Perhaps the most iconic of all London’s digital signage sites, Piccadilly Lights in the capital’s west end is known around the globe. With a rich history spanning from its first illuminated advertising campaign in 1908 to today, the site has become a prime location for global advertisers including Coca-Cola, McDonalds and Samsung. Throughout its history, Piccadilly Lights has had many identities, from the static imagery of first advertisers Bovil and Perrier, through a range of display technologies comprising the big screen, to today’s single spectacular display, measuring 783.5m2 and populated with 6,000 LED tiles. The site generates a huge sum in advertising revenues with content running 24/7/365 showcasing prestigious and innovative brands and captivating the 100 million visitors in the area every year.

Display uptime is of paramount importance for the digital site. So much so that the latest display (installed in 2017) was enabled with power and data redundancy built into the LED display, a secondary fail-over control solution and a separate, back-up mains power route for the utmost resilience. The site is also challenged by high levels of pollution at the busy London intersection which can impact both how the content looks and how the asset performs. The combined need to keep the display fully functional and looking optimal around the clock creates a specific support need, and in today’s world where display downtime leads to lost revenue, compensation and negative impact to the reputation of key stakeholders, only the most trusted of service providers can be relied on to support the site.

DPI was engaged by Daktronics in 2011 as their white-label service provider to support and maintain the high-profile site (at that time just two or the six displays). With a range of professional services including reactive maintenance, planned preventative maintenance and display face cleaning. DPI still maintain the site today, taking responsibility for the full 5490 x 2160 resolution digital canvas. The unrivalled knowledge of the technology, health and safety requirements, site logistics and client expectations ensures a robust and compliant approach to support.

From hardware failures, software upgrades and a range of electrical issues, the multi-disciplined technicians are available 24/365, attending site within four-hours from notification of fault to ensure maximum uptime.

Through the robust support of Piccadilly Lights, DPI has instilled confidence in key stakeholders in their ability to manage the challenges of the site, ensuring the iconic display always operates to its best. Peace of mind for the landlord and media owner as well as the numerous advertisers that consider the site to be London’s prime location, has created value for stakeholders, and for Daktronics who, with DPIs support, are able to offer unrivalled operational and maintenance services as the manufacturer partner to the site.