Part of a series of experiments for a new brand campaign of Volkswagen, the piano stairs are a funny yet genuinely brilliant idea that came to mind to those from The Fun Theory, an initiative of Volkswagen. They think that the easiest way to get more people to take the stairs over the escalator it by making it fun to do, so they turned the 54 steps in Wulin Plaza in Hangzhou, capital of east China’s Zhejiang Province, into keys of a piano that let pedestrians play a melody while they walk up and down. Black and white, just like those of a real piano, these interesting and attractive stairs are even able to make different relevant notes when people step on them, so until they go up or down, they can actually create their own melodies.
Encouraging people to choose the healthier option of walking up the stairs by making stairs a lot more fun is an amazing idea, if we think that walking up stairs isn’t the most exciting of activities for most of us. Although at some point could be more annoying then funny sound like when 10 people are on the stairs on the same time or when some of them like the stairs too much and start clambering up and down, the piano stairs project seems to have achieved its purpose since 66% more people than normal chose the stairs over the escalator, according to those from The Fun Theory. Their fun theory applied to change people’s behaviour for the better is obviously working. What do you think about it?
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