The Experience Economy  

 

The Experience Economy is a new stage of economic offering…

Pine and Gilmore believe that experiences are a distinct offering from services. Experiences must provide a memorable offering that will remain with one for a long time, but in order to achieve this, the consumer - sorry, the guest, must be drawn into the offering such that they feel a sensation. And to feel the sensation, the guest must actively participate. This requires highly skilled actors who can dynamically personalise each event according to the needs, the response and the behavioural traits of the guests….

 

Beyond Entertainment

At first sight it appears that experiences have an affinity with the entertainment and leisure industries. Walt Disney's Theme Parks, a visit to a West End Theatre, an out-door adventure play ground, or a theme restaurant like Benihana. There is no doubt that the entertainment industry has acquired the skills and talents for engaging people, but now other industries have realised that many such facets can transform a vanilla "me too" service into a memorable event that the customer will want to repeat again and will want to recount to all their friends.

 

The Four Realms of an Experience

Joseph Pine and James Gilmore have identified four types of experiences (look the picture above), with the riches being those offerings that combine all 4. When offering experiences it is possible that different customers will be looking for different experiences even when the base goods or service may be the same. Getting it wrong and offering the wrong experience is likely to be disastrous. Similarly the depth of required of experience will vary depending not just on the personal characteristics of the customer (guest) but also on the depth of the relationship and the place where it takes place.

 

Delivery

When designing and delivering experience you should aim to:

• theme the experience
• harmonise impressions with positive cues
• eliminate negative cues
• mix in memorabilia
• engage all five senses

 

Beyond Experiences - Transformations

Experiences aren't the ultimate form of economic offering. Pine and Gilmore have identified a fifth stage:Transformations. Whilst experiences do provide sensations and a memorable event these do wear off with time. Transformations on the other hand make a permanent beneficial change to the customer. A sick person become well in body and mind, a dying company is turned-around, and a customer habitually spending beyond his or her means achieves financial viability and stability. Whilst experiences are memorable and are sustained for a time, transformations are inspirational and must be sustained through time.

 

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