Nordicum - Real Estate Annual Finland 2016 | Page 9

Photo: Strategic Horizons LLP

W

hen the book The Experience
Economy (1999) came out, one
critic wrote “this book scared
the hell out of me”. And no, it was not by
Stephen King, but, instead, by two business gurus, Joe Pine and Jim Gilmore, who
perceived a paradigm shift to end all paradigm shifts just around the corner. The book
identified and described a crucial progression of economic value from commodities
to goods to services, and then to experiences.
Seventeen years after the book
launch, Joe Pine recalls that the work did
open some eyes to a brand new reality.
“There were still many that were
decrying the loss of manufacturing jobs and
the shift into the Service Economy, and now
they had to face a new threat to old sectors
and ways of doing business,” he looks back.
The Experience Economy showed
how businesses should embrace theatre as
an operating model to stage unique experiences – like a modern take on Shakespeare’s line “all the world’s a stage,” if
you will. What this means is that companies must learn how to go beyond goods
and services, and hit their customers with
experience.

Going Digital
Still, as the book came out just prior to the
millennium, the authors themselves called
Experience Economy as “nascent,” “forthcoming,” and “growing.” It was not there,
not quite yet. But by the time the updated
edition came out in 2011, there could be no
doubt – experiences had become the predominant economic offering, and the primary source of economic growth, new jobs,
and innovation.
How did this happen? Well, between
1999 and 2011 the digital bomb dropped
and took experience to another level. Joe
Pine points out that digitalisation has
pushed itself into just about all arenas, particularly because of the development of the
smartphone where anyone could visit virtuality at the touch of a finger.
But while some industries have made
experience their life’s blood, other industries are more conservative. In terms of
urban development and building new communities, just how relevant is the Experience Economy? Joe Pine replies that experiences are absolutely essential to the real
estate business, too.
“It is the authentic experience that
turns a house into a home, a space into a
place, and a neighbourhood into a community,” he says, adding that architects,
designers and developers would do well
to seek authenticity at all times, for it is
something that resonates strongly with people – and, on the other hand, people can
smell fake and instinctively steer clear of
the inauthentic.
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