Case Study
SAB Miller
Worldwide drinks group uses Exterity to deliver its brand image
around stylish new offices
Client Overview
SABMiller is one of the world’s largest brewers, with 2004/05 lager sales
volumes in excess of 148 million hectolitres. It has a brewing presence in over
40 countries across four continents; a portfolio of strong brands and market
leading shares in many of the countries in which it has brewing operations.
Outside the USA, SABMiller plc is one of the largest bottlers of Coca-Cola
products in the world.
In July 2005, the company annouced plans to invest £30million to promote its
key brands in UK. As such, MILLER BRANDS UK, a new operating company
that would manage the sales, marketing and distribution of its key drinks
brands including Pilsner Urquell, Peroni Nastro Azzuro, Miller Genuine Draft
and Castle Lager. For the company to be successful, SABMiller realised that
its brands must be seen as a lifestyle ‘must have’ and the products portrayed
as ‘cool’ and ‘trendy’.
The company set about changing its image to appeal to the young, aspirational
20-somethings, with SABMiller’s advertising, direct marketing, public relations
and promotions all reflecting these new messages. The company also wanted
its employees to be exposed to the images and to help create what has became
known as the ‘wow factor’.
The Project
In May 2005, in anticipation of the new investment in the UK, SABMiller set
about looking for new offices. Not only would the office have to house the new
staff that were currently being recruited, but they wanted a building that would
reflect their new brand values and clearly protray to employees, partners and
visitors that SABMiller is an exciting company and a great place to work.
“The old offices were horrible,” explained Roger Chappé de Léonval, IT
Manager for SABMiller. “They were a dark and dingy, shared office space that
did not reflect our corporate image or brand.”
“Having one network was crucial to our overall
aim of creating a spectacular office. We did
not want to have to deal with loads of cables
and wires. We wanted clean lines. By running
everything from a single infrastructure, we
could minimise the number of leads and could
help save the company substantial amounts of
money, as this is a more cost effective way to
run a network.”
The search for new offices lead SABMiller to a run down 1980s-style building
in Woking, Surrey. Although the building was unattractive on the outside, it
was the perfect location and space for SABMiller. The building was completely
gutted and redone in a style that was in keeping with new company image.
The building is now bright and airy, has lots of open and communal areas and
certainly has that ‘wow’ factor.
Leading IPTV Delivery
Roger Chappé de Léonval
IT Manager
SABMiller
One unified network
A central part of creating the ‘wow factor’ was getting the network and AV
systems behind the scenes right. SABMiller wanted to have one single
infrastructure, so put in a completely new network, which would run its IT,
telephone system as well as AV (audio visual).
“Having one network was crucial to our overall aim of creating a spectacular
office,” explained, Roger. “We did not want to have to deal with loads of
cables and wires. We wanted clean lines. By running everything from a
single infrastructure, we could minimise the number of leads and could
help save the company substantial amounts of money, as this is a more
cost effective way to run a network.”
AV is key
Traditionally, all AV is piped into a building using coaxial cabling, which
is expensive to maintain and slow to deploy. Furthermore, it requires a
completely separate system and could not run off a single infrastruture
network, which was a prerequisite for SABMiller.
“We knew straight away that Exterity would
be the ideal solution. All the other network AV
products were difficult to use and had heavy
SABMiller turned to its trusted AV supplier, AuDeo for help. AuDeo had
previously worked with SABMiller in their old offices so understood the
company and its needs. As luck would have it, at that time, AuDeo had
started to work with Exterity, a Scottish based company who specialise in
network AV.
“We knew straight away that Exterity would be the ideal solution,”
explained Kevin Wilson, Managing Director, AuDeo. “All the other network
AV products were difficult to use and had heavy back-ends, where as
Exterity’s system is a simple ‘plug and play’ solution.”
back-ends, where as Exterity system is a
simple ‘plug and play’ solution.”
Kevin Wilson
Managing Director
AuDeo
Testing, Testing
Before moving into the offices, SABMiller commisioned a one day trial of Exerity’s iSocket and TVgateways, which together would
enable the distribution of multimedia material such as video, TV and DVDs through the network.
“One day was more than enough for initial test,” explained Roger. “The product is so simple and easy to use that we knew straight
away that this was going to be the product for us.”
To get internal buy-in, Roger presented the product to the building team. Feedback from the team was very positive, so AuDeo and
Exterity were given the green light to start deployment.
Roll Out
In just two days AuDeo and Exterity rolled out the iSocket and TVgateway solution. Working together the two companies simply
extended SABMiller’s Ethernet network to include Exterity’s TVgateways, which are ‘plug and play’ broadcast TV to IP (internet
protocol) network distribution products, enabling terrestrial and broadcast feeds to be streamed across the network. Exterity iSocket
technology was then installed to allow any display device, such as televisions and plasma screens, to be connected directly to the
network for direct and easy access to all available digital media.
Leading IPTV Delivery
Up and running
The new system now enables any media stored on the network to be streamed to
four meeting rooms, the atrium, which has one large plasma screen and several
smaller screens, the bar area, which has two televisions, and the cafeteria, which
has an additional four televisions.
“The deployment of the new AV system was very straight forward and simple. The
work was carried out very quickly and the system was up and running in a matter of
days. We had just one problem,” explained Roger Chappé de Léonval, IT Manager
for SABMiller. “Deciding what material we were going to stream!”
After much debate the SABMiller team decided that it would stream company’s new advertisements to the atrium and one of the
screens in the bar and cafeteria area.
“We wanted to share our new brand identity with all our employees and create an impact on new customers and partners when they
entered the building,” explained Roger. “Many visitors have remarked that our atrium looks really stylish and smart because of the
TV screens.”
SABMiller uses the rest of the screens to stream news, sport and entertainment. “News and sport are the most popular channels.
Most employees like to catch up on what is happening in the world at lunchtime so like to watch Sky News, BBC World or Bloomberg.
Whereas, everyone insists that the sports channels are on when England is playing in any sport! During the Ashes final in September
last year, we were inundated with requests to show the match live!
“Overall, we are delighted with the Exterity and AuDeo system. It is easy to use, reliable and has allowed us to stick to our one network
infrastructure policy,” concluded Roger. “Moreover, it has helped us to create the ‘whoa’ factor that we really wanted from our new
offices. It has also been a vital part tool in helping us to share our new brand image with our employees and visitors.”
“The SABMiller offices look fantastic, they certainly do reflect their new brand image,” commented Colin Farquhar, CEO, Exterity. “We
are really pleased that our network AV solution has played a key role in helping SABMIller to hit the UK market with a big bang and
to make the most of its £30million investment in this market.”
Headquarters
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Leading IPTV Delivery
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