 In
1965, an enterprising Kmart
assistant manager named Earl Bartell devised a novel way to
attract customers to special deals in the store. Propping up a 2x4
plywood board with a blue light fixture on the end wherever he wanted
people to flock, Bartell found a simple solution that would take hold
and evolve into the well-known BlueLight Special. Little did anyone know
that the accompanying announcement, “Attention Kmart Shoppers,” would
enter into the popular lexicon. Or that “blue-light special” would
become a retail catch phrase for any bargain or special deal.
But after 25 years, corporate
headquarters felt that the special had lost its luster and discarded it.
Ten years later, CEO Chuck Conaway was looking for ways to spark
interest in the chain. He felt the retail icon should adopt a new
marketing strategy to go head-to-head with the other giants, Wal-Mart
and Target. The image needed updating, though, and the familiar
traveling cart with the flashing blue light would have to go. Instead,
the company’s retail design firm, FRCH, developed the concept of a
BlueLight Special zone that would be in a central location within each
of Kmart’s 2167 stores. Now the question was how to capture, once again,
the attention of shoppers.
THE NEW BlueLighters
To design the prototype and deliver the final product, Kmart turned to
Visual Productions Inc. of Troy, Michigan, and Blue Water Technologies
of Southfield, Michigan, sister companies co-owned by Tom Schoenberger
and Skip Speerschneider. Blue Water Technologies is an 18-year-old
company specializing in custom audio-visual engineering and
consultation, equipment integration and custom systems design. Launched
in 1991, VPI complements Blue Water’s services with an emphasis on
product-focused marketing approaches for retail design, event marketing,
merchandising and interactive kiosks. Over the past year, both VPI and
Blue Water worked on jobs for Kmart, and the synergistic relationship of
the two companies impressed Kmart’s top brass.
Having two companies dedicated
to this endeavor may seem like overkill unless you know their time
constraints. Once Kmart completed the design in January of this year, it
needed all refinements done by the beginning of March. That left only a
month for the manufacture and delivery of over 2000 units in time for
the April 2 unveiling ceremony in New York City—obviously there was no
extra time for any errors or redesigns.
Faced with this daunting
challenge, VPI and Blue Water rolled up their sleeves and devised an
apparatus with two distinct parts. The main display is a large,
lightweight, circular blue canopy, consisting of aluminum tubing and
blue nylon. It comes in two diameters, 10-foot and 12-foot, depending on
the needs of each specific store. The canopy resembles the cross-section
of a large cone. Suspended by four steel wires, it’s quite easy to spot
even from the farthest corners of the store. In the center of the canopy
is a ceiling-mounted, internal gear bracket for rigging the A/V portion
of the display. The bracket supports two large rotating beacons, a
spotlight for the floor and a 2-speaker sound system capable of playing
back six CDs intermittently.
“One of our specifications for
this project was that the finished unit be easy to assemble in all of
our stores,” said Ron Hudgens, divisional VP of merchandising at Kmart.
“Using hired electricians, nearly all of the units were assembled and
hung within two hours’ time. In my career at Kmart, this project ranks
among the smoothest storewide installs and rollouts we’ve ever
undertaken.” In all, VPI and Blue Water oversaw the manufacture of 2300
Blue-Light Special units. Approximately 80 remain in the warehouse
awaiting use at special events and new store openings.
“We got really creative,” says
Chris Warburton, senior account executive with Blue Water Technologies.
“The system itself was completely prefabricated and built at one of our
production facilities near Trevor City, Michigan. The canopies were
assembled there, and the sound systems and lighting packages were all
pre-assembled there, too. Then, everything was sent out to all of the
stores in kits. These kits also included instructions that allowed
electricians to quickly hang and cable them. Everything worked out very
successfully.”
SPECIAL SOUND AND LIGHTING
While conceiving, designing and delivering 2300 floating kiosks in such
a short time is remarkable in itself, Blue Water also had to quickly
assemble a sound and lighting system that would work flawlessly in all
stores. To power the JBL Control 23 and 25 com-pact loudspeakers on the
rig, Blue Water requested the TOA BG-130
amplifiers (see Sidebar: “Powering the Blue-Light
Sound”). “We were pleasantly surprised when TOA said, ‘No problem, how
many do you need?" says Warburton.
 “We were pleasantly surprised when TOA said, ‘No problem, how many do
you need?"
“In a retail environment, it’s
really easy to have equipment tampered with because a lot of people are
coming and going all around it. One nice benefit of the TOA BG
Series is that the volume control is in the
rear of the unit, so it makes it harder to tamper with, unless you’ve
been specifically told how to do so.” Warburton also liked the
portability and flexibility of the BG Series,
especially the microphone and auxiliary inputs.
Where to place the amplifiers
was left up to the discretion of the stores. Generally, the amplifiers
were located in a back warehouse but as close as possible to the canopy.
Once the BlueLight Special would be announced, a main switch would be
flipped to power up the lights, amplifier and CD player.
The lighting system includes
individual rotating beacons, very similar to what you’d see on top of a
police car or an emergency vehicle. The main fixture is an ETC 750
spotlight, commonly seen in theater spaces, that shines directly down on
the ground. The ETC 750 includes a goborotator, or pattern rotator, with
a blue gel on the end. When the BlueLight Special starts, the fixtures
cast a blue-light logo on the ground that rotates and attracts people to
the area.
VIRTUALLY EVERYWHERE
In tandem, Kmart has
also launched virtual BlueLight Specials at
www.bluelight.com, its online
shopping site. While even CEO Conaway admits the effort is “no silver
bullet” for boosting sales during these trying economic times, it’s
likely that future generations of Kmart shoppers will first discover the
BlueLight Special online. In the meantime, keep your eyes peeled for a
hovering blue canopy with flashing lights at the Kmart near you.
POWERING THE BLUELIGHT SOUND
The TOA BG Series amplifiers are
3-channel mixer/amplifiers for paging, background music, and
music-on-hold. Available in 15- and 30-watt models, the BG
Series provides MIC/TEL, PGM, and AUX inputs.
An auto-mute provides voice-activated MIC/TEL paging override of the AUX
and PGM inputs without interrupting sound coming through the MOH output.
The MOH output receives only AUX and PGM channels and is adjustable from
line-level to 1 watt at 8 ohms to handle telephone systems. Users can
set the threshold where auto-mute kicks in, and there are external mute
screw terminals to activate the mute function from an external contact
closure. There are 25/70-volt and 4-ohm speaker outputs with screw
terminal connector, and protective cover plate. Bass/treble controls
(±10 dB at 100 Hz and 10 kHz, respectively) affect both the AUX and PGM
channels, but not the MIC/TEL channels. Protective circuitry prevents
damage due to overload or overheating. The frequency response is 50 Hz
to 20 kHz, ±3 dB, with a THD of less than 0.5% at 1 kHz (rated output)
and less than 0.1% at 1 kHz (5-watt out-put). All connections are
balanced, with the exception of the AUX input, and the signal-to-noise
ratio (20 Hz to 20 kHz) is 60 dB for the MIC, and 75 dB for the TEL, PGM
and AUX inputs. |
TOA
Installation Profiles
