James Klein Events<\/a>, which has produced shows for music festivals, MTV and more.<\/p>\nThe 60,000-square-foot showcase \u2014 more than an acre and a half \u2014 contains 30 million pixels of high-definition LED screens, 40 miles of cable and a backroom control panel that Fiat Chrysler show and events manager Bo Puffer said \u201clooks like it came out of a 747 aircraft.\u201d<\/p>\n
In addition to floor-to-ceiling LED screens, Seibo wrapped columns with 3-D video that GPJ\u2019s Tulloch says is \u201cgame-changing technology.\u201d<\/p>\n
Executing a theme brainstormed by Fiat Chrysler, the round pillars help connect LED circles above every brand display into a sort of \u201cgear mechanism\u201d that links all seven FCA brands.<\/p>\n
Every hour their screens are synchronized into a single 18-minute LED \u201csuperstorm\u201d showing 21\/2 minutes of video from each brand. It was not uncommon during preview week to see visitors videotaping it with their smartphones.<\/p>\n
According to Troy-based Foresight Research, 50 percent to 55 percent of visitors purchase or lease a car within a year of attending an auto show.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe best way we can use these displays is to immerse our customers into it,\u201d Puffer said.<\/p>\n
Ford estimates attendees will spend an average of 45 minutes at its massive display, which was totally remade for the first time in 10 years.<\/p>\n
Eighteen months in the making, its centerpiece is a 360-degree, ultra-high-def LED screen \u2014 flanked by two-story LED walls \u2014 that acts as an exhibit halo. Every hour, the front LED banks close like sliding doors, sealing off the 360-degree display for a \u201cFusion takeover moment\u201d that highlights Ford\u2019s updated midsize sedan.<\/p>\n
Ford worked with London\u2019s Imagination Group, which has also staged NFL games in Europe.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is by far the biggest structural build we\u2019ve ever done,\u201d said Garett Carr, Ford\u2019s display coordinator.<\/p>\n
Ford actually dug two escalator pits to whisk showgoers to a secon<\/p>\n
d-floor balcony where kids can put together Ford GT snap kits in the shadow of the supercar and Ford F-150 Raptor.<\/p>\n
Inside Hall C, luxury rivals Mercedes and Cadillac are engaged in a retina-searing LED arms race. Cadillac brought to this year\u2019s fight a stunning, semicircular \u201coculus\u201d LED wall, where it is showing off new toys like the Cadillac CT6 and XT5.<\/p>\n
Infiniti, too, got the bends. To match the sexy curves of its new Q50 and Q60, Infiniti installed a sweeping, 112-foot-by-16-foot megascreen display. It features videos on a 3.9 mm pixel pitch \u2014 much tighter than the 20-40 mm-spaced displays typically used at rock concerts and Times Square. The display was coordinated by XL Video in Los Angeles.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe use a much tighter pixel pitch because our customers are standing just inches from the screen,\u201d said Joe Samfilippo, senior manager, Brand Engagement, at Infinity, who says it reflects the attention to detail in their products.<\/p>\n
Drink it all in. While automakers say they will take elements of their displays on the road, Detroit, Frankfurt and Shanghai are the mothers of all auto exhibits. \u201cMost other shows don\u2019t allow us quite so much space and flexibility,\u201d says Cadillac communications manager David Caldwell.<\/p>\n
Detroit auto show<\/p>\n
Public show:\u00a09 a.m. to 10 p.m. (no admittance after 9 p.m.) Saturday through Jan. 23; 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. (no admittance after 6 p.m.) Jan. 24<\/p>\n
Admission:\u00a0$13 adults; $7 age 7-12, and age 65 and over; free age 6 and under<\/p>\n
Location:\u00a0Cobo Center, 1 Washington Blvd., Detroit<\/p>\n
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<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Call it Times Square under a roof. When Cobo Center\u2019s doors open to the public Saturday, Detroit auto show visitors will be treated to a mind-blowing, high-def video-palooza: floor-to-ceiling screens, digitally wrapped columns and 360-degree displays. With an expected 800,000 visitors crowding into the 700,000-square-foot show through Jan. 24, the experience rivals a stroll down […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,87],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17865"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17865"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17865\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17866,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17865\/revisions\/17866"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17865"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17865"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17865"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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