I saw the sign above in an airport recently. What we have here is failure to communicate on two levels.

Wouldn't "Yesterday's Airport of Tomorrow" be the airport in which I was standing today? But then a display about "Today's Airport" doesn't sound as sexy. And why would I want to see a display about the airport terminal?

The display is apparently (I didn't take the time to view it) about aviation history in this particular city. I don't get that message at all from the title.

The meeting where they brainstormed the name probably went something like this.
 

INT -- OFFICE CONFERENCE ROOM -- DAY

                AIRPORT EXECUTIVE
    Let's do a display about our city's aviation. We need
    a catchy name.

Looks around at the team.

                EMPLOYEE #1
    The Aviation History of Our City

                AIRPORT EXECUTIVE
    Boring. Next.

                EMPLOYEE #2
    Fly Our City -- A Retrospective on Aviation

                AIRPORT EXECUTIVE
    Nah.

Silence.
   
                AIRPORT EXECUTIVE
    I've got it. What do you think about--

[Grand, sweeping hand gesture]

    Yesterday's Airport of Tomorrow.

AIRPORT EXECUTIVE looks to the team for approval.
TEAM MEMBERS shoot quick looks to one another

                AIRPORT EXECUTIVE
     That's good stuff, right?

The team nods its approval.


We've all been a part of this story before. And we know this story rarely ends well.

About the Author

Brannan Atkinson, APR, is president of Atkinson Public Relations.

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