As we are (hopefully) transitioning to the endemic stage of the COVID era, more states are looking for ways to entice travel & tourism. Florida has notoriously been a travel destination during the pandemic; with its lax lockdown policies and mandates, as of 2022, the state has surpassed its pre-pandemic tourism levels.
The Palm Beaches of Florida, wanting to further their tourism sales, utilized design innovation and social media tactics to host a pop-up, bringing the Golden Age of Travel to Grand Central in NYC.
Whether a daily commuter or starry-eyed tourist, Grand Central Terminal’s spectacular beaux-arts design can never be understated; adjacent to the imposing space is the smaller yet equally grandiose Vanderbilt Hall. For two days, the long airy hall was transformed into a vintage aviation-inspired à la TWA, “Golden Age” flight terminal.
Featuring flight attendants, a pilot, a semi-life size vintage-inspired plane, and a working flight board, they literally wanted to transport you to “America’s first resort destination”
Visitors were instructed to enter a giveaway by taking a selfie in the colorful space and tagging affiliated partners for a chance to win two roundtrip tickets to beaches IRL. The faux flight attendants mingled about the grand space handing out “trip inspiration guides” and exclaiming to visitors, “there are now 25 daily direct flights from JFK to the Palm Beaches”.
This quirky respite from the hustle and bustle of GCT crafted a sense of joy. Yet, it also left us questioning the event space and how they could've pushed to create a thoroughly enchanting experience.
The installation inspired an instagrammable moment, but the minimal decor pieces and sparse visitor turn-out made the pop-up feel pale in the grand hall. What the venue brought in light and space also took away from the illusion of time traveling.
This pop-up would have been better executed in a smaller space where it could be more immersive, transporting people out of our complicated world into a more simple, optimistic, and prosperous time just as the Golden Age symbolizes.
For example, a few GCT commuters wandered in there and took refuge in one of the two small lounge areas. We would have liked these spaces to be more enclosed with the Palm Beaches tourism video playing and the Flight Attendants handing out complimentary drinks and snacks.
Where was the music? Where was the food? Only utilizing our visual sense leaves for a two-dimensional experience.
When designing an immersive event, it's essential to think of how the established architecture of the space will interact with the elements you’re adding and how that will affect the overall experience. What will visitors see, hear, smell? Does this add to or take away from your vision? In the end, the Palm Beaches did a decent job creating a fun pit stop, but there was so much more potential to dig a little deeper.