive wall setup, but they could scan QR codes and place bets on their phones while playing trivia games as they waited to talk to former NFL players and get autographs.

"It was exactly what we wanted them to do, use the wall," said Caesars Senior Content Producer Rebecca Toback.

PanoScapewas founded in 2020 and now has 15 employees servicing its 20 university clients and 25 pro and casino venues. The company has plans for a funding round in the near future.

According to Fitzgerald, 90% of consumers that walk by a PanoScape wall will view at least four pieces of content; 35% of people that pass by PanoScape displays will interact with the wall.

The return on investment comes from revenue generation — whether through sponsorship, merchandise or ticket sales — or in-venue food and beverage ordering (through API integrations). The PanoScape software enables the display walls to be used in lieu of activation tables for customer sign-ups and they provide clearer, first-party data about which content guests are interacting with, all of which are powerful data points for sales calls.

PanoScape provides clients with its software and content management system, assembles the boards — any boards can be used, whether new or old, horizontal or vertical — and manages the data for the client (which is fed back to the client). Clients create their content, which a PanoScape content team then feeds into the system. The software can play up to 20K resolution video, as well as live broadcasts, or multiple gaming consoles simultaneously. A key part of PanoScape's intellectual property is the ability to have display modules work together or independently at the same time.

Boards can be interactive or static; the latter could be a more useful option if a venue was posting a rideshare QR code that it wanted people to scan as they left an event. At that point, a venue wouldn't want them to stop and interact with a board; they’d want them to leave.

A simple call to action attracts the curiosity of passersby. Oftentimes that's a large floating circle that says, "tap to start."

From there, the user pokes their way through the content on offer. PanoScape's average amount of engagement is 2.7 pieces of content. Average dwell time is 70 seconds, and 15% of people will scan for customer acquisition, Fitzgerald said.

"You’re interested in it, otherwise you wouldn't have picked it," he said. "You create the journey; you get what you want."

PanoScape walls’ versatility might be their most notable aspect. Fitzgerald painted a hypothetical portrait of how a display could be used during a live sporting event at a venue. Pregame, the PanoScape wall could display sponsored content about a team's Hall of Fame members, with clickable content about each member.

In the second quarter, the display could shift into a digital team store to help alleviate lines at the venue's physical merchandise locations located on the opposite side of the stadium. During the third quarter, it could become a digital storefront for a team sponsor, allowing the sponsor to generate revenue from within the venue (Fitzgerald said this is already occurring).

For the fourth quarter of the hypothetical game, the venue's marketing team could use the display wall to sell tickets to future events, like concerts, using the official ticketing partners’ API integration.

"It's almost acting as a focus group for different audiences," said Fitzgerald.

PanoScape's versatility is valuable for multi-tenant venues or for college athletic programs, which can rotate the individual teams that they highlight. Syracuse has used its PanoScape setups to display interactive information about 108 student athletes so that visitors can tap the screen and learn about the players. There are of course name, image and likeness revenue possibilities stemming from that use case.

Caesars has used PanoScape displays at its Las Vegas properties, the Caesars Lounge in Buffalo's Highmark Stadium, and on the truck tour of NFL cities last fall, with the goal of customer acquisition or guest engagement. The truck featured a seven-panel display, allowing potentially seven new Caesars customers to sign up at once. And at Caesars Palace, the PanoScape display is used for cross-promotion to sell tickets to shows, such as Shania Twain.

"Caesars Rewards is another big focus that we have," said Toback, "so we’ve been able to bring it to these Wager Wall videos and educated people on Caesars Rewards when they’re in a Caesars environment."

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