This past week I traveled back home to the left coast to spend some quality time with family. I experienced the regular unpleasantness of the airport of shuttling, standing, waiting and walking. Just past security an large, blue advertisement caught my eye. I found this:
If you can't read the fine print, (sorry for the picture quality, How to Take an Effective Smartphone Picture Skillset coming soon to a blogger near you) it read
"Experts agree that as little as 30 minutes of brisk walking can do wonders for your health. To get more walking into your day: use the stairs instead of the elevator, get off a bus one or two stops early and walk, when shopping or commuting park at the far end of the parking lot"
On the other side of the sign reads a suggestion to take a map to walk between health stations located throughout Logan Airport. What particularly struck me about this was how effective it was in reframing a common customer pain point. People in the airport are almost always grumpy simply due to the unenthusiastic air of the airport, and hauling around luggage surely doesn't help.
I think that this is effective because it can improve the mood of the viewer regardless of how they interact with it. If the viewer buys in, grabs a map and has a walking adventure, fantastic! They're sure to not be disapointed (as of writing this article I've discovered from Steward that there are stations to evaluate blood pressure and BMI at the other walking points). If the viewer simply reads the sign and carries on however, their travel to thier gate is no longer a forced march. Instantly the idea that they are doing something healthy by walking is implanted into their mind, and I think most people will get some small satisfaction from the reminder that although they had to walk a distance, it was a healthy "choice" for their body.
This is an example of how focusing on the positive (notice how there is no mention of a customer having to walk an uncomfortable distance) can make someone almost enjoy a task they previously would have disliked. Instead of solving the problem directly, the airport simply changed the way the customer perceives the (former) problem.
s"Experts agree that as little as 30 minutes of brisk walking can do wonders for your health. To get more walking into your day: use the stairs instead of the elevator, get off a bus one or two stops early and walk, when shopping or commuting park at the far end of the parking lot"
On the other side of the sign reads a suggestion to take a map to walk between health stations located throughout Logan Airport. What particularly struck me about this was how effective it was in reframing a common customer pain point. People in the airport are almost always grumpy simply due to the unenthusiastic air of the airport, and hauling around luggage surely doesn't help.
I think that this is effective because it can improve the mood of the viewer regardless of how they interact with it. If the viewer buys in, grabs a map and has a walking adventure, fantastic! They're sure to not be disapointed (as of writing this article I've discovered from Steward that there are stations to evaluate blood pressure and BMI at the other walking points). If the viewer simply reads the sign and carries on however, their travel to thier gate is no longer a forced march. Instantly the idea that they are doing something healthy by walking is implanted into their mind, and I think most people will get some small satisfaction from the reminder that although they had to walk a distance, it was a healthy "choice" for their body.
This is an example of how focusing on the positive (notice how there is no mention of a customer having to walk an uncomfortable distance) can make someone almost enjoy a task they previously would have disliked. Instead of solving the problem directly, the airport simply changed the way the customer perceives the (former) problem.