Reports from the Knowledge Labs about our recent findings, research topics, and interviews with lifestyle leaders who are creating their own futures.
|
|
| |
How to stimulate your own powers of foresight. Consider the following thought provokers. Ask yourself, in these categories what are the brand new trends and forces? Which are the ones growing in importance? Which current forces are loosing their steam? Which have peaked or are reversing themselves? Which are the "wildcards" about to disrupt us in the future? POLITICAL AND TECHNICAL thought for food: Electronics, Materials, Energy, Fossil, Nuclear, Alternative, Other, Manufacturing (techniques), Agriculture, Machinery and Equipment, Distribution, Transportation (Urban, Mass, Personal, Surface, Sea, Subsurface, Space), Communication (Printed, Spoken, Interactive, Media), Computers (Information, Knowledge, Storage & Retrieval, Design, Network Resources), Post-Cold War, Third World, Conflict (Local, Regional, Global), Arms Limitation, Undeclared Wars, Terrorism, Nuclear Proliferation, Weapons of Mass Destruction, Governments (More/Less Power and Larger or Smaller Scale), Taxes, Isms: Nationalism, Regionalism, Protectionism, Populism, Cartels, Multinational Corporations, Balance of Trade, Third Party Payments, Regulations (OSHA, etc.) Environmental Impact, U.S. Prestige Abroad. SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC Food for thought:
Labor Movements, Unemployment / Employment Cycles, Recession, Employment Patterns, Work Hours / Schedules, Fringe Benefits, Management Approaches, Accounting Policies, Productivity, Energy Costs, Balance of Payments, Inflation, Taxes, Rates of Real Growth, Distribution of Wealth, Capital Availability and Costs, Reliability of Forecasts, Raw Materials, Availability and Costs, Global versus National Economy, Market versus Planned Economies, Generations: Y, X, Boomers, Elderly, Urban vs. Rural Lifestyles, Affluent vs. Poor, Neighborhoods and Communities, Planned or Organic Growth.
Got Knowledge?
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
The Journal of 2020 Foresight
|
|
| |
|
Monday, September 11, 2006
Experiencing the Round Worlds of Today, Yesterday and Tomorrow
Chapter Four: The Tribal Territories
By Steve Howard, CKO
The Knowledge Labs
Table of Contents
Chapter One: Basecamp
Chapter Two: The Ridge
Chapter Three: The Outpost
Chapter Four: The Tribal Territories
"Rule #4: The best companies are the best collaborators. In the flat world, more and more businesses will be done through collaboration within and between companies, for a very simple reason: The next layers of value creation -- whether in technology, marketing, biomedicine, or manufacturing -- are becoming so complex that no single firm or department is going to be able to master them alone.... 'What we are seeing in so many fields,' said Joel Cawley, the head of IBM's strategic planning unit,' is that the next layers of innovation involve the intersection of very advanced specialties. The cutting edge of technical innovation in every field is increasingly specialized.'"
Thomas Friedman, “The World is Flat”
DOUBLE NICKEL RANCH. Pine and Gilmore say that when we delve deeper into the experience economy we find that by appealing to our senses, goods become props and we can charge for admission.
Journal of 2020 Foresight: Let's take it a step further into the experience economy. How do reinvention teams collaborate to engineer engaging experiences?
Explorer: The goal is to stage wholly new experiences to commoditize the competition. So you need to brainstorm and one way to get you out of the box is to consider all the different ways you could charge admission.
J2020F: What kinds of questions stimulate the kinds of ideas we’re looking for?
Explorer: What could you do differently? Can you eradicate a practice you already have -- giving things away for free as an incentive to sell more products and services – as Netscape did in its infancy to commoditize Microsoft’s operating system?
J2020F: The line of questioning runs along the lines of …?
Explorer: Think through how new experience elements can be added to your product or service to increase demand. Or which goods or services will command higher prices?
J2020F: What about those goods or services with higher potential?
Explorer: Think about how to reposition your goods as props and services as stages to support new experiential offerings.
J2020F: How do you do that?
Explorer: You identify the experiential elements you may be overlooking.
J2020F; Like?
Explorer: How can you enhance your present offerings to appeal to the senses? Which negative cues can be eliminated or positive cues added? How can you move your customers from sacrifice to surprise and suspense?
J2020F: When you’ve exhausted a laundry list of brainstormed items, what do you do with them?
Explorer: You examine them for patterns. How can you set the stage by theming the experience? Can you integrate customer impressions into a new engaging theme? How can you mix in memorabilia and engage all five senses?
J2020F: What else?
Explorer: Think about how your THINGS can be ING-ed as a way to enhance your customer experience.
J2020F: Are there any guidelines for theming and ING-ing?
Explorer: Pine and Gilmore direct you to a set of categories.
J2020F: Like?
Explorer: They work in four categories of themes we discussed -- entertainment, education, escapism or esthetic realms to develop an engaging theme.
J2020F: As you consider each theme, what are you shooting for?
Explorer: Well you can use their five principles -- altering a guest's sense of reality, altering space, time and matter and integrating the experience into a cohesive whole.
J2020F: Maybe we should go through them one at a time to generate ideas you can apply.
Explorer: Sure. First principle, altering a sense of reality can be done by changing the temporal age, geographical location or environmental condition from familiar to foreign or from risky to safe -- or the social affiliation or self-image.
J2020F: Wow, that’s a mouthful. What about altering the temporal age? What do you mean?
Explorer: Here are some examples, ten different types of staged experiences: Status, Tropical Paradise, the Wild West, Classical Civilizations, Arabian Fantasy, Urban Motif, Fortress Architecture, Surveillance, Modernism and Progress, and Representations of the Unrepresentable like the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall.
J2020F: O.K. that’s better. What about altering space, time and matter?
Explorer: Is there a way you can from two dimensions to three-dimensional spaces? Maybe multiple TVs for cheering broadcasts; or intermingling real, fake and animated versions.
J2020F: If I come up blank, then what?
Explorer: Try imagining how your theme might be stimulated by history, religion, fashion, politics, psychology, the physical world, popular culture or the arts.
J2020F: O.K. Now, what about the third principle?
Explorer: For the third principle – integrating the previously brainstormed elements into a cohesive whole – Pine and Gilmore say you may try storytelling, narratives and authentic period settings.
J2020F: Give me some examples to consider.
Explorer: How about some of the following as possibilities for harmonizing the total experience:
Time -- traditional, contemporary and futuristic representations of the theme;
Space -- opposites such as urban / rural, / East / West, North / South, home / business, indoor / outdoor representations;
Technology -- hand-made / -- machine-made or natural / or artificial
Authenticity -- original or imitative.
Sophistication -- Yielding refined / unrefined or luxurious / cheap.
Scale -- representing the theme as grand or small.
J2020F: What about the fourth principle?
Explorer: That would be multiple places within a space -- such as or Five Biomes of the American Wilderness Experience; videos and simulated rides, or Club Disney, or the Discovery Zone.
J2020F: Some of these ideas, it strikes me, you can charge admission or a fee, right?
Explorer: Now you’re getting the idea. These are engaging themes for which others have charged a fee:
Period demonstrations -- armor making, glass blowing and book binding
Crafts that guests perform themselves -- brass rubbing, candle making or calligraphy.
J2020F: I imagine the list is almost endless with the proper perspective, but for those of us perspective-challenged, what can you suggest?
Explorer: Other potential fee-charging engaging themes could be variations of:
Games, contests and other challenges for prizes -- archery, a giant maze, or climbing Jacob's ladder.
Human and animal-powered rides -- elephants, ponies, or cabriolet.
Food -- turkey legs, apple dumplings, Florentine ice;
Drink -- beer and wine, soda and coffee.
Shows, ceremonies and parades -- magicians, puppetry or jousts.
J2020F: I get it. All we have to do is call you. What about the last principle?
Explorer: The fifth principle emphasizes that the experience must be within an engaging theme that fits the organizational character -- its brand. Something that is concise, compelling and a storyline crafted to captivate the customer.
J2020F: So at the end of the day, the best way to build a high margin and profitable business is to use these design principles to reduce customer sacrifice by personalizing your offerings to wealthy customers.
Got Knowledge?
Copyright ©2002 - 2006 Aarnaes Howard Associates. All rights reserved worldwide.
6:27 AM
|
|
| |
|
|
|
