Toronto Port Authority Goes Digital
The Toronto Port Authority, owner and operator of Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport (BBTCA), has partnered with BLACK to develop a digital experience for travellers using the airport.
The experience will involve the development of a unique mobile-optimized app that will serve as a concierge to deliver customized content and information that reflects the unique desires and demands of travellers. The experience will also extend beyond the personal screen to larger digital screens that will be installed throughout the mainland passenger atrium, pedestrian tunnel, and island-side atrium, all of which will be completed in early 2015.
“This digital experience is being designed to create a narrative journey for travellers that will extend from home or hotel to the airport curb, gate, and beyond to their ultimate destination,” said Dean Black, president and CEO, BLACK. “Screens will be situated along the journey through the airport and a custom-designed app will enable travellers to engage and interact with the digital content. Advertisers and content creators will be able to target information and messages that are relevant to the individual traveller and pertinent to the journey they are taking ensuring greater levels of retention and awareness.”
State-of-the-art digital LED and LCD screens will be installed on both exterior and interior spaces throughout the mainland passenger atrium and along the path to the elevators that bring passengers down into the tunnel that links to the island-side atrium. Eight 30 x 3-foot screens will be installed along the tunnel walls, enabling travellers who are walking along the pathway or standing on the moving sidewalks to view and engage with the screens as they make the four-minute journey under the Western Gap to the island-side atrium. Travellers will exit the tunnel via escalators and emerge at ground-level where they will see and interact with additional screens.
Travellers to Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport will be encouraged to download the free BBTCA app which will offer concierge-type services and provide curated content that they have indicated is important to them and which will assist with their travel. This content will include traffic, weather, way-finding, estimated wait times at various points in the airport, travel suggestions, restaurant recommendations and flight information.
“This initiative will provide the opportunity to bring a new level of innovation to the airport that will have a direct and positive influence on the traveller experience,” said Geoffrey Wilson, president and CEO, Toronto Port Authority. “Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport is an important asset to this city and has been embraced by travellers because it offers a convenient, efficient and friendly approach to travel. The opening of the tunnel will make travel even easier at the airport and the digital experience that will accompany the traveller on their journey will add value and drive engagement by offering relevant information, tools and services.”
