Have you heard of the experience economy? The term itself was coined in the late 1990s and has its roots in books dating back to before 1970. The concept is simple: it’s an economy focused on how goods and services can affect people’s lives. Instead of a consumer wanting an object such as a VR headset to be adorned and admired, the consumer instead focuses on what the VR headset does to affect their life. For example, the VR headset can transport them somewhere else, release fear, fun, or even help teach and learn. Never has this economy been stronger than it is today with millennials driving the charge.
Keep in mind that this concept is no different for AV as it is for say – car sales. Of course, we want to know the specifications and details of the car and its appearance. But no decision is made until you’re in the seat and driving the car – that experience defines your buying decision. No word or specification matters if you are not comfortable in the vehicle and the vehicle is simply not right for you.
Looking to 2022 and looking to the future, the experience economy is a growing movement more than a business model. It has become a concept driven by a visceral emotional response that transcends physical things like products and services and elicits a unique human response. Rarely, if at all, does the product or service even come into the conversation. Perhaps this can be attributed to the lack of experiences, shared or individual, over the past few years. Everyone has felt, more than ever, how vital experiences are, especially shared experiences.
Fortunately, with Moore’s Law reaching its threshold, there are many accessible innovative products and services on the market today that didn’t even exist a decade ago. We have incredibly intuitive hardware and service options that are uniquely based on enhancing our human experience and stimulating an emotional response.
As an industry based solely on two key human senses – sight and hearing – we really play a leading role in shifting the human experience into different realms. If your AV team just sells the newest boxes and models as the items consumers need, then the whole world is your competition. If you’re selling the experiences that can be created in today’s technology, then the world is your playground and imagination is your only competition.
This topic/article is in no way an insult to hardware or service providers. No way! Without the amazing and innovative hardware options and highly skilled service teams/tools, we wouldn’t even be able to imagine and create these immersive and experiential experiences. We owe them everything.
Instead, the main takeaway here is that hardware and service are for the most part just as critical to us sellers as they are to designers, builders, creators. But for the person experiencing the event or moment that was created, it is the visceral emotional response to that moment that drives desire and need. The tingle in the spine, the hair that stands on end in the neck – kids want ASMR! (Don’t worry, I’ll write about that acronym another time.)
Going forward, as audiovisual professionals, we need to recognize this economy, and we need to make sure we talk to it and steer our businesses towards it. We are actors of human meaning; we should be able to talk about it and engage at that level. Your company should be looking to hire creatives, out-of-the-box thinkers, and people who can translate complex thoughts into cohesive concepts.
Too often, when we’re at the table, the conversation boils down to the latest shiny piece of hardware, a cool feature, or an engineering marvel. The conversation starts to revolve around specs and requirements, cost and feasibility – and of course, all of that is very important. Sales and engineering are essential for business. But when you’re seated at a table of speakers who are professionals and experts in their field, they don’t care what you say. It looks like technical jamming – the technicians are speaking in a language they don’t understand. This often alienates the customer and makes them less likely to invest in you, let alone any concept or innovation you might sell.
This is when you have to remember the experience economy. Slow down, take a step back and look at things differently. Your client is rarely an AV professional — that’s why you’re here! Instead, your customer or consumer is looking to you to find out what technology can do for them. How can their lives and those of their employees or consumers be enhanced with your technology-based AV solution? What will impact their business? What will enrich their offer? How can you give them wow value and get people to engage with their brand? These are important topics for the stakeholders around the table.
So the next time you kick off a meeting with a client, remember what you’re there to do. Do you sell the boxes? Or are you selling the experience? Are you connected on a human level? or upload your product knowledge? I guarantee that if you can connect with people’s emotional needs and desires for their business or consumer, and design a system that engages the senses, you will undoubtedly be more successful than if you just don’t. not. The success of the experience economy is only growing, and we can be leaders in this movement.
#Wow #Experience #Economy