What the experience economy means for UK marketers

What is the experience economy in marketing?

The experience economy is an economic idea that treats a staged, memorable experience as the product itself, rather than the goods or services used to deliver it. B. Joseph Pine II and James H. Gilmore set it out in Harvard Business Review in 1998 and expanded it into a book of the same name.

For a marketing manager the practical consequence is simple. A museum, a theatre, a zoo or an adventure site is not selling admission. It is selling a day that a family will talk about, so the marketing has to describe the day: what happens, how long it takes, what it costs and how to get there. Clarity beats mood. A leaflet carrying a map, opening times and a timed programme will usually out-earn an image led advert for the same attraction.

How does the UK visitor economy talk about itself?

UK tourism bodies use the phrase visitor economy to mean the whole chain of spending a visit creates: admissions, accommodation, food and drink, transport and retail, not only the ticket. VisitBritain and the national tourist boards frame their work that way, and so do local destination management organisations.

That framing changes what an attraction competes for. An attraction is not competing on price with the attraction down the road. It is competing for a slot in somebody's day against everything else within reach. Day visits carry the volume, and a large share of those decisions are made close to the moment, in a hotel foyer, a caravan park reception or a town centre, by people who are already out. Marketing that only reaches the sofa at home misses that decision entirely.

Why does physical print suit selling an experience?

Physical print suits the experience economy because the decision to buy an experience is usually made in the physical world, often on the day, by somebody who is already out and choosing what to do next. A leaflet in a rack, a poster in a shop window or a brochure in a bedroom folder reaches that person at the point of decision, and it carries the practical detail without a signal, a battery or a click.

iDO (Info Display OOH Ltd) distributes more than 5 million brochures every month across 150,000 print points, the biggest print distribution network in the UK, served from 60+ distribution centres with teams local to their own areas. Clients include the National Trust, English Heritage, ZSL London Zoo, Merlin Entertainments, Cadw, the Royal Albert Hall, the Design Museum and the Welsh Rugby Union.

• Reaches people already out and deciding what to do next
• Holds a map, opening times, prices and a programme on one sheet
• Stays in a bag or a pocket for the rest of the day
• Sits in hotels, information centres, campsites and cafes, where plans get made

Which print format suits which kind of experience?

Choose the print format by where the decision happens. Racked formats work where people browse and plan. Poster formats work where people walk past. The sizes below are the UK standards an experience brand will be quoted against.

How do you prove a print campaign for an experience worked?

Ask for GPS tracked distribution, photographed proof of display and a dated record per site, then read it against your own bookings for the same postcodes and weeks. iDO has invested over £250,000 in a reporting system that GPS tracks each run, photographs the display and publishes both to a live dashboard with geo located maps.

Two real campaigns show the shape. The Design Museum ran solus door to door in W8 6 with an ultra local blanket of Kensington High Street, Earls Court Road and Notting Hill Gate, and saw a spike in membership applications. Trestle Theatre in St Albans took an ultra local poster blanket of every retail, food and drink, supermarket, community and heritage site in town, and the performance was oversubscribed.