Billboard screens on the side of city buildings say "Morgan Stanley salutes NASA's Mars Rover Landing"

Perseverance Landing

As a leader on the space and space exploration economy, Morgan Stanley came to Framestore Labs in order to mark a partnership with NASA and the Perseverance Rover’s Mars landing using the LED digital signage installed at the financial services firm’s headquarters in Times Square.

Digital Signage

Turned around in just three weeks, new graphics templates for the screens were designed by the Morgan Stanley team and optimised by Framestore Labs to include a live feed. The software that drives the displays was also updated to allow the stream, meaning those in the iconic New York location saw the probe’s landing on the red planet on four of the seven LED screens that adorn the firm’s headquarters. 

With its partnership with NASA and because the topic is an important pillar of Morgan Stanley’s 2021 messaging, this live streaming of the Perseverance’s landing is just the first in a number of events themed around space exploration that the firm will feature on its headquarters throughout the year. To enable this as effectively as possible, the Framestore Labs team is working closely with Morgan Stanley to build the most robust streaming system so more live feeds can be played out on the digital signage setup. 

The impressive digital signage display was installed by the Framestore Labs team in 2015. The implementation included the creation of a custom hardware system that allows Morgan Stanley to efficiently create content and combine it with various data inputs and visualisations which are displayed in Framestore-designed templates and graphics. 

large screens covering cityscapes that are promoting the mars explorer perseverance

Since its installation, the global financial services firm has worked closely with Framestore to create new templates to mark a number of significant occasions, whether cultural or for entertainment - like the #EagleUp campaign around the The Players Championship golf tournament - and internally, including the bank’s profile on its intake of new interns.

Commenting on the event being live-streaming into Times Square, Jonny Dixon, Global Head of Production, Framestore Labs said; ‘even during a pandemic where tourist spots and landmarks might be quieter than usual, Morgan Stanley’s LED displays are such an important part of the iconic Times Square that it was keen to keep sharing information as well as using the screens to mark this and a number of other upcoming culturally significant moments.’

Share this case study