At a time when many retail operations are experiencing a decline in business due to the popularity of on-line shopping, outdoor clothing manufacturer Canada Goose is investing a great deal of creativity and resources in delivering an amazing retail experience — and their customers have noticed.
Perhaps like no other, Canada Goose created a one-of-a-kind experience that immerses customers in nature, allowing them to experience the comfort and benefits of the company’s high-performance parkas, down jackets, snow pants and much more. With a total AV experience deeply rooted in storytelling, Canada Goose customers leave the store with first-hand knowledge about the company’s products and their own relationship with the natural world; certainly, an experience that can never be had on-line.
To help bring this exclusive experience to life at their flagship location at the Sherway Gardens Mall in Toronto, Canada Goose chose LEA Professional.
LEA Professional was selected through local AV and sound design integrator, Westbury National, one of Canada’s largest professional audio-visual integration and full-service event production companies.
“Canada Goose wanted an impactful environment, the experience is everything, and this store is unique. The customer can try on jackets for sizing then, with in-store Kiosks can purchase for home delivery” said Tim Bootes, Programming Manager, Westbury National. “Customers are looking for the experience, they want to see something new and fun, and walk away with a good feeling. The store is unique because you are taken on a tour throughout the store; you are essentially guided down a wilderness path, indoors.”
As customers embark on The Journey, they enter into the natural world where they experience the great outdoors via a fantastic, theatric AV experience that includes navigating a creaking crevasse, cold rooms cooled to about 10 degrees Fahrenheit, complete with real snow and ice — and a huge “Elements Room” supported by large, 60-foot-wide 4K video projections — all brought to life with excellent sound reinforcement.
To help bring such a unique experience to life, the team at Westbury National turned to audio amplifiers from LEA Professional. LEA introduced the world’s first IoT-enabled, professional-grade amplifier family, the Dante Connect Series, in 2019. Perfectly suited for small to medium scale installations, these two, four, and eight-channel amps offer three ways to connect, integrators can engage the built-in WiFi access point, connect to the venue’s WiFi, or use the FAST Ethernet to connect to any local area network via Cat5 or Cat6 cable.
“With this installation, we needed to make sure we had great quality and that the audio and video matched perfectly,” explained Tim. “There are several different zones and sections within the store, and we need to make sure the audio wouldn’t spill out into another section. LEA amps help us control the audio.”
Tim added that the integrated DSP within the LEA amplifiers allows installers to fine-tune the audio signals according to each system installation’s unique design.
“The LEA amplifier user interface is extremely intuitive,” said Tim. “The fact that you can have multiple amplifiers in a system and you can easily tap between the amps just by logging into one is great.”
In addition to exceptional sound quality and reliability, Canada Goose had the additional requirement that Westbury be able to monitor the systems remotely and proactively identify and address any problems if any occur before there was ever any impact to the customer experience.
“LEA amps and the integrated remote access give us some great advantages; we’re able to monitor and adjust the audio settings directly, without using another device,” said Tim. “And LEA also allowed us to bring the Dante audio stream directly back from the playback processes, rather than needing another system.”
The LEA Dante Connect Series is the first professional amplifier family to feature Cloud connectivity (coming in 2020), allowing integrators to harness the power of the Cloud for remote control, monitoring, notifications, and more from any personal device. It also allows the opportunity it creates recurring revenue stream for integrators.
“When I had questions, LEA was super responsive, even after hours and on the weekend, so I was impressed by that,” added Tim. “It’s been several months now since the installation, and we haven’t had any issues with the LEA amplifiers. I would definitely use them again for another project, and we are looking forward to the cloud platform being released for even greater remote monitoring and control.”
