In April of 1999, the book by Pine & Gilmore, The Experience Economy, hit the mainstream press with an article in Fast Company. For many of us who had come from industries like theatre, theme parks and themed entertainment, this wasn't really radical thinking. But, for many people in the business world, it opened up a world of confusion. And, despite the success of places like Starbuck's, who were able to charge a premium for their product because of the experience they created, the business community was very slow to consider the role of experience in their business planning.
Fast forward to today. Companies all across the spectrum are looking at the role of experience in their business. And, as we've been writing here, the last few months have brought a real change in the advertising industry in terms of the value in helping their clients understand the value of experience in the marketing mix. Ogilvy's Brand Integration Group, Grey's G2 and more recently, Saatchi, are all exploring how to bring a different thought process to their clients. For example, Hershey’s was originally looking at a more traditional billboard placement in Times Square, to join the many companies that are visible there. However, working with Clear Channel and Ogilvy, it became obvious that they could do some much more. Not only that, it would actually save them money to open a full retail location, rather then just take the billboard. As anyone who has been to Times Square knows, the store that Ogilvy created is not only a highly visible “billboard,” but a very profitable retail location as well.
If you haven’t read the book, you can find it at our resource center at http://www.brandexperiencelab.org/library.html. There’s additional resources at http://www.brandexperiencelab.org/expand.html as well. If you’re in the advertising/brand business, you should be learning all you can about what experience means and the value it brings to your clients or your products/services. We understand that it is the experience one has with a brand that sparks one's passion. Companies that master compelling brand experience will be tomorrow's leaders. The rest will be lucky to survive. Where will you be?
In "The Experience Economy," business consultants B. Joseph Pine II and James H. Gilmore argue that the curtain is about to open on the next transition: Act IV, in which service turns into an experience. "When a person buys a service," they say, "he purchases a set of intangible activities carried out on his behalf. But when he buys an experience, he pays to spend time enjoying a series of memorable events that a company stages -- as in a theatrical play -- to engage him in a personal way." That's why we'll pay four bucks for a latte -- to enjoy the experience of drinking it in the entertaining environs of our local Starbucks. According to Pine and Gilmore, the experience sector will gobble up the service sector just as surely as the service sector has reduced the size and influence of the manufacturing sector. Ethel Merman, meet the new economy: Pretty soon, there'll be no business that's not like show business.
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