As interactive kiosks become an increasingly important part of integrated communications, PR professionals will play a crucial rule in ensuring that this marketing tool isn't merely eye candy - but that there is a message or brand that's crafted for mass appeal conveyed in the content.
A kiosk can be used for entertainment, point-of-sales transactions, corporate branding or as just an informational stopover. And they don't just rear their cubic heads at trade shows and conventions - they also make appearances at train stations, airports, hotels, universities and chambers of commerce.
What all of these venues have in common is key to why there's been an increasing reliance on kiosks: they're ideal when you're trying to reach large groups of people and are, by their nature, a noble component in your customer relations mix.
Their merit in the PR/marketing realm is that they are able to store huge volumes of digital data, leaving the user with the choice as to what kind of content and how much information he or she wants to access. But here, a word of caution: because of their ability to hold so much information, you need to make sure you turn to skilled consultants who can create "an elegant interface," according to Steve Rothman, president and creative director of CCG MetaMedia, Inc., a New-York firm that has created kiosks for a number of pharmaceuticals including Pfizer [PFE], New York. "You want to invite someone to use it - not have a device that's going to frustrate them."
"You need to remember that the message is the draw - not the software," adds Jeff Kemph, director of Atlanta-based InterMedia, a 12-person division of Crawford Communications Inc., that has been perfecting the art of kiosks since they burst onto the business scene in the 1980s and became an extension of marketing/PR in the past few years.
What makes kiosks so attractive is that their success isn't tied to specific industries or to large niche corporations (some smaller companies even use them in sales presentations, running mini kiosks from their laptops.)
Today's companies are spending anywhere from $3,000 to $9,000 for one-time software, setup, crew and rental costs, according to Benton Bullwinkel, president of EZ Media and the creator of a slot-machine kiosk for client Texaco [TX], that comes together as one screen through nine monitors. (Even though this kiosk comes with an entertainment twist, it's still brand reinforcement because when a player wins three Texaco stars, he or she wins a prize to the backdrop of Texaco's theme song.)
Although it's been commonplace for some companies to try to buy kiosks outright, what's most prudent is for companies to rent them since they could end up investing in monstrous pieces of technology for which they have no other use. Short-term deals also help businesses set up an ongoing relationship with companies they outsource kiosk projects to, leaving them partly responsible for making sure kiosks are moved from place to place and that they run.
As a PR exec, generally you won't be responsible for these kinds of details - but you should be at the planning table when content ideas are being brainstormed and later when content is being developed. And, according to Kemph, you should adhere to these basic rules:
- Keep navigation as flat as possible;
- Limit content to two or three levels; and
- Create something that will allow users to cycle through within two to five minutes.
Kiosks lose their zip after a while. They are also devices that need occasional upkeep (whether it be updating content or assembly and troubleshooting) and need to be staged in an area with adequate ventilation. But most importantly, they need to offer compelling content.
Case in point: among InterMedia's clients is the Association of Tennis Professionals which for six years used informational kiosks at its tour sites to reach consumers, the press and players. The kiosks featured a "Head-to-Head" feature permitting users to pit, before matches, two players against one another and tap into their competitive histories.
The kiosks were set up in players' lounges, concourses, hospitality suites and press rooms. While they were being used at the U.S. Open, it's estimated that hundreds of selections (tracking is based on whether a user made a choice - versus touched something from the main menu) were made. But herein lies the kiosk caveat: the effectiveness of a kiosk can't be merely based on measurements such as this, according to industry leaders interviewed by PR NEWS.
What makes kiosks such unique PR/marketing electronic animals is that you have to think outside of the traditional boundaries you've been leashed to with other PR tools such as press kits or media junkets. And you have to welcome the kiosk as a member of the integrated communications family - not set it aside as some funky transactional terminal handled by techies.
"You really need a buy-in from managers," Kemph adds. "It needs to be implemented into your overall strategy because to the degree that you don't do that is the degree at which you fail - not because the application is bad but because it doesn't have support from the people in the environment where it's being used."
The Evolution of Kiosks
In the past few years, multimedia products have been greatly improved and kiosks, as one of them, are no longer unwieldy tools, says Michael Smith, VP of PR for E.James White, a Herndon, Va. firm. But Smith and cohorts Carrie Edwards and Mona Peloquin are quick to point out that companies should undertake market research to find out whether a kiosk would serve their target demographic.
Bill MacElroy, president of Socratic Technoligies, http://www.sotech.com, recommends that for companies using kiosks for a one-shot deal, they handle research in house if they have such a division. But for long-term projects, he recommends that corporations or agencies earmark $4,500-$15,000 (depending on the scope of the query) on a contractual relationship with a firm that will head the market research project for them.
Regardless of which route you use, MacElroy suggests:
- Allowing about six weeks for the study;
- Polling or surveying attendees at trade shows and finding out if they found, through kiosks, the content they were looking for; and
- Dismissing the idea that certain generations or gender of customers are likely to be technophobes and not receptive to kiosks.
Face-to-Face Communications
Considering that it's a highly mechanized and computerized contraption, it might strike you as odd that part of the benefit of a kiosk - which is unquestionably both a technology darling and marketing newcomer - ties into savvy face-to-face communications.
Take, for example, that Amtrak generated leads for 60 confirmed bookings through a manned kiosk at Union Station Chicago from April to July of this year as part of its Vacation Station program, according to Susan Gawrikuka, director of leisure products marketing for Amtrak Vacations. (Intermedia, 800/831-8027; EZ Media, 312/930-5000; CCG, 212/268-2100; Pfizer, 212/573-1332; Amtrak, 312/655-3168; E.James White, 703/318-8000; Socratic, 415/648-2802)
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Kiosks Boost Public Affairs Efforts
Kiosks are often excellent public affairs tools. At the National Conference of State Legislatures two weeks ago in Philadelphia, Pfizer found a way to soft-pedal its philanthropic face by giving legislators some useful nuggets of information. At its booth, Pfizer used a kiosk as a public affairs tool by breaking down, according to state, the number of free drug donations its made in certain regions, according to Rebecca Tillet, associate director for community projects.
"We don't look at our kiosks for simply tracking numbers," Tillet says. "We're more concerned about the impact overall. If you take this out of the mix, who knows what price tag or visibility we'll lose - how in the world do you measure something like that? But we know if it's not there we've missed a chance to interact with these legislators who have responded to them [the kiosks which have been used three times] positively and with whom we've had conversations." |