Almost- Samsung, Proactiv, Sprint

I did a fair bit of traveling last week and thus spent a good deal of time thinking about airport advertising. While it seems they've got the idea of "add value" and appropriate sponsorship down pat, there's still a whole lot of bad advertising, wasted money, and poorly-thought-out displays. 

On the bad side, I found a pillar for Samsung that had electric outlets for people to recharge their phones. The space to lay your phone was too small for a laptop, but certainly adequate for a number of people to place their phone while waiting for it to get juiced up. Above the electrical outlets was a hollowed pillar that has a Samsung phone in it with some stats about why its a sweet phone. While I think all of this is well done and an appropriate use of adding value to the consumer while they interact with (or at least think about) your product, there was one huge problem: the pillars were placed on the edge of the main hallways, where there were no chairs to sit and keep watch of your phone as it charged. The nearest chairs were always facing the opposite direction, giving the heavy traffic walking through the terminal painfully easy access to your iPhone, Blackberry, etc. No good.

I also saw, and not for the first time, a large vending machine for...nope, not Apple products this time...Proactiv. So I get that its an interesting shopping experience, certainly something mostly unique. But where was the connection between the product and the mode of purchasing? Not that Apple makes much more sense, but at least there's this idea of new technology that fits with the new purchasing experience. But why Proactiv? Why are acne topical creams being sold so prominently at the airport anyway? I've never once seen anyone go up to the large, branded vending machines. I don't imagine people would want to call attention to themselves while purchasing acne treatements, and yet these vending machines are loud and obtrusive, and not in a good way. Needless to say, I'm not a fan.

I had pictures of both of these taken on my phone but with Samsung phones through Sprint, you can't take your pictures off your phone unless you sign up for picture mail, at $5/month. So...even though it's my content, I can't have it anywhere other than my phone unless I pay. I only just discovered this last week, and I have to say, Sprint, I'm disappointed.