MINISO at Alto Palermo: one idea, six screen formats

To accompany MINISO's arrival at Alto Palermo, FeedGuru adapted a single idea to six formats of the shopping center's screen circuit: LED bridges, columns, totems and outdoor screens. Each format was composed for its proportion and its reading distance, and the campaign kept a consistent presence along the visitor's whole route.

What MINISO's campaign had to solve

MINISO had already opened its store at Alto Palermo. After the opening, the brand needed to sustain its visibility through August and guide visitors to the store. The closest medium for that was the shopping center's own screens, the circuit operated by APSA Media that people cross as they walk.

The difficulty was in the circuit. There were six formats with very different proportions and reading distances, from vertical totems seen up close to extremely horizontal LED bridges read from afar. A composition that works on one does not work the same way on another.

If you want to understand how content for these formats is thought out, the guide to content for LED screens explains it from the beginning. The general framework is in what DOOH is and how to produce for screens.

A visual system built with the brand's characters

The idea was simple on purpose: a visual system built around MINISO's characters and a direct arrival message. In the case video you can read "MINISO llegó a Alto Palermo" (MINISO has arrived at Alto Palermo) and a concrete direction for finding the store: "¡Te esperamos en el segundo nivel!" (We're waiting for you on the second level!).

The condition was that the identity had to be recognizable in the same way on a vertical totem, on a column or on an LED bridge. That is why the system relied on a few strong elements: the characters, the brand's red, the typography and a short message. With those elements you can compose for any proportion without the campaign changing its face.

How each screen format was produced

Creative work, production and technical adaptation stayed within a single team. Production combined art direction, artificial intelligence, character animation, motion graphics, compositing and typography, and all of that was reorganized for each format.

The central decision was to redesign the idea for each screen instead of resizing a piece. Redesigning means deciding, format by format, where each character goes, how much text fits and in what order the message is read. It is more work at the start and it keeps any version from ending up illegible or with the characters cut off.

The general reasoning for why adapting is more than cropping is in adapting a campaign to many screens. And the technical details worth asking for before animating, such as resolution, length and file format, are in video specifications for LED screens.

What the campaign achieved along the shopping center's route

The campaign made it possible to keep a consistent presence along the visitor's route. Someone who crossed an LED bridge, walked past a column and then saw a totem could find the same campaign in different readings, always recognizable as MINISO.

The case has no published metrics. What it does show is a way of solving the problem: an idea with a few strong elements, produced from the start for several formats at once.

What can be applied to another screen campaign

• Know the formats before producing. If you know from the brief which screens the campaign will live on, the composition is planned once and redoing pieces at the end is avoided.

• Design a system with few elements. Characters, color, typography and a short message travel better between proportions than a scene loaded with detail.

• Use the screen to guide people. In a shopping center, the screen can also say where the store is. A concrete detail like "second level" brings the campaign closer to the store.

• Plan the stage after the opening. The opening concentrates attention, and the following weeks need communication too.

The full case is in MINISO at Alto Palermo, DOOH campaign, and the other work for the brand in the MINISO projects.

Frequently asked questions

What is a screen circuit in a shopping center?

It is the set of digital screens a shopping center has distributed along its route: LED bridges, columns, totems and outdoor screens, among other formats. Brands use it to communicate inside the space where people shop. Each format has its proportion, its reading distance and its way of being used, so a campaign needs versions designed for each one.

Can the same piece be used in every format?

The idea, yes; the piece is better redone for each format. A vertical totem and a very horizontal LED bridge call for different compositions: where the character goes, how much text fits and in what order it is read. Resizing a piece usually leaves illegible messages or characters cut off. That is why in MINISO's campaign at Alto Palermo the same idea was redesigned for each of the six formats.

What formats does the Alto Palermo circuit have?

MINISO's campaign used six formats of Alto Palermo's screen circuit, including LED bridges, columns, totems and outdoor screens. They are formats with very different proportions, from vertical to extremely horizontal, and with different reading distances. The exact specifications of each screen are set by the circuit, and it is worth asking for them before production starts.

The six versions, side by side, can be seen in the projects for brands.