Make Mobile Useful

When was the last time you had a good experience at airport security?

I know, I know. But traveling through Newark on Continental yesterday bordered on the thrilling — in a good way. Continential is now offering something I’ve long yearned for: a smart phone enabled boarding pass. The thing is actually invalid if you print it out.

A barcode and airline logo are displayed on the handset’s screen, together with seat and gate information. It’s scanned by both the security screeners and airline personnel at the boarding gate. Not only did it work, none of the personnel even blinked – new as this is.

I don’t know about you, but I’ve always hated wasting paper printing out boarding passes, and dealing with the how to get hard copy issue whilst on the road. Really useful and convenient mobile innovations such as the boarding pass can also have a halo effect on advertising and marketing initiatives. By making mobile really useful and necessary, brands can create affinity and goodwill — as well as make consumers look forward to their next mobile connection with the brand.