special report
Making Connections
Smartphones and digital devices are giving airports a run for
their money as they vie for passenger attention in today's
increasingly digital world. To penetrate passengers' technology
cocoons, airports need to forge a few virtual connections
c
By David W. Saleme, A.A.E.
onnecting with passengers
in a busy airport environment is critical to facility
owners---not only to provide
directional and flight information,
but also to maximize non-aviation
revenue generation through advertising and marketing opportunities,
communicate safety and regulatory
messages, and provide information
about the community beyond the four
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airportbusiness April 2013
corners of the airport. Making these
connections is not as easy as it seems,
however. Competing messages from a
variety of digital platforms, and even
the behavior patterns of the travelers'
themselves, complicate this task.
Many passengers travel within a
"technology cocoon" that began to
develop years ago with laptops, and
is now virtually complete with smartphones and tablets. Within this cocoon,
passengers tend to focus on these
devices and less on their surrounding
environment. This technology cocoon
represents an imaginary surface that is
different than airports are traditionally
accustomed to addressing.
There are two options to help
airports penetrate this technology
cocoon. The first strategy addresses
utilizing mobile platforms to engage
passengers within their cocoons. The
second focuses on developing facility
kiosks to help draw passengers out of
them. Both methods directly engage
passengers, and provide information,
marketing, and even entertainment, as
passengers move through the terminal.