The pandemic has accelerated all sorts of long-term trends that impact our towns , cities , high streets , main streets , and shopping malls . Trends like online shopping , work from home , virtual meetings , food delivery , and home as entertainment centre have all morphed from looming , long-term things-tothink-about type of problems into ones triple-underlined in red to make it clear they ’ re now ‘ clear and present danger ’. You can ’ t lure people back with stuff . They can get that from Amazon . You can ’ t excite them with service : Deliveroo does that . There ’ s only one way to get people coming back : set the stage you own with the possibility for exciting , engaging , memorable experiences they can ’ t get at home .
And don ’ t just create something magical and market it hard - the way Hollywood does with a new movie franchise . Instead , take a leaf out of the book of Netflix , and , to be fair , all brilliant TV series from Dallas to the House of Cards : how can you keep people coming back with cliff-hangers ? How can you create the sense of an unfolding story that people can ’ t miss out on ? Or borrow from sports : how can you turn your visitors into fans , so that each visit leads to a further visit ? Or steal from the playbook that tech firms like Facebook use and offer ‘ intermittent variable rewards ’ - not daft loyalty schemes , but unexpected , surprising - and therefore addictive - moments ..
James Wallman , Founder / Futurist / Experience Specialist @ jameswallman
146 Stephen Spencer + Associates