Our History

In 2003 while an Executive at Panasonic North America, Chris Pelzar was charged with developing vertical markets for the Panasonic Systems Solutions Company. The Systems Group focused on System Solutions in several different business markets that capitalized on the great products that Panasonic manufactured. The Systems Group specialized in Systems Integration, Education, Large Scale LED Displays, Sports Coaching Computerized Video and Digital Signage. After much success including Systems sold to Petco Park, The San Francisco Giants, The New York Yankees, Milwaukee Brewers and The Chicago Cubs in Sports Coaching and the landmark deal with Princess Cruise using Large LED Boards installed over the pool areas of their newest ships for their “Movies Under the Stars” program, the focus turned to the emerging market of Digital Signage for Retail and Stadium Venues utilizing Panasonic developed Software called NM Stage and Panasonic Plasma displays.

Also In 2003 Chris Pelzar’s Panasonic Group hired a long time associate of his, Mr. Brad Eisenhaure who joined Panasonic as Business Development Manager for Digital Signage. Chris Pelzar and Brad Eisenhaure had worked together over the past (18) years and Brad’ s Creative, Sales and Technical ability were needed in order to enter the next phase of the Panasonic’s Solutions Groups goals in Digital Signage. Together while at Panasonic, Chris Pelzar and Brad Eisenhaure developed and branded Panasonic’s retailTV which was the companies first foray into the Digital Signage market using Panasonic’s market leading Plasma Displays and software developed in Japan called NM Stage. With clients such as Mercedes Benz US, Hyatt, Costco, Burberry, True Value Hardware, McDonald’s, Simon Properties, The Mattress Firm, Blue Man Group and the The Metropolitan Opera plus several more. Panasonic’s retailTV was established with great success.

Pro Audio & Music

Prior to joining Panasonic Chris Pelzar and Brad Eisenhaure had worked together for some 18 years at various points with different companies in the Professional Audio Industry targeting Music Recording, Post Production and Film facilities throughout North America. Chris Pelzar held positions of Executive VP at Siemens AMS Neve, VP, VP of Broadcast and eventually President of Euphonix and CEO of Fairlight USA. Brad Eisenhaure had worked at Avid Technologies, Solid State Logic and launched the Fairlight East Coast office setting new standards in customer service and support providing tremendous growth for Fairlight. While at Neve, Chris worked with all of the largest Music Recording Studios and Post Production Facilities for Television and Film in the world. Successful projects under his management like The Hit Factory, Conway, Warner Brothers, Lucas Film, Henninger, Sound One, ESPN, NBC, CBS, Right Track Recording, The Nashville Network taught Chris that technology is a tool and that tools need to work in order to bring the Creative Vision alive. Technology has to be an enabler and not an obstacle. This basic fundamental understanding of this High Technology Business led to working with some of the most successful integrations in the world by employing and always focusing on a talented technical staff that could work with the world’s best operators in any of the Media Fields the companies products were deployed in.

“In many ways over the years, I have always been involved in emerging technologies” said Chris Pelzar, CEO of Activate The Space. “When I first started in the Music, Broadcast and Post Production business, it was all analog technologies that were used. Over several years the transition was to first record in Digital through Computers and then process and edit everything in Digital with the use of Digital Audio Consoles from Neve, SSL and eventually Euphonix.” added Chris. Digital Technology led to Networking Technology and within a matter of a few short years the transitions in those industries was complete.

With the ability to Digitize and move large chunks of data over a LAN and eventually through the Internet the cornerstone technology of most Digital Signage Systems was cast and the uses of a wider range of Media was established. Activate The Space sees the same transition in the Digital Signage business when compared to the Static Image Graphic uses in most retail stores for decades. While Graphics are still a major part of the Retail Experience, no one can deny that Digital in the form of Video and Motion Graphics has taken a major position in most Retail Store deployments if not a dominant one. The ability to remotely control and update content as well make it active and engaging though Motion, changes the paradigm for most retailers. Add a Social Media Component to the mix and you have the core engagement Technologies to communicate with your customers and in many cases have them communicate back to you.

To Activate The Space, designing and providing Enabling Technologies to the Digital Signage Business whether it be a Large Scale Outdoor LED or a Retail Store Flagship draws many parallels from the history of Chris Pelzar and Brad Eisenhaure in the Pro Audio Post and Music Business. Working with Artists like Gloria Estefan, Eddie Van Halen, Puff Daddy or James Taylor have been replaced by the Brands we work with today. The Brands are the Rock Stars and the Producers, Directors and Engineers have been replaced with the Architects, Advertising Agencies, Construction Managers and Brand Managers we work with daily. To us, the result of an Artists work in the form of an Album or Film has morphed into the creation of a Flag Ship Store and Brand Experience for our clients.

The dedication to making sure the Drum Track was right and recorded properly has been replaced by the execution required to integrate our Visual Systems into a Brands Design Vision. Although Activate The Space is a technology company, we are in our heart a Creative Company focused on the end result and excellence throughout the process with our highly valued clients. We are a collaborative company seeking to work with other Creatives to Activate their visions. The same as it has been for the ATS founders for decades.

Today and the Future

Activate The Space has been around for 15 years + and we still feel like we are just getting started. With several projects under their belts with retailTV, Chris Pelzar left Panasonic in 2005 and formed a consulting and project entity specializing in Digital Signage design and deployments. With great success, Chris Pelzar was hired as a consultant to The Miami Dolphins for negotiating a purchase of some (5000) Flat Panel Displays for their newly renovated Dolphins Stadium project.

Working with several companies including Panasonic, Sharp, HP and Dell enabled Chris Pelzar to further strengthen his relationships with many of the main manufacturers in the Flat Panel business. Chris Pelzar also consulted on several projects for Kaizen Multi Media including their Oil Lube network entitled Car Care Channel and managed the installation of their test program in (40) Oil Lube Centers across the United States. With other work from Digital Content Services, RMS Networks and Mercedes Benz US, the time had come to expand and add staff in order to continue to grow the company. In late 2006 Chris brought in Brad Eisenhaure as it’s VP Of Creative and opened up expanded facilities in Connecticut. By the end of the summer in 2007, a combination of clients including Mercedes Benz US, Panasonic, RW Work, The Museum Of Television and Radio, The Metropolitan Opera, Macy’s, Victoria Secret, Verizon Wireless and Gymboree, had created tremendous opportunities born out of the Custom Hardware Designs by Chris Pelzar and Content Creation from Brad Eisenhaure in a very short timeframe.

By forming this company, Activate The Space has significantly improved its capabilities as one of the finest in this young industry. The history of the groups individuals is strong and the future exciting. Simply put, the Activate The Space Management Team has decades of experience and relationships from every sector required whether Technical or Creative to produce “Best Of Class” products, projects and programming. Activate The Space has a single goal. That goal is to “Exceed Our Customers Expectations”. Activate The Space has the Relationships, Pedigree, History, Know-how and Talent to get your job done and we are hopeful to have that opportunity. No matter the size of the project or even if customers are looking to buy our unique products and handle their own design and integration, Activate The Space is ready to deliver and work with you to make your project or purchase exceptional in every way.