TV Market Education: Highly-Personalized IFE
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James Chu – Industrial Designer, Branding Strategist & Educator at the Art Center College of Design in California – outlined the potential for highly personalized user and brand experiences within the air travel industry during his keynote address at the APEX TV Market in Dublin this week.
James began his session with an anecdote about how he’s worn glasses since he was 3 years old, and has often walked into an eyewear store only to be told that the frames he likes are not available in a suitable size. Examples like this reinforce the need for bespoke products, which are not only more convenient for the consumer but are ideal for fostering a cost-effective business model as well. James also referenced the potential for using genetic sequencing as the ultimate in personalization, which could result in lower health care costs and premium health, and skincare that is perfectly matched for your skin type.
The trend towards tailor-made goods can be applied within the airline industry IFE offerings using emotion gesture metrics to measure facial coding, body gesture responses, signals from the skin, as well as pulse and voice inputs. But this is not the invasive eye-scanning technology we’ve seen in Tom Cruise movies. James likened Hyperpersonalized Experience services (HPX, a new acronym to learn!) to a personalized butler: intuitive, not intrusive.
If you choose to use this HPX technology, a curated menu of entertainment options based on your current mood and physiological condition would appear. This differs from traditional models in that it doesn’t showcase generalized products or service options, but rather enhances a special roster of features to compliment your changing emotional state.
James’ hypothetical example of this system in action was of a stressed-out passenger on his way to an important work trip, and the engaged HPX IFE system registered his anxiety and delivered calming content. It will be interesting to see how an intuitive IFE model could engage passengers that appear to be bored, or simply exhausted.