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Sign 'o the times

In the latest installment of 'On the High Road,' ATM Industry Association International Director Mike Lee asks, 'ATMs are a sign of the times, but where are its signs?' The ATMIA is sponsoring a contest to find an international pictogram for the ATM. Deadline for entries is July 31.

January 7, 2002

ATMs are moving into the big time. Have you noticed that they sometimes star in movies and on TV these days?

I saw an episode of �Friends� in which that nice dumb young man [I don't watch it enough to know all of their names] had engraved his PIN on his favorite ATM so he would never forget it. And the other night I saw a thriller in which a video camera recorded footage at an ATM of a stalker lurking behind the murder victim who withdrew cash shortly before being killed.

See if you can spot some appearances of our favorite machine on the big and small screens � let me know what you discover at mikelee@atmiaeurope.com.

But if ATMs are a sign of the times, where are their signs?

I mean, how often have you hunted for an ATM, not knowing where to look? Aren't ATMs often difficult to find at international airports and big shopping malls?

ATM signage is in its infancy in most countries of the world. And yet all deployers are looking at weekly and monthly transaction volumes, which are driven by traffic of human bodies to ATMs. And traffic of human bodies to ATMs is driven by the degree of attraction.

My feeling is that the �magnetic� attraction of the majority of ATMs is pretty weak. It could be much stronger. Brighter, clearer signage will increase the attraction generated by ATMs, pulling in higher human traffic and raising transaction volumes.

For a beautifully simple piece of banking self-service technology, the ATM is under-marketed and poorly signed.

What the industry needs, in the year in which a milestone has been reached of one million ATMs installed worldwide, is an internationally recognized ATM pictogram. The industry needs a picture or visual symbol of the ATM to brand the machine in the way that the green cross instantly identifies pharmacies.

Entries accepted

To mark this one million-milestone year, the ATM Industry Association has initiated a competition for the best design of an ATM pictogram. Please send your pictogram designs to mikelee@atmiaeurope.com by the deadline of July 31.

Professor Yukio Ota of Tama Art University, Japan, has agreed to select the winning design for ATMIA. Professor Ota has designed many public signs, with the most famous one an Emergency Exit sign that has been accepted as a standard in Japan and is going to be approved as an international standard. He also designed the Fire Fighting safety sign, which has been used worldwide.

There are no limits to the number of entries an entrant can submit. The pictogram design should be simple, clear and visually strong and communicate the essence of the ATM or the cash withdrawal experience.

The ATMIA will announce the winner, selected by the distinguished Professor Ota, at its ATM conference and exhibition �Optimising ATMs in Britain and Europe� on Sept.18-19 at the Royal Lancaster Hotel, London.

Mark Mills, coordinator of the competition and chief executive officer of Cashpoint, an independent deployer in the UK, will make the announcement at the end of his presentation entitled ï¿½Driving ATM transactions through intelligent promotion.� Mark will show from real case studies how transaction volumes can be increased through effective promotion. He believes strongly that a pictogram will serve as an industry brand that can be recognized in all cultures and in all places to attract customer traffic to ATMs, especially in off-premise markets.

ATMIA will then trademark the winning pictogram design and project manage the initiative to roll it out in airports and other important public places around the world.

A sign is defined as �something that indicates a fact or condition that is not immediately or outwardly observable.� The aim of developing the pictogram, and of stepping up ATM signage, is to lead customers to ATMs -- to see them better, to notice them, to be attracted to them.

The brand's the thing

And as the ATMIA searches for a winning pictogram design, there are signs that ATMs are becoming better displayed and presented. In Poland, a young ATM market, most of its 5,000 ATMs are brightly presented under the blue or red Bankomat brand. Bankomat is the universal name in the country for self-service banking points. The blue or red surround and the Bankomat brand and pictogram are instantly recognizable from a distance.

Such universal branding of ATMs throughout the country can only arise from a multiple agreement among banks and deployers to opt for common branding. And industry brands like Bankomat can effectively identify the position of ATMs, attracting traffic without undermining the brands of each bank and deployer.

There are several ATM locators on the market which clearly help customers to pinpoint ATM locations. It is the brightness and attractiveness of the ATM surrounds, the clarity of its signs, which then draw customers to particular machines where they can conduct comfortable and quick transactions.

Visa, for instance, has an online ATM locator system. The Visa Global ATM Network offers access at more than 647,000 Visa/PLUS ATMs in 120 countries, to more than one billion cardholders worldwide. The system also contains maps showing where airport ATMs can be found. It is a powerful tool with the only disadvantage being that the ATM locator is online, not available when you are walking around looking for cash.

For these kinds of emergencies, Money Map Inc. aims to provide customers with maps on hand to indicate where they can find ATMs, banks, currency exchange points, check cashing and wire transfer points. Money Map's �Midtown Manhattan Money Map� was the first in a planned nationwide series of money maps that will locate financial services in major U.S. cities and popular destinations abroad.

Regarding the search for a sign for the ATM, through ATMIA's pictogram competition, Angela C.Allen, president of Money Map, writes: �A universal symbol would be great for both the industry and for Money Map as we grow.� Angela angela@MONEY-MAP.com] intends to submit a design herself and was active in seeking a judge with impeccable credentials for the competition. She agrees that Professor Ota will bring gravitas, expertise and independence to the role of final judge.

These locators and money maps are useful aids helping customers find ATMs, providing that all-important customer traffic. When one looks at increased efforts by banks to market and promote their ATM networks, and the advantages of using debit cards to obtain international currencies at foreign ATMs linked to international networks, there is a new sense that, at last, the inherent attraction of ATMs will be fully exploited one day soon.

ATM Solutions, Triton's exclusive Africa distributor, installs off-premise ATMs in South Africa, placing them in well-lit areas, well signposted, in clean-cut surrounds. In some locations, a large banner reading �ATM Here Now� identifies an ATM from the road. Directly outside the machine, signage indicates �ATM available inside.� ATM Solutions has also put ATM locations on tourist route maps.

The magnetism drawing customers to ATMs is increased when the surrounds, signage and branding at the ATM locations themselves are appealing.

Signs and wonders were multiplied in the land of Egypt during the Exodus. It is time to multiply the signs pointing to ATMs, through marketing, promotions, signage and, of course, the soon-to-be discovered international ATM pictogram.

Thus, the success of the ATM industry will be signed, sealed and delivered.

Included In This Story

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ATM Industry Association (ATMIA)

The ATM Industry Association, founded in 1997, is a global non-profit trade association with over 10,500 members in 65 countries. The membership base covers the full range of this worldwide industry comprising over 2.2 million installed ATMs.

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