Lighting up a City - Exclusive Interview with Founder Li Dingzhen of City Window, Using One Screen Shanghai | City | Founder

This summer, Window of the City made a breakthrough attempt by lighting up multiple locations during the graduation season. The graduation season of the "City Window" has been on for eight years, and the reason why this year is a breakthrough is because, in addition to Shanghai, the "City Window" of Guangzhou, Chongqing, Xi'an, and Nanjing has also held lighting ceremonies for graduates from multiple local universities, realizing multi regional linkage for the first time.

When it comes to the original intention of lighting up the "graduation season", Li Dingzhen said it was purely a coincidence. "One year, when I returned to my alma mater Shanghai Jiao Tong University to attend the graduation ceremony, I heard younger students exchanging their graduation wishes. One of them was to bring the whole class to the Bund to take a graduation photo as a souvenir. At that time, I thought that empowering a city landmark was to tell a city story, and the components of a city story were the groups within the city, making them feel closely connected to the city. Life is a long journey, but the true memory point is composed of important nodes, and graduation is one of them. We want to provide a carrier that can encompass the city." Include these important nodes and leave them in people's memories for a long time. And this original intention has also become the most core concept of the development of the "Window of the City" to this day.

Founder of City Window, Li Dingzhen

In fact, in the eyes of many people, in such an iconic location, no matter what content is displayed, there will always be people watching. Why do we need to make so many changes?

Li Dingzhen recalled a scene 14 years ago. The countdown to the 2010 Shanghai World Expo is approaching 300 days, and Li Dingzhen is struggling with what kind of Expo advertisement should be placed on the outer screen of Citigroup Building on the Bund. At that time, outdoor large screen advertising in China was in its early stages, and there were only one page of simple screensaver like advertising images on the "Window of the City". Li Dingzhen felt that this was not feasible, as such content was meaningless and ineffective.

On the day of the 300 day countdown, he made a bold decision - he brought the World Expo mascot "Haibao" to the "Window of the City" for the first time, which was also the largest Haibao that could be seen in the entire Shanghai at that time. Soon, he moved all the venues of the World Expo onto the big screen one by one. At that time, the World Expo was very popular, attracting people from all over the world, but only a few had the privilege of enjoying the full view of the venues. This full scene display has attracted many citizens and tourists to take photos. Li Dingzhen realized that when good content is released, the meaning of a large screen is different!

Over the past fourteen years, "Window of the City" has transformed from a single advertising projection to a multi-faceted landmark product: it is a daily changing city calendar, a greeting and care for exclusive festivals, a promotional advertisement for major events, and a warm public welfare blessing.

During a two-hour conversation with reporters, Li Dingzhen mentioned responsibility and significance several times. In his view, managing a city landmark well and making people living in this city feel that there is always a light shining on them is his unshirkable mission.

To add color to the city, bring joy to the public, and satisfy users

Integrating the three aspects, creating a warm and tender urban landmark

Upper view: The graduation season's lighting activity just ended at the end of June. What is the difference in lighting up this graduation season compared to previous years?

Li Dingzhen: This year's graduation season lights up for the first time covering 14 universities in five cities across the country. For example, in Xi'an, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Northwestern University, Chang'an University, and Xi'an University of Technology have been on screen for four consecutive days, competing against each other; Sichuan Academy of Fine Arts has chosen Chongqing's "Window of the City" as its graduation project show.

This year, an online solicitation section has also been added, which displays the words that students want to express on screen based on their popularity. I believe that allowing people with genuine needs to express themselves is the best content in communication, in order to make people more immersed in the content.

2023 City Window Graduation Season Event @ Shanghai, Guangzhou, Chongqing, Nanjing, Xi'an

Looking up: In addition to the graduation season, we have learned that City Window has not only done a good job of promotion and advertising in Shanghai, but also replicated this model nationwide this year. How is the current nationwide promotion situation? What are the differences in the operating model of "City Window" compared to traditional landmark media?

Li Dingzhen: Firstly, the "window of the city" is an inevitable product of the process of urban development. Many new first tier cities have created skylines, such as the 2016 Hangzhou G20 Summit, the 2017 Xiamen BRICS Leaders Meeting, and the 2018 Qingdao SCO Summit. After the grand event, what should these landmarks do and what kind of urban culture should they convey?

In the past, there were only two types of screen advertising modes: first, advertising investment, all selling advertisements; The second is for the government to purchase program sources, which are completely public welfare and serve major events such as National Day and May Day. We chose to merge the two into one, integrating TO G government public service advertisements, TO C citizen viewing content, and TO B commercial content, and airing them in a single night loop to create a "companion" urban night scene.

We refer to this pattern as the three in one:

One is to add color to the city, which is to add points to the city's image. For example, the theme image film "I Love Shanghai" is periodically released to promote major events and events at the city level, such as the Artificial Intelligence Conference, Shanghai Fashion Week, and Shanghai Marathon.

The second is to bring joy to the public, which is to make people feel that the city is serving me when they see the big screen. After the 2010 World Expo, we held a font display of "I Love Shanghai". The design of "I LOVE SHANGHAI" with black background, white letters, and red hearts was displayed on the large screen, attracting many citizens and tourists to take photos together. Taking "I Love Shanghai" as an example, we have developed many content IPs for different nodes and TO C-end in the future.

The third is to satisfy customers, which means achieving marketization and sustainability. Using urban image as a threshold to showcase representative brands or products.

We have been deeply cultivating in Shanghai for ten years and accumulated enough experience to promote this model nationwide. Through practice, it can be seen that this model satisfies the people, customers, and government.

"Star Wishing China Year" event @ Shanghai

Looking up: How to achieve "accompanying" content delivery?

Li Dingzhen: For example, on rainy days, we will replace "I Love Shanghai" with a raindrop version, making people feel that the architectural complex is alive, not cold. I hope that through the content we post, everyone can feel that the Window of the City is always breathing and sharing the same fate with the viewers, friendly and warm.

Upper view: You have been emphasizing a sense of immersion and the need for cities to connect with people. So how do you view the role played by the Window of the City in it?

Li Dingzhen: In my personal opinion, the first term for a landmark is "earth", which means its physical meaning, its location, and its objective existence; The second one is "biao", which is a perceptual understanding that endows certain value through the displayed content. By connecting and colliding with the people in the city through the displayed content, people's memories of it are formed, which forms "biao".

So when we operate the "Window of the City", we cherish the viewing experience of every citizen and every tourist, because we leave traces in the lives of citizens and tourists. From this perspective, operating a city window is shaping landmarks and is a responsibility.

It serves as both a benchmark for bustling commercial districts and a living room for the city

Benchmarking against Times Square, the Chinese model is the global leader

Looking up: We know that in many developed countries, urban screens have been used for a long time. A few years ago, many Chinese companies were very proud to be able to show their faces in Times Square, New York. What are the models of large screens in foreign cities worth learning from?

Li Dingzhen: We acted as an agent for the commercial screens in Times Square, New York many years ago. The scene setting of Times Square in New York is bold and groundbreaking, with their screens fully open 24 hours a day, becoming a part of the urban scene. Through this non-stop large screen playback, it reflects the bustling atmosphere of New York and conveys the American culture and business atmosphere behind it.

But Chinese culture is different, and the way of expression is also different. We pursue implicit expression, and our urban planning is also both dynamic and static. Therefore, in the shaping of night scenes in China, there are two forms: first, commercial districts, such as the Huaihai Road commercial district in Shanghai, set up various advertising screens like Times Square to place commercial brand advertisements, forming a visual impact; The second is the urban reception hall, which mainly reflects the city's image and culture, forms a good interaction with citizens, tells the city story well, and has good commercial elements and products involved, forming a mutually beneficial effect. Our city's window is closer to the latter.

If the placement of Times Square is like soft drinks, then the window of the city is more like Chinese tea. Drinking it will make you feel sweet, and after watching the big screen, you can still ponder and ponder, which is still not enough.

"Earth Hour" activity @ Guangzhou

Looking up: Compared to international standards, where is our gap?

Li Dingzhen: Currently, the best hardware made is Times Square in New York, with multiple screens and shapes, suitable for various dynamic displays; The best software is Tokyo Shibuya, located at the world's top intersection with the highest traffic. They use the software to capture people and screens on site for interaction, giving viewers a strong sense of immersion.

But the Chinese model is quite different. In terms of coverage, our skyline screen effect should be one of the best in the world. A single building is generally over 5000 square meters, with a coverage range of one or two kilometers. At the same time, there are about 10000 people who can see the screen in a non crowded state, which is quite rare in foreign countries. In terms of advertising content, it is incredible for them to combine the government of TO G, the citizens of TO C, and the business of TO B. They do not have such a model. In this sense, the Chinese model is globally leading.

Adhere to independent development and continuously empower with technology

Exploring New Business Models for National Immersion

Looking up: This year, there have been more interactive experiences such as mobile phone scanning and VR in the city window, indicating that the city window is also keeping up with the times. Especially under the impact of the Internet, how to maintain the competitiveness of outdoor launch?

Li Dingzhen: When it comes to development, we have always focused on one key keyword: technology. Since five or six years ago, we have realized the need for a standardized system. After consulting with many suppliers in the market, we found that they couldn't meet our needs, so the team decided to create our own original research and development.

This is based on the particularity of the content of the Window of the City. For example, we have a large amount of video content and urban scene content that needs to be reviewed, while traditional enterprise OA review is basically text submission review. We need to combine explicit materials with scenes.

Based on this demand, we have divided the operation of landmark media into five stages: content collection, content review, broadcast control management, monitoring and shooting, and post production reporting, and developed our own system.

Upper view: Does this system include the mobile interaction mentioned earlier?

Li Dingzhen: There are two stages in mobile interaction, and the first stage is watching. We have launched a program list that allows us to watch what kind of programs on time and on time. The second is to enhance the experience, such as adding practical enhancements to AR and creating interactive experiences.

Through this system, we can obtain our own big data: which nodes, who, and how many people watch program push notifications. On this basis, the content of government services, public welfare needs, and business needs is summarized, and through intelligent sorting technology, the content is reasonably allocated to different time points every night, and customized content is accurately delivered.

China Aerospace Day event @ Chengdu

Upper view: What is the effect of interaction?

Li Dingzhen: Very good. In 2019, the CIIE held an investment roadshow on the Bund, and many leaders from Beijing attended. They interacted with the big screen and saw this form for the first time. After returning, the leaders kept asking how to achieve such an effect in Beijing.

This year, we are also deeply cooperating with the United Nations Children's Fund, organizing on-site interactions with personnel, and have also received positive feedback. We also filmed and edited the on-site content into videos, placed them on their official homepage, and conducted secondary dissemination.

Looking up: In the future, what else should the window of the city do?

Li Dingzhen: From the second half of this year to next year, we will choose important nodes to hold events in 20 provincial capitals across the country, achieving nationwide linkage. City landmarks together tell the story of a major event or event in China, but each city landmark is telling its own city story.

We hope to convey the important concept of "People's City, People's Building, People's City for the People" through landmarks. We believe that three "new" can be summarized: first, new expressions. Expressing with a brand new night scene, making people feel that the content is dynamic; The second is a new experience. By interacting and releasing future program listings, people's sense of participation is enhanced; The third is new consumption. Commercial brands can be exposed here through QR codes or push notifications, cultivating a new consumer entry point.

Combining these three factors, we want to make advertising soft and unconsciously integrate it into the content. Everything we see from turning on the lights to the end is comfortable and natural, which is our future vision.