Article

A Steel Curtain-draped kiosk

Combine a young kiosk developer with a venerable National Football League franchise and the result, in the case of Kosmo Studios and the Pittsburgh Steelers, is an award-winning kiosk.

June 30, 2002

(Editor's note: In March, the inaugural Interactive Kiosk Excellence Awards were handed out at the Rosen Center in Orlando, Fla. The awards, sponsored by KioskCom, honored kiosk excellence in six categories, including software, enclosure designs, and applications. This is the fourth in six profiles covering the winners in each category.)

Few sport franchises enjoy the history and fan loyalty of the four-time National Football League Super Bowl champion Pittsburgh Steelers. So, when the team decided to build a new stadium, it spared no expense in giving its fan base the best of everything.

The result is Heinz Field, a horseshoe-shaped stadium with an open south end that affords fans a view of downtown Pittsburgh and the city's waterfront. The Steelers developed and built the 64,450-seat complex, which is also home to the University of Pittsburgh football team, concerts, and other events.

But when it came to developing an information-entertainment kiosk for the project, the venerable NFL franchise turned to a company that is not even two years old, Kosmo Studios, for assistance.

The result was 10 interactive kiosks, featuring a virtual smorgasbord of information and activities, all intended to sate the appetites of even the most ardent football fans.

Amazingly enough, Kosmo pulled the project together - design to installation - in six weeks.

"The time frame was the biggest challenge of all," said Kosmo's Jason Callison, a technical architect and a key member of the design and production team. "The entire company focused on it, while still managing the rest of our work load."

The project has already been recognized by the kiosk industry. Kosmo's Heinz Field deployment was named winner of the Best Hospitality, Travel and Entertainment Kiosk award in March at the inaugural Interactive Kiosk Excellence Awards, sponsored by KioskCom and presented at the Rosen Center in Orlando, Fla.

"We feel great about the award," Callison said. "It gives us more credibility within the industry. The recognition also means a lot to us, because as a company we seek to raise the bar with every kiosk we build."

Information, fun, history

Occupying the ground and main levels of Heinz Field - virtually the entire east side of the complex - is the Coca-Cola Great Hall, a 40,000-square-foot food, retail, and entertainment complex that was built to resemble a football field.

At the center of the Great Hall, amid 30-foot helmets and 40-foot Super Bowl trophies, sit the touchscreen kiosks. The kiosks showcase the rich history of the city's most famous football team. The hall also includes 10 graphic murals depicting Steeler history and a Steelers Hall of Fame, with displays built from lockers retrieved from the team's former home, Three Rivers Stadium.

Kosmo Studios' kiosks offer Pittsburgh Steelers fans the chance to look up information on the team and its history.

The kiosks offer a host of information. For the serious fan, there is pre-game data, access to the team's media guide, and live video feeds from Heinz Field as well as other NFL games. The interactive portion of the kiosk includes a series of trivia games, an animated game that allows fans to play the quarterback position, a host of two-minute segments that depict the Steelers' history, and links to the Steelers' and the NFL's Web sites.

Pittsburgh Steelers' spokesman Peter Gergely said the kiosks accomplish the goal of getting the fans closer to the team.

"Fans come to a game to enjoy themselves," Gergely said. "The kiosks, and everything else in the Great Hall, allow them to actually interact with the team. The kiosks add a new dimension to their football and game experience. It really is something different and it also keeps the kids occupied."

Avoiding the sack

Based in Orlando, Kosmo Studios is a privately owned company with 20 employees that specializes in interactive media, Web design, e-learning, user interface design, broadcasting, and animation.

Kosmo landed the Heinz Field project after responding to a request for proposal from the Steelers. After making two presentations to the team, the studio was selected over three other finalists.

Developing the project was an intensive experience for Kosmo. The company's staff had to overcome numerous technical obstacles, like how to support live video, as well as develop a consistent, easy-to-use navigation system. To meet the Steelers' demanding schedule, Kosmo committed 12 staffers to the project.

One of Kosmo's biggest challenges was to meet the Steelers' insistence that the system be fan friendly.

The Pittsburgh Steelers have included information on players, such as star running back Jerome Bettis, on its award-winning kiosks.

"They wanted something that would build fan affinity," Callison said. "They wanted their contractor to be able to reach the fans and give them a memorable experience, so that they would come back. It not only had to be entertaining, it had to provide a history of the team and the content definitely couldn't be static."

Kosmo hooked up with another Orlando operation, RAW Media Teknologies, which has experience doing systems-related work for the themed entertainment industry, supplying clients with hardware and installation, to complete the project.

Callison said the contract with the Steelers was significant financially, but would not reveal how much.

The veteran kiosk, the rookie kiosk

Site usage statistics are unavailable, Gergely said. But when asked how the Steelers faithful have responded, he said, "It's huge with our fans."

In fact, the kiosks are so popular that the Steelers' ownership has decided to add them to each of the stadium's 155 luxury suites. The team also plans to add four kiosk displays to the club level section of the stadium, in the area where fans buy food and drinks.

The new kiosks will have additional capabilities, including instant replay, food ordering, and a retail area where fans can purchase team and NFL merchandise. New games will also be installed and pre-game information will be more entertaining, according to Callison.

Kosmo has already begun design work and the new kiosks are expected to go live on Sept. 15, Pittsburgh's first home game of the 2002 NFL season.

"Working with the Steelers has brought value and credibility to our company," Callison said. "They are a world-class organization."

Callison said the company hopes its work with the Steelers would also lead to additional work with other sports franchises in the NFL and other leagues.

"There's definitely a certain market for this," he said.

Callison said Kosmo would like to leverage its capabilities to provide turnkey operations to sports teams, building information systems - similar to Pittsburgh's - and then helping to manage the information.

"We can go to other teams and sell them a model they can then adapt for themselves," he said.