Recently, on a trip to Philadelphia, I noticed this Dyson AirBlade hand dryer. As I was drying my hands, the little images on the top caught my attention. Beside the name of the machine–dyson airblade–and the simple directions on how to use the product on the left, there were little images of all the other products that Dyson makes. Dyson sells everything from vacuum cleaners to air purifiers to hair dryers. While they may all seem like very different categories of products, they all have one thing in common: pushing air through a machine. As a result, I found the simplicity in this advertisement very interesting.
First, when shoppers are drying their hands, advertisers can capitalize on their undivided attention for a couple seconds. While their hands are occupied, they cannot be distracted by their phones. And, when the machine is on, it is way to loud to have a conversation even if the opportunity arose. The second reason why I thought this advertisement was interesting was because it was so subtle. It doesn’t push the user to buy the other products that the company made. Instead, the images just say: If you like the power and style of this hand dryer, consider some of its sister products. There is no website or name for any of the products but the images are clear enough that the user can go home and search for “dyson vacuum” to find the product. In the end, this is more of a product awareness campaign based on intrinsic quality as opposed to a consideration or conversion sales pitch.
Given the passive nature of this advertisement, do you think that users will actually be impacted by it or will they simply forget about it as they walk out?