Case Study: EKO Creative Spaces

Building Conference Rooms and Visibility Tools for a Fast-Growing Retail Innovator

When retail technology company EKO set out to revolutionize commercial video content, they turned to a familiar partner—Midtown Video. They already had an impressive foundation in place: their team had engineered a series of next-generation automated studios capable of producing 8K product videos with a level of detail that brings shoppers right into the experience.

EKO envisioned multiple studio spaces capable of automating product video production at scale, while giving remote and on-site teams live visibility into every stage of the creative process. As they expanded their operations in both Brooklyn and Bentonville, EKO needed conference rooms and collaboration spaces that matched the speed and ambition of their creative culture; we were happy to help them, just as we have for over a decade.

Learn about what we did below.

The Goal

EKO was moving fast. The team had secured a new floor in their Brooklyn headquarters while also launching an 8K automated production facility in Bentonville. They needed:

Reliable conference rooms that could join Google Meet and Microsoft Teams without confusion
Video systems that felt natural and intuitive for all users
A way for internal teams to see live studio activity across the building and for remote teams to monitor, demo, and collaborate
A solution that supports on-site creativity and global visibility

In short, EKO wanted spaces that supported the same energy and innovation that drive their automated product-content studios. At its core, the project demanded a system that felt effortless for content creators to use but robust enough to support professional-grade, multi-camera production and broadcast-level quality.

Challenges & Solutions

Conference rooms seem simple until they need to satisfy real-world creative teams. EKO’s leadership wanted rooms that worked instantly for anyone, ranging from executives and producers to contractors and visiting partners, without technical hurdles.

Midtown Video, led by Jesse Miller, collaborated with EKO’s technology leads to design and implement a solution that delivered reliability and creativity. This project required collaboration, user discovery, and thoughtful fine-tuning to accurately reflect how EKO operates on a day-to-day basis.

Training And Tailoring The System

Midtown Video does more than simply install hardware and walk away. We met with EKO’s internal stakeholders, including team leads and room owners, to understand how each space should function. We asked questions, then we trained them, walked them through features, and adjusted room behaviors based on honest feedback.

How should the camera behave during a brainstorm session?
What should happen when five people enter the room instead of two?
Which platform will they join the most—Google Meet, Zoom, or Teams—and how should it appear on the touch panel?

For instance, the team initially found the automatic camera switching jarring, so we reconfigured the system to use auto-framing only, allowing cameras to zoom dynamically based on the number of people in the room without cutting to different angles mid-meeting.

Managing A Glass-Wall Camera Complication

One of EKO’s Brooklyn conference rooms features a large glass wall with workstations on the other side. The Neat camera kept detecting movement outside the room and tried to include those people in its auto-framing logic.

Using Neat Pulse, the cloud-based management platform, we logged in remotely to narrow the camera’s field of view. The camera was told, quite literally, “The room ends here. Ignore anything past this point.” The result? Perfect framing with zero distractions.

Technical Contributions

NDI + RTMP Visibility Layer

While EKO engineered the studios, Midtown created the visibility system that ties them into the rest of the organization. This allowed every feed, from product close-ups to wide production shots, to be instantly available to editors, directors, and support staff anywhere within the building.

Every studio camera feed is encoded to NDI for high-quality, low-latency video transport over the local network.
Live RTMP distribution for remote production and global sales teams
A clean, reliable workflow allowing leadership, creatives, and partners to observe studio activity in real time

Multiview Monitoring

One of the most impressive elements of the project was the Multiview display. Building visitors and staff can view what’s happening in each of the studios at a glance, giving them a live, bird’s-eye perspective on content creation in action.

Remote Access Application

EKO’s Head of IT (and longtime Midtown collaborator), Josh Wright, developed a custom application that took the concept one step further. The app empowers remote sales and creative teams to show potential clients the same live NDI feeds from any location around the globe. The solution provides EKO with a new level of transparency and engagement, turning their studio operations into a living showcase of retail creativity.

A Partnership Built on Trust

This project continues a relationship that began in 2014 with Ben Kaufman and Josh Wright. Through Quirky, Product Labs, Camp, and now EKO, the Midtown team has helped support the AV backbone of every new chapter.

In Brooklyn, Midtown completed seven conference rooms and an all-hands space. In Bentonville, three more rooms support EKO’s collaboration hub.

Another favorite feature among staff is the “Rudoren Room,” featuring a custom table built from stacked pallets with a glass top, which serves as a tribute to the design aesthetic that has followed Ben and Josh since their Quirky days.

The Result

EKO’s studios were already powerful; Midtown simply improved visibility and functionality. EKO’s new collaboration spaces are simple to use, thoughtfully tuned, and fully aligned with how their teams work. Their studio visibility system gives internal and remote partners a living window into production. And when EKO grows again, they already know who to call.

At Midtown Video, we call that “Totally Awesome Systems.”

Interested in transforming your studio or collaboration space? Contact Midtown Video to start your project.