1. thomson
Connectvision is a range of Microsoft® Windows based software specifically developed to create powerful visual messaging
channels for large organisations to improve employee, brand and customer communication.
Connectvision ‘unlocks’ information held within an organisation to inform, influence and inspire any target audience. Connectvision
works in harmony with existing communication technologies and adds value by creating a unique platform for organisations
to communicate visually rich media to stakeholders.
Connectvision's range of software products has been developed to complement and enhance the effectiveness of existing
case study
communication methods by providing powerful visual messaging solutions for TV, Plasma and Desktop.
Connectvision has already been adopted by a number of the UK’s leading organisations as a vital visual messaging channel.
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www.connectvision.com
tel: 0845 408 2021 “Thomson expects that the investment in Connectvision
connectvision created and developed by will be recouped within the first year from higher value
saturn communications group limited holiday sales and selling advertising space.”

2. > thomson case study
Holiday brochures and posters only tell half the
story. Conveying the magic and thrill of the holiday
is where Thomson Holidays is taking a lead, and
revolutionising the way they sell holidays, using
Connectvision to inform and excite sales staff
DOUG GLENWRIGHT
MARKETING MANAGER - CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE and customers.
Thomson Holidays is the UK’s largest leisure travel differentiated if required, making it easier for retail staff
company and has been the number one leisure travel to identify the holiday category. The in-built flexibility of
retailers for the last 20 years. Thomson has over 750 Connectvision also allows Thomson to create their own
shops across the UK and has won a number of templates as the screensaver content develops.
accolades for store design and customer experience*
(Note: Retail Week Store Design of the Year 2001; Retail Thomson first piloted Connectvision in 150 shops to
Property Out of Town Retailer of the Year 2003). The give a representative variety of shop types, locations
main objective of the retail experience is to start to bring and staff sales performance. The screensaver content
a customer's holiday to life in the shops. The easiest loop is about 20 minutes in length and made up of still
way to do this is to use inspirational holiday imagery, and moving images, within a Thomson on-screen
but research has demonstrated that moving imagery is branded template. It begins automatically when the PC
twice as impactful in their shops, so Thomson began is unused for 90 seconds. The PCs flat screen monitors
looking at ways in which they could include plasma are mounted on revolving discs allowing the screen to
screens and TVs in our shops. be turned by sales staff to face the customer to show
the holidays featured in the screensaver.
In 2003 Thomson installed plasma screens into a number
of high profile shops. The objective of this trial was to Within a few weeks Thomson could see increased sales
test the impact of inspirational moving visual content of products included on the screensavers in the 150
on customers’ purchase decisions. The content was trial shops, compared with other shops. Doug Glenwright
compiled by a third party and distributed to shops via explained, “When we asked staff how they felt about
satellite links. As Doug Glenwright, Marketing Manager the screensaver and how it helped them, they reported
- Customer Experience recalled: “The content was that by seeing it’s content throughout the day they felt
wonderful and attracted a lot of attention. We saw a more confident in selling the holidays featured. They
significant increase in sales to holidays/destinations also reported that the screensaver became part of the
featured on-screen which was great, however over time sales process, making it more interesting and informative
our sales priorities changed and we wanted to change for the customer. They can see the holidays and
content to reflect this which was really cost prohibitive. destinations as a series of video images rather than
In essence we had proved that screens did help to static brochure pictures.”
improve sales, but we lacked a cost effective way of
deploying a large number of screens and the means of Connectvision has now been rolled out to all Thomson
producing high quality content that we could manage shops across the UK. The screensaver content is
centrally.” currently produced monthly and downloaded to each
store as part of the existing network traffic between
It was with the advent of Connectvision that Thomson head office and the retail outlets. Staff are alerted ahead
reconsidered using in-store multimedia. For the first of the screensaver distribution and briefed on the
time the travel company was able to download holidays it contains.
multimedia holiday information to every sales PC
in-store. By using the existing IT infrastructure of six Thomson expects that the investment in Connectvision
thousand PCs, Connectvision could be deployed quickly will be recouped within the first year from higher value
to deliver multimedia presentations to every PC. “We holiday sales and selling advertising space. It also plans
already had the hardware, making this network to invite its affinity relationship companies such as Boots
immediately attractive from a cost perspective. We also and Waterstones to use the screensaver to advertise
owned the infrastructure to manage the deployment of their products within the next few months which could
new content. And lastly the business was investing in become an additional revenue stream.
content for use in other media channels, such as
Thomson TV and web, so all we had to do was tap into For Doug Glenwright the Connectvision screensaver
this to keep our content refreshed. So now we had a has brought a new dimension to holiday sales, “We
means of delivering holiday information to all staff, we have been able to bring holidays to life within our shops,
had to select a format that was going to be effective something that is not possible with just brochures. We
but not intrusive. In consultation with Saturn, we hit on have also found customers are considering destinations
the idea of developing a screensaver for every PC,” and holidays that they may never previously have
said Doug Glenwright. considered just from seeing “what it's all about” on the
screensavers (e.g. cruises). An additional benefit has
Connectvision enables Thomson to use a screensaver been training staff on new products, and giving them
containing a wide range of text and multimedia formats the tools to be able to sell better than ever; it makes
within a Thomson branded template. Saturn developed the whole experience of both selling and buying a holiday
a number of templates so that products could be more enjoyable.”