‘Smart’ Outdoor Kiosks in Covington See Heightened Visitor Engagement During BLINK
Wayfinding program shows early signs of success
COVINGTON, KY (November 2024) – In Spring of 2024, meetNKY, the City of Covington, Durham Brands, RoveIQ, Southbank Partners and the Covington Business Council partnered to create a pilot wayfinding program.
The program includes a mix of conventional signage and two “smart” kiosks in RiverCenter and Ralph Haile Square to help residents and visitors navigate the city and increase visits to local attractions, bars, and restaurants. The software featured in the kiosks includes a photo booth feature, current events, weather alerts and more.
“meetNKY and the wayfinding program’s partners had a vision to elevate the experience of visitors to our region. We have this incredible Riverfront Commons trail system, and we’re going to have a lot of visitors and folks from the region enjoying it,” said Covington Economic Development Director, Tom West. “Our goal was to figure out how we get those visitors deeper into The Cov to spend money and support our local economy.”
During BLINK weekend, October 17-20, 2024, the kiosks gathered data that indicates initial success of the wayfinding program. The top routed location during the weekend was an activation with Clive the Alien on Scott Boulevard. Nearly 23% of all user sessions on all of the kiosks included a selfie and 62% of those were sent to phones, significantly higher than the usual rate of about 50% at other properties leveraging the technology. Additionally, 25% of interactions were dedicated to switching selfie filters, proving it to be a great way to engage with the community as they navigated through Covington.
“We were thrilled to learn that the investment in our wayfinding pilot program throughout Covington and Riverfront Commons helped so many people navigate the city during one of our region’s biggest weekends for tourism,” said Josh Quinn, Product Development Director for meetNKY. “This program also helps us promote safety and engagement with those who are unfamiliar with the landscape in our Northern Kentucky cities. These statistics could also help make the case for a wayfinding program to connect all of our river cities here in Kentucky to create a seamless visitor experience.”
The signs and kiosks were installed along Madison Avenue, one of Covington’s major thoroughfares, from the Riverfront Commons to MLK Jr. Boulevard. meetNKY is responsible for maintaining the physical integrity of the kiosks and signs.
To learn more about meetNKY, visit meetNKY.com.
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About meetNKY:
meetNKY drives quality of life and economic growth for Northern Kentucky through tourism marketing and destination development. Learn more at meetNKY.com and visitycincy.com. more at www.meetNKY.com.
