Otis Safety Demonstration Impact

A story about how Otis Elevators transformed cities through a dramatic public demonstration of their safety features.

"Back when elevators were first invented, people didn't want to use them because they were scared. There were situations where elevators would just plummet and you'd plummet to your death. The consequence was that without elevators, you couldn't have tall buildings - New York was only about 4 stories high because people would only go up so many flights of stairs.

Otis creates an elevator with automatic brakes, but nobody would buy it even though it solved the problem. Nobody believed it was safe. So at the World Fair, inspired by Cirque du Soleil's spectacular shows, Otis creates this dramatic exhibit. He gets suspended in an elevator hanging by ropes and cables in the air. He has someone swing an ax and cut one rope. The elevator starts swaying and swinging, hanging by a thread. Everyone's gasping in the crowd. He says 'cut the rope,' and when the guy cuts it, the elevator drops two feet before the automatic breaks engage and it stops.

He declares 'All is well' and from there, elevator sales take off. When elevator sales took off, buildings could be taller. It literally reshaped the way cities work, all because this guy realized he needed to think outside the box with his marketing. He needed to do something that would break through the noise and shift perception about his product in a dramatic way."