Airport, Hospital Land National Coverage for Cleanliness Effort

Nov
20
2017

Airport, Hospital Land National Coverage for Cleanliness Effort

FOX 8 TV in Cleveland was among those covering the initiative. Click the image to watch the story.

Western Reserve Hospital, the Akron-Canton Airport and a technology supplier teamed up recently to draw broad news coverage for a major cleanliness initiative at the airport.

With support from Pecchia Communications, the partners landed prominent regional headlines for launching a promising new technology designed to keep passenger items clean in airport security bins. The effort also landed ink in the New York Times, USA Today, Reader’s Digest, Houston Chronicle and several other national dailies and trade publications.

“Our aim for this publicity effort was local, because we want people flying out of Akron-Canton Airport to understand the significance of this health initiative,” said Mark Bosko, vice president of marketing and public relations at Western Reserve Hospital, a physician-owned hospital in nearby Cuyahoga Falls. “But we wound up drawing national attention because there’s such a compelling national interest in keeping air travel clean.”

Preparing the Story for Take-Off

The news focused on an innovation in the plastic bins used in security lines to hold travelers’ shoes, digital devices and other items as they move by conveyors through security scanners. Some critics have characterized the bins as a health risk, as material from the bottoms of shoes can easily wind up near smartphones travelers operate with their fingers and hold near their faces.

To support airport cleanliness, NanoTouch Materials, based in Forest, Va., recently developed special mats that line the bottoms of the security bins and create a self-cleaning oxidation reaction to continuously break down contaminants. NanoTouch says the cleaning process is stronger than bleach, and also safer because it uses no chemicals.

Western Reserve agreed to buy thousands of the mats, exclusively for the security bins at the Akron-Canton Airport, then worked with Pecchia Communications to generate publicity for the deal.

An airport news briefing with officials of the airport, hospital and NanoTouch sparked prominent stories in the Akron Beacon Journal and Canton Repository and coverage in most other dailies in the region and on two Cleveland television stations. The Associated Press picked up the story as well and promoted it to its many large and small U.S. dailies across the nation. Airport and hospital staffers shared the news on social media channels.

“For the airport, this was an opportunity to again spotlight our commitment to innovations that advance cleanliness,” said Lisa Dalpiaz, director of marketing for Akron-Canton Airport. “We were also the first airport in the country to remove bathroom doors and the first to use all-touchless dispensers for soap and hand towels. We were also the first to use hand sanitizer machines throughout our terminal.”

Dennis Hackemeyer, co-founder of NanoTouch Materials, said the news coverage would help other airport operators understand the importance of security bin cleanliness. The technology used in the bin liners is also used in many hospitals, schools, office buildings and hotels.

“When it comes to innovation, media coverage is very important,” Hackemeyer said. “In this case, it generates awareness among consumers about new technology that is improving traveler experience and the companies that are deploying that technology.”

Key Elements of the Flight Plan

Dan Pecchia, president of Pecchia Communications and a former daily newspaper business editor, attributed the broad news coverage to two key factors. First, the newsmakers successfully positioned the airport bin liners as a solution to a problem that affects many people. Second, the Associated Press picked up the story.

“The more onerous a problem is, the more newsworthy the solution is,” Pecchia said. “We had to be careful about the way we portrayed the cleanliness of security lines, but we were able to characterize the nanotechnology solution as new, significant and relevant.

“AP pickup is always a big win. When the AP circulates a story, many of its media outlet members see that as a validation of the story’s news value and use it accordingly.”

Here’s a List of News Clips

These links reach news stories about the cleanliness initiative.

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