Ideas are Orange

Reuters's retail end

I recently read the article by Carl J. Loomis in Fortune about Bloomberg's Money Machine. It is of course fantastic. It really got me thinking about where Reuters is in the market and some ideas on that.

• We are heading towards an experience economy
• Owning the retail end of the business is where the experience is provided. That's why there's Apple Stores, Sony Style and Nike Town.
• In the next wave, you don't want to be in the back-end or being the provider of the guys facing the customer. Unless you are in India or China and your economy is at that stage.
• The experience requires great design!
• Reuters could use Jeff Han, to create a new kind of terminal that is organic in all features. That is touchscreen and motion enabled. That can be manipulated with fingers instead of keys. This would provide a great experience. I´ve seen and used a Bloomberg... not pretty.
• Reuters can beat Bloomberg in usability! If Bloomberg has the volume side of the market they can go for the margin side of that
• Reuters needs Microsoft for voice recognition purposes. With thousands of commands and options, these systems need some voice activated functions.
• Reuters should also apply some Wikinomics to the equation in order to get global ratings, build a massive investment guide, emerging markets information, etc...
• Reuters should be riding the ipod economy. Why isn't there a Belkin made accesory called the Reuters-Link that wirelessly downloads ll video and audio content to an ipod? Bloomberg can be accessed by a Blackberry... there are a lot more ipods out there. Reuters can learn from the Nike + Apple partnership.

I suppose it boils down to out-innovating your competition, but with a clear [blue ocean] differentiation, reducing features, raising content, creating usability, eliminating complexity.

Middle East Mega Projects

• Ideas, Innovation, and Brands come from the US
• Products come from China
• Services come from India
• and Experiences will come from the Middle East

Here are some of the Middle Easts's Mega Projects to deliver engaging experiences, staged in spectacular settings:

The Palm involves the creation of the world's largest three man-made islands known as The Palm, Jumeirah; The Palm, Jebel Ali; and The Palm Deira. Located just off the coast of the city of Dubai, the three palm tree shaped islands are expected to contribute to the city's position as a premier global tourist destination. www.thepalm.ae

The World was conceived by His Highness General Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and UAE Defence Minister, the development consists of 300 islands that together form the image of the world map. www.theworld.ae

Burj Dubai will be the centrepiece of Emaar's US$20 billion Burj Dubai District and the new emerging Downtown Dubai taking its place as one of the world's modern landmark buildings, alongside the likes of Empire State Building, Taipei 101, Malaysia's Petronas Towers, Sears Tower and London's Canary Wharf. Upon completion, Burj Dubai will hold the record in all four categories as recognized by the New York-based global authority - Council on Tall Building and Urban Habitat - highest structure, roof, antenna and occupied floor.

A syndicate of three UAE banks, Mashreqbank psc, Emirates Bank International and Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank, have signed the agreement to provide the required contracting finance for the consortium chosen to construct Emaar's iconic Burj Dubai Tower, valued at AED3.2 billion (US$869m) and soon to become the world's tallest building.

The project, the Dubai Waterfront, is a conglomeration of canals and islands studded with luxury hotels and homes. Larger than the island of Manhattan, the development will reconfigure the map of this tiny desert emirate by adding 500 miles of man-made waterfront. www.dubaiwaterfront.ae

The 'The Mall of Arabia', due to open in 2008, will have four levels, around 1,000 outlets, its own theatre, and enough parking for 10,000 cars. The size of the mall will be 10 million square feet GLA (gross leasable area) when completed, making it the world's biggest mall.

Opening its doors in 2008, Restless Planet will set a new standard for imaginative theme parks, with three rides, including a special 'dark ride', and more than 100 lifelike, actual size 'animatronic' dinosaurs.

Ski Dubai is a formidable engineering feat, an incongruous 25-storey structure rising from the Gulf emirate's sands as some 1,000 labourers work round the clock building the Middle East's only indoor ski resort and the world's third largest. www.skidubai.com

the Virgin Atlantic Experience

During my holiday vacation I traveled from NYC to London on Virgin Atlantic. I did it in part because my younger brother wanted to fly the airline real bad. I observed something very interesting though...

Being interested in the "experience economy" it became obvious that Virgin Atlantic (VA) was definitely a player in this arena. And one of the key elements through which they create an entertaining, engaging, remarkable experience is by leveraging the power of communication.

During the VA flight, the flight manager constantly threw out fun lines that create a laughing emotion (what an experience is about). Here are some of the things he said (in a thick British accent):

• Ladies and gentleman, this is a non-smoking flight. If you do however decide to light one, we'll put you out on the wing where you can light it and you can smoke it!
• Ladies and gentleman, now that our flight has landed we do ask that some of our passengers stay behind to help out and clean the toilets. We do reserve this spot is reserved for those who stand up before the fasten seat belt sign is turned off.
• We are aware that you have the Internet and many choices and thank you deeply for flying Virgin Atlantic. The next time you feel like jetting off in a giant pressurized metal tube, please do think of us.
• Some sharp, smart passengers shave brought to my attention that our entertainment software is not up to date. I will make sure to have a serious chat with our engineers once we are on the ground and to point out that our passengers are much smarter than them. We do apologize and hope you enjoy the current movie catalog.

An experience requires:

• Communication that gives people value makes people want to be a part of the experience. There is no such thing as too much praise or saying nice things. Calling passengers smart, brilliant and other adjectives makes them feel great.
  • In contrast to the service economy where everyone is pointing out pains, problems, issues and other things that trigger buying reasons. In the experience economy, positive language is what feeds buying behavior perhaps?
• Nicely worded lines that make people laugh are key. This just takes practice and careful planning of what are the things you usually say (like saying that it's a non/smoking flight) and rewording them in a fun, engaging manner.
• Diversity is necessary - an international flight manager has a certain aura that makes him objective to the crowd. If it had been your local flight attendant telling you that the software is out of date, people would have been enraged.
• There are more practical ways of getting people to do things, like the toilet trick, instead of being coercive and setting limits. The limits become socially imposed.

The Colombian Experience

I have mentioned in several posts how much I like business books. Perhaps the book that I think still has to realize its full potential, the big idea still ahead of its time is "The Experience Economy".

When I see new global developments like those in Dubai, I can see how some countries are trying to make that leap from delivering services to staging experiences. And so, I search for the companies that are staging those experiences.

Mantaraya is one of the only companies I know in Colombia that sells an experience. A set of emotions - extreme emotions - that are staged for clients to be experienced in wild and exotic locales. They have a proven track record of providing exciting, environmentaly conscious and safe expeditions to breathtaking sites throughout Colombia. They stage their experiences in crystal clear waters or in deep green jungles. I doesn't get any better than that.

I always find an experience company interesting . I also find interesting the concept of "merit badging" explored by Tom Kelley to be the formal "emotional contract" by which an experience is certified. Perhaps there should be a site called mybadge.com where companies can put up their digital badges and people show what they have done. These guys could give people a digital badge as well as a real "patch" version. Perhaps there could be really deep experiences where you have to get a tattoed badge...

Do visit www.mantarayakayak.com