• by Erik Sass  @eriksass1, May 6, 2008

If you see people making strange gestures at the airport, they're usually cursing at airline employees. But that may change with Clear Channel Airports' new partnership with Reactrix Systems, which creates gesture-based interactive displays for advertisers in public spaces.

Clear Channel Airports, a division of Clear Channel Outdoor, will have full responsibility for the operation, sales and licensing of Reactrix's StepScape displays for its airport partners. Clear Channel has partnered with most major airports in the country outside New York City, including Chicago O'Hare, Boston Logan, Dallas-Fort Worth Intl., Philadelphia Intl., Phoenix Sky Harbor and San Francisco Intl.

Like its other StepScape displays in malls and other public areas, the Reactrix system will project digital images onto the floors of airport terminals, which attract passersby by responding to their motion. Once engaged, the user is invited to explore the interactive display, controlling it with different gestures that are tracked by motion sensors.

The branded displays can also integrate ad content into this interactive experience, and have a wide range of capabilities, including puzzles, games and "paint" programs.

The news comes a few months after Reactrix signed another deal with National CineMedia, a leading cinema advertiser, to install Reactrix displays in the lobbies of NCM member theaters. The displays will complement NCM's existing lobby channels, including box-office promotions, concession-stand branding, posters and digital signage, and sweepstakes and giveaways.

Separately, in an interview earlier this year, Reactrix CEO Mike Ribero said the company wants to get into interactive place-based commerce, making the displays an actual point of sale, in addition to a promotional platform.

He envisioned a system pairing the interactive displays with credit card readers, or mobile devices that can be used as credit cards, to enable consumers to buy products featured in the displays. Touting the displays' overall effectiveness in brand recall and attitude, Ribero said they achieved a 79% lift in willingness to recommend the brand or product to someone else.