Dynamo LED Displays built interactive LED tickers for the Paco Rabanne Phantom fragrance launch at Selfridges in London, Manchester and Birmingham. Shoppers scanned a QR code, typed a message on a Phantom-branded web page and watched it scroll across the 3mm tickers within seconds, with software Dynamo wrote to screen every message before it appeared.
Updated October 2026. Case study first published October 2021.
Project facts
| Client | Paco Rabanne, for the launch campaign of the Phantom fragrance |
|---|---|
| Sites | Selfridges stores in London, Manchester and Birmingham, 2021; the main window of the Oxford Street store (built 1909) was the most prominent |
| Displays | Custom 3mm interactive LED tickers in two units: one split into three segments and one split into two double-sided segments |
| Interaction | A QR code per store opened a Phantom-branded web page where shoppers typed a message that appeared on the tickers |
| Software | Dynamo-written cloud software with artificial-intelligence screening of every message, client-set banned terms and toxicity thresholds, and controls for fonts, colour, scroll speed and the default message |
| Scope | Design, software, supply, installation and support by Dynamo LED Displays |
The brief: a shop window that answers back
The Phantom launch was built around a chrome robot-shaped bottle, and the campaign wanted the window to feel alive rather than printed. The brief was for LED tickers that would scroll the brand message on their own, then switch to whatever a passer-by had just typed on their phone, in every Selfridges store at once, without a member of staff approving each line. That meant custom hardware and custom software.
What Dynamo built
Custom 3mm tickers in segments and double-sided units
The tickers were built as two separate units at 3mm pixel pitch. One was split into three segments and the other into two double-sided segments, so a single unit could show text to the street and to the shop floor at the same time. The strips were stacked in rows across the window, and rows one, three, five and seven alternated between the Paco Rabanne call to action and the messages shoppers had sent. This is the kind of custom LED display Dynamo builds when a stock ticker shape will not fit the design.
Scan, type, see it on the wall
Each store had its own QR code on the window. Scanning it opened a Phantom-branded web page with a single box: type your message and send. The text appeared on the tickers straight away, with emojis and the Phantom logo supported, and stayed on screen for five minutes before the Phantom colour gradient took over again. The tickers read as a conversation with the window rather than as advertising, which is why people stopped.
Software that screens every message before it shows
Letting the public write on a shop window needs a filter. Dynamo wrote the cloud software behind the tickers to pass every message through an artificial-intelligence check for inappropriate content, plus a list of words and terms the client did not want to see. The client logged into the back end to set how strict the toxicity threshold was, ban a term outright, and change the fonts, text colour, scroll speed and the default message that ran when nobody was typing. The same remote control is standard on the LED display CMS Dynamo supplies today.
Three stores, one campaign
The same system ran in the London, Manchester and Birmingham stores. In the beauty halls the tickers wrapped around a freestanding Phantom display, with the robot bottle on a plinth and strips of messages on both sides, so the in-store units did the same job as the Oxford Street window. Our LED shopfront page and our guide to window advertising with LED screens cover how a display like this is mounted behind glass.
Current Dynamo options for a shop window LED ticker
Dynamo builds LED tickers from 80 mm to 960 mm tall, with 94 mm and 250 mm the standard heights, and the LEDs are rated for 100,000 hours. For a 250 mm ticker the current default is the DIT Pro P1.9, with the DX Series as the alternative. The figures below are per 1 m × 250 mm cabinet; DIT Pro figures are from the supplier specification and DX figures from the DX Series datasheet.
| Model | Pixel pitch | Height | Pixels per 1 m × 250 mm cabinet | Brightness | Suited to |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| DIT Pro P1.9 | 1.95mm | 250 mm | 512 × 128 px | 600 nits | In-store tickers read from a metre or two, small type and emojis |
| DX2.5 | 2.5mm | 250 mm | 400 × 100 px | 800 nits or more | Window tickers read from the pavement |
| DX3.9 | 3.9mm | 250 mm | 256 × 64 px | 800 nits or more | Long runs read from across the street |
See the pixel pitch guide for choosing a pitch from the reading distance, and scrolling LED displays for the simpler single-message tickers.
Related Dynamo LED ticker projects
- LED tickers in the Harrods windows, Knightsbridge
- Event LED tickers for Hermès Brides de Galaxy
- Formula 1 timing LED ticker
- 77 m LED ticker at Bob Bob Cité restaurant, London
- Audemars Piguet LED screen hire at Harrods
Interactive LED tickers: frequently asked questions
What is an interactive LED ticker?
An LED ticker that shows messages sent by the public rather than only pre-loaded content. At Selfridges, shoppers scanned a QR code on the window, typed a message on a branded web page and saw it scroll across the Phantom tickers within seconds. The hardware is a standard scrolling LED ticker; the interaction comes from the software and the web page behind it.
How do shoppers send a message to the ticker?
By scanning a QR code printed on the window or display, which opens a web page branded for the campaign with a single text box. Each Selfridges store had its own QR code so messages appeared on the right tickers. No app download is needed, and the page can also carry a link to the product. Messages can include emojis and a campaign logo.
How are inappropriate messages kept off the screen?
Every message passes through screening software before it is shown. Dynamo’s software for the Phantom campaign used an artificial-intelligence check for offensive content plus a list of banned words and terms set by the client, who could adjust how strict the toxicity threshold was from a cloud back end. Anything that failed was blocked and never reached the window.
How long does each message stay on the ticker?
On the Phantom tickers a shopper’s message ran for five minutes, then the Phantom colour gradient and the brand call to action took over until the next message arrived. The display time, the default message, the fonts, the text colour and the scroll speed were all set by the client in the software, so a quieter store could hold messages longer than Oxford Street.
Can an LED ticker be split into segments or made double-sided?
Yes. The Selfridges tickers were two custom units: one split into three segments and one into two double-sided segments, so one unit faced the street and the shop floor at once. Rows of tickers can run different content, as the Phantom window did with alternating rows, and each segment is addressed by the controller as its own zone.
What pixel pitch does a shop window LED ticker need?
Match it to the reading distance. The Phantom tickers were 3mm, read from the pavement and the beauty hall. For a ticker that shoppers read from a metre or two, 1.9mm to 2.5mm gives sharp small type and emojis; a long run read from across the street can use 3.9mm. Finer pitch adds pixels and cost without a visible gain at distance.
Get a quote for an interactive LED ticker
Tell us the window or display size, how many stores, what you want shoppers to be able to send and how long the campaign runs, and we will come back with a ticker design, a pixel pitch, the software approach and a written quote. Get a quote or call 020 3489 9878.
