Just got back from 24 hours in Vegas (hence the lack of posting). The folks at America West airlines (which I almost never fly – the airline, not the folks) have decided to rent out the surfaces of their tray tables to advertisers. At first I was taken aback as I’d never seen it, but pretty soon I got used to it. (I found it less distracting than the religious messages in Alaska Airlines meals.) Once I got used to it I took a look at the ad, in this case from Splenda.

At first I thought the folks at Splenda had done something clever by acknowledging the surroundings of the ad. It starts off: “Once upon a middle seat”. I was looking at the tray in front of the middle seat. Smart! But then (before even reading the rest) I glanced over at the window seat and they too had the same copy. What a missed opportunity to take advantage of a truly captive audience with something entertaining and contextual. They started down that path by acknowledging the setting, but then they came up short. To be fair they were better than the ads for technology we saw on the way back that were just standard airport billboards made tray-size.

I guess I’d like to see more creativity, and more acknowledgement that the user is stuck there. Perhaps some puzzles? More reading material that is less promotional and more entertaining? I wonder what the ads will look like when they are eventually put on the insides of my eyelids?