Vancouver International Airport (YVR) was nominated for the Best Restroom in Canada in 2014 through the Cintas competition, unquestionably the nation's most renowned bathroom awards. While YVR didn't take home the hardware, it did inspire us to step up our game of thrones to reach new heights in lavatory excellence. With this ne motivation we decided to launch the World's Best Washroom at YVR Contest.
The World's Best Washroom at YVR Contest leveraged social media to source ideas from the travelling public on how YVR could improve washroom facilities and make them not just the best in the country, but on the entire planet. Followers submitted ideas for features and amenities to incorporate into YVR's next washroom upgrade scheduled for 2016. Ideas were submitted via email or through Twitter, Facebook or Instagram with the hashtag #YVRwashroom. $1000 travel vouchers were to be awarded to the winning ideas in the categories of Accessibility, Safety and Innovation.
Our objective with this campaign was twofold. One, to engage the travelling public and our community in generating ideas for creating the World's Best Washroom. And from that, to be able to implement those ideas to construct what could arguably be considered the best bathroom in the world, airport or otherwise. A bathroom so accessible, innovative and safe that anybody who entered would leave feeling refreshed and ready to fly.
Almost every single person who walks through the doors at YVR uses the washroom. It is a common travel experience that everybody shares, but is somewhat of a taboo topic to discuss publicly. We aimed to smash down those stall walls and spark authentic conversation and consultation by addressing washroom etiquette and varying cultural norms head on through the World's Best Washroom Contest at YVR.
By creating an outlet for open and honest feedback whereby individuals could suggest new and unique ideas for washroom features we were able to solicit hundreds of practical ideas for how to improve, and we were able to share our key messages in relation to facilities that would have been very difficult otherwise. For example, if somebody suggested hands-free facilities we could showcase the fact we already have that in place here and how it supports our community through health and safety.
To generate significant interest and engagement we leveraged our considerable social media presence (Second-most followers of any airport in North America on Twitter, Top 10 on Instagram and second in Canada on Facebook) to interact with our online community and elicit ideas. Our travelers have seen the world - somewhere out there they've seen ingenious porcelain pioneers. We wanted to hear from them on how we could authentically improve the washroom experience at YVR. We created an eye-catching, unique look for the campaign (see submission photo) that melded washroom and airport imagery into a fun, creative visual that was shared online and encouraged participation. We were cheeky in our tone and not afraid to use a little bathroom humour. And we placed articles in our monthly newsletter Air Mail (7,500 subscribers - including all local media) and appeared in YVR-s in-terminal newspaper SkyTalk (23,000 circulation) as well as a dedicated landing page on yvr.ca.
At the end of the World's Best Washroom Contest at YVR we would have world-class facilities, incredible engagement online, authentic public consultation and considerable reach for messaging surrounding safety, innovation and accessibility - the three core values at Vancouver Airport Authority.
Submissions came pouring in the day we launched and throughout the contest period and varied from the very practical, such as lowered hooks on the backs of stalls for wheelchair users and child-height urinals, to the more fantastical in nature like interactive hologram washroom attendants. And we flushed out the competition - people were passionate about the potty! We received more than 500 official entries and awarded some fantastic ideas as winners:
Safety Category - Self-disinfecting door handles
Accessibility - Adult change station
Innovation Category - Dyson Air Blades
Winners were awarded a $1000 travel voucher and an invitation to our Opening Flush Ceremonies once the washrooms are complete.
Over the course of the contest we saw considerable engagement and coverage, as reflected in the statsitics below.
Social Media – 141,895 (total reach)
Facebook – 91,295
Twitter – 41,622
Instagram – 8,978
Print Media – Approx. 110,000
Online Media – 4,230
YVR.CA – 3,987 views to yvr.ca/washroom
Please note that our contest landing page was removed when we launched our new yvr.ca website in early 2016.
