In 2019, billions of consumers live inside a supercharged merry-go-round of human experience.
You know how it goes. Yet another immersive, compelling, unique, in-person experience is launched. Cue yet more pictures, videos, stories, status updates. And each one a token that feeds the machine. Around we go again.
It used to be that going to a new restaurant or trying a new business class cabin was exciting. Now people are going skiing in the middle of Copenhagen on top of the world’s most advanced urban clean energy plant (more on that later).
And it isn’t just traditional experience providers that are fueling these new expectations. Today, it can feel like every pet shop, dentist and local accountant are competing to win in the Experience Economy.
WTF happened? And in this environment, where do you start when it comes to delighting your guests, diners, shoppers, passengers, visitors (need we go on)?
The highly evolved Experience Economy of 2019 might feel dizzying. But press pause for a moment and it’s possible to get a handle on it. That starts with seeing how it’s founded on a few core, eternal truths about human nature.
Driving the endless search for new in-person experiences are a set of basic human needs that are as old as human beings themselves. The human needs for play, community, personalization, authenticity and more.
And, of course, the need for status. You can see that status quest – for a special story to tell oneself, and the crowd – in the frenetic search for yet another experience that is fresh, unique, cultured, anything to make people take notice. You can see it in the half a billion daily active users that Instagram Stories racked up in January 2019.
But once you understand that this avalanche of experiences all revolves, in the end, around basic human needs, you have the not-so-secret code. Then the question becomes: how can you create experiences that will tap into and serve those needs?
In this report we’re not going to run through the well-worn trends. You already know about ethical travel, immersive dining, and peer-led urban tours.
Instead, here are three powerful, actionable trends that give you a handle on where in-person customer experiences are heading next. Each one is a practical innovation opportunity. And each one could see you delight customers in the months ahead.
1. AUTOMATION THEATER
In 2019, automation and magical in-person customer experiences collide!
2. VILLAGE SQUARED
In-person experiences that repair and reimagine the social fabric.
3. END OF EXCESS
Amazing experiences, minus the guilt.
Ready for an experience of your own? Let’s do this 🚀💪
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Phew, that was intense. Hope you enjoyed the ride 🚀
But in truth this moment should be the beginning of a journey, not the end of one. Now is the time to act.
And that starts with remembering that each of these trends is an innovation opportunity. That is, an opportunity to create your next magical, compelling, shareable, must-do (and do again!) in-person experience.
So take these trends and featured innovation examples back to your team, and challenge them. What can we do with this? How can we adapt this trend around our brand, our market, our customers, our values? What can we do to meet and exceed these emerging customer expectations?
For those of you who want to take this even further – we’ll see you at one of our upcoming events on the Future of Experiences.
Now, go – get started today! We can’t promise that creating the next generation of compelling in-person experiences will be easy. But it will be deeply worthwhile.
This Trend Briefing has many hands on it. A huge thanks to the team that pulled this together with such positivity and enthusiasm, especially: Vicky Kim and Nikki Ritmeijer (for design!), and also Maxwell Luthy, Vicki Loomes, Henry Mason, Alida Urban, Harry Metzger, Harvey Gomez, Jareth Ashbrook, Jonathan Herbst and Lisa Feierstein. THANK YOU!