BENCHMARK ISSUE 1 2016
THE SECRET GARDEN FESTIVAL What makes this event so unique?
INNOVATION IN THE LEISURE SECTOR
Contents MOMMAS 3 Interrelations within the leisure sector EVENTS 6 The human nature of disclosing secrets ARTS & CULTURE 9 Catching up with technology MEDIA 12 How to reach the public in an innovative way HOTEL 16 Innovation is everwhere TOURISM 18 A question of perspective ENTERTAINMENT 21 Change the world around you
Leisure Benchmark
Interrelations within the Leisure Industry The Leisure Industry is very broad. It consists of lots of activities that can be done all around the world. The model on the bottom of this page, stated these leisure activities. The Mommaas model, as the above figure is called, consists of thirteen activities, that can be categorized as either place-related or not, and either active or passive. While some activities might be completely different than other ones, still every single one of them, is connected to the other. The reason for this is, that they all need motivation to undertake them. This could be either social motivation (the need for social interaction), basic pleasures for the body (eating,
drinking, sex, sport) and social learning (developing new social skills or skills to perform the activity better, developing knowledge and interests which give satisfaction to oneself) (Argyle, 1996). This motivation needs to be found within every activity, for one to actually perform it. Another explanation why all activities are interconnected, can be told by defining leisure. If this definition is adaptable to every activity, they are all connected as well. To start with, leisure has a lot of definitions. Some may say it is just an attitude of the mind (Josef Pieper, 1952), others may say it is the time left besides work (Raymond Aron, date unknown). The last definition results in the equation L = T – W: Leisure = Time – Work.
Charles Brightbill (1961) argues that also necessities as eating and resting should be substracted. The reminder is called ‘true’ leisure. During ‘true’ leisure, the consumer can really decide themselves what to do. If this is connected back to the model of Mommaas, the conclusion can be made that every activity stated in the model is not work-related and also not a necessity. This results in the fact that again all activities, how different they may seem, are connected.
To conclude: when looking at the motivation needed and how the time in a day is divided for leisure, one can see that all thirteen activities in the Mommaas model are interconnected. For example Hotel & Catering and Games may be totally different, but since the motivation and the time in which these activities occur are the same, they are still connected. This thought can be applied to all thirteen activities and therefore, all of them are interconnected.
BENCHMARK
INNOVATION AND LEISURE INNOVATION The central theme of the following benchmark will be 'innovation', which can be defined in various ways. To put it in a nutshell, it means to bring a new product on an existing market. In the ideal situation this brings profit, which is the core value of innovation in an economical way. Innovation should close a customers’ gap in the existing market.
Innovation defined by Joseph Schumpeter - The introduction of a new product or a qualitative change in an existing product - process innovation new to an industry -opening of a new market -development of new sources of supply for raw material - other inputs and changes in the industrial organization
Either sitting in the shade of a giant fox or enjoing the great atmosphere of an abandoned office basement; creating a memorable impression for the customer is more important than ever before.
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eing innovative is a must in the event industry. Since there are thousands of events taking place every day, you need to
find a way to stand out from the crowd. One way to catch attention is to make an experience more personalized. Most people nowadays want to escape from their everyday life. Disclosing secrets lies in the human nature. It is innovative to catch up with that thought because it makes any experience more personalized. In the following there are two companies that put this into practice and suceeded.
'The secret garden party' is a music and arts festival taking place in Cambridgeshire, UK. What makes it outstanding: you have no idea what it is about. It is themed, but the organizers do not publish any information about it before the festival actually starts. The whole event is a good kept secret. If you visit the festival's website, you will leave it with even more questions than before. It makes you really curious! And this is how the concept works: Out of curiosity you buy a ticket, because you want to be part of disclosing this huge secret!
Find out more: secretgardenparty.com
'The secret cinema' is an event of a different kind! The concept is clever: you buy a ticket online but you do not know what to expect. Neither you have a clue of the title of the movie nor at which location it is shown. The creators mostly choose special locations, like, as shown above, an abandoned church. This creates an unique atmosphere. Every visitor is curious about what is going to happen. 'The secret cinema' also hires actors and singers to even support the experience. While the movie is playing, there are soldiers or 'Star Wars' characters walking through the audience. Got curious? Grab yourself a ticket before they are sold!
Find out more: secretcinema.org
Innovation in the Arts & Culture industry
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reating a vivid experiencce is vital not only in the event, but also in the arts and culture industry. With all the technologies overflowing our world and everyday life, the art industry really needs to catch up. People are no longer interested in simply looking at paintings, sculptures and other pieces of art, they want to be involved. Here we will tell you more about two art galleries that stand as an example of a successful blend of art and technology.
“Charles de Gaulle Monument” in Paris, France is an interactive multimedia space dedicated to the work of Charles de Gaulle. The monument is located at the underground level of the Musee de l’Armee. The area doesn’t contain any objects but rather favors sounds and images in all their forms. Still and animated archive images - news, posters, photographs, etc. - are combined with and supplemented by filmed interviews with historians, multimedia books, dynamic walls, maps, entertainment news, an interactive world map, etc. Every visitor can organize their stay as they see fit. With the usage of autonomous infrared device, visitors can choose their own path and create their own experience. At their disposal are 400 audiovisual documents and nearly 20 hours of commentary. Find out more on http://www.musee-armee.fr/
“Gallery One” is located at the entrance to the Cleveland Museum of Art (CMA).The gallery is a highly innovative blend of art, technology, design and a unique user experience. It invites visitors to connect actively with the art through exploration and creativity. Multi-touch screens allow the public to explore artworks visually through magnification and rotation. Every art installation is created in a way that encourages the visitors to not only observe, but also to connect actively with the collection and see themselves in the art on view. “Build in clay” even inspires the public to make a sculpture in clay by virtually kneading, rolling, coiling, cutting, and assembling. Visitors can also share all of their creations through email and social media, such as Facebook and Twitter.
Find out more on http://www.clevelandart.org/gallery-one
Innovation in the Media sector
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he media sector is one of the oldest ones and over many years it has gone through multiple transformations. It’s impossible to move forward without changing and innovation is all about change. In the media sector it could be related to product innovation, process innovation, position innovation and social innovation. Here we'll introduce you to two practices that take a different approach to innovation, however, aiming for the same goal.
Time Inc. takes a distinctive approach when it comes to their content creation program. Time + Leisure (a Time’s Inc’s title) is using a platform which increases the publishing volume of the media from 12 online posts a week to more than 100 per week. In order to achieve that, the digital media uses a small network of experts who handle a certain area, where the rest of the contributions (50 to 100) will come from freelancers. In addition to this, Time Inc. has begun to create audio versions of its daily newspaper, The Brief. The idea is to reach digitally distracted audience and it is working well. According to Digiday (May 20, 2015) in April 2015 people have listened to an average of 16 minutes per session. Having in mind that we live in a time where everybody is busy, preoccupied with social media and consumes much fewer articles, this is an impressive result.
Hotels.com is a leading online accommodation booking website and they have a very different approach to their video commercials policy. Most users will agree that when Facebook and Instagram launched the autoplay video in 2013, scrolling down their timeline was getting more and more annoying with the tons of videos playing just when they scrolled through them. As time passed, people got used to the online video setting, especially since they have to unmute them by themselves, by clicking on the video. The problem however, is that most of the users do not take the extra time to actually stop and click on them.
Companies need to overcome this and the new “silent policy” of Hotels.com is succeeding in this. A smart campaign with their mascot Captain Obvious was released in June 2015 and had a great success. According to Mashable.com in their article in June 2015, “The first of the two (ads) garnered five times more engagement than the agency's average brand ad, and the comments section has been overwhelmingly positive.”
Innovation in the Hotel Industry
Innovation in the Hotel Industry is very important. Since there is a lot of competition, hotels have to keep up with the newest trends. The hard thing is that innovation in the hotel industry can be found in everything, for example: the use of social media, unique locations, sustainability and technology. In this benchmark, a comparison between ‘feminine’ hotels is made. These hotels focus particularly on women who are travelling alone, especially for business executives. In this chapter the Premier Hotel in Times Square and the Luthan Hotel and Spa will be compared.
According to the Premier, women weren’t requesting protection, but better light for makeup and more dietfriendly food. The hotel offers irons, special bathing products for the oversized bath, yoga mats, women’s magazines, and other similar products, for no extra price. The idea behind this is that these women work hard and will also want some time to relax when they get back to the hotel. Still the female floors have extra security. Think about a key-card door and just female staff, so when they open the door for room service, they will not feel intimidated.
The Luthan Hotel and Spa is the first hotel for just women in the Middle East. They do not just offer a floor to women, but every single room in the hotel is only allowed for women. The website of the hotel tells that the hotel helps to rebalance energies. This happens by facilities like Aqua Meditation, Salt Inhalation Room, Herbal Sauna and an Ice Fountain pool. Also the hotel pays a lot of attention to art, cosmetics and fitness.
To conclude, hotels look more and more at the needs of women and try to apply this knowledge in their hotels. Some feminine hotels, like the Premier, are mainly focussed on business women, to give them a pleasant stay with a lot of extras to relax more. Other hotels, like the Luthan Hotel and Spa, are focussing on women in general and not just business woman. They offer more facilities to relax, so you can stay in the hotel for the whole day, while this is not the purpose of for example the Premier. Both have a very different concept, but both are still innovate and focussed on women.
Innovation in the Tourism Sector
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nnovation is an important part of tourism that was underestimated for a long time. There are different types of innovation in tourism: product or service, process, managerial , management and institutional innovations. On the next two pages you can read about two countries which make clear how important innovations, especially in service, are.
Both, Egypt and Argentina, are emerging countries. Their innovations in tourism are similar and very simple in the European sight. However, these innovations are improtant for the countries because they help keeping tourists coming.
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nnovations in Egypt's tourism are important because tourism is a main money source. The most improtant innovations of Argentina's tourism are in the marketing. Services make sure that the counrty is well presented on the internet so it gets enough attention and tourists keep coming. Argentina's tourists services make contracts with foreign travel agencies and try to keep already existing services in good shape.
Let´s have a look at Egypt! On first sight the innovations in Egypt's tourism might seem simple. However considering that it's an emerging nation makes it understandable. The country makes sure to keep the accommodations and highways between sightseeing spots well maintained, offer its tourists new recreational activities and trys to promote them overseas. Actually, promotion is very important for the country, that's why tourism services make contracts with travel agencies in foreign countries.
One of the most important parts in the Entertainment Industry is being innovative. Everyone wants to invent something new in order to win the competition. Everything in the Entertainment Industry is moving very fast. One thing might be totally new and great the one day, will be changed in a new and better way within only a few days. Since there are new and innovate inventions every day there are a lot of best practices to choose from. On the following pages the comparison between the Microsoft HoloLens and the Oculus Rift is made. The HoloLens is bringing your ideas in the real world while the Oculus Rift is putting you in the virtual world.
The Microsoft HoloLens is, as they say about it themselves on their webside, the first and most advanced holographic computer that puts your ideas into your environment. You can make your own decisions on how it is supposed to look like and even share your ideas with colleagues or friends. If you for example want to design your own piece of furniture the Microsoft HoloLens allows you to look at it from multiple perspectives. And since there is no mouse or screen you could use to navigate through the holograms, the Microsoft HoloLens is working with your gestures, gaze and voice. And if you want to have a real copy of your idea then you can print it with the help of a 3D printer.
Change the world around you
The Oculus Rift on the other hand is not about putting anything into your environment but about getting you into a Virtual Reality. They promote it on their webside as something that is not like anything you have ever seen or felt before. They work with an advanced display technology that is supposed to make you feel the way as you're actually in the game or movie or any other virtual reality. In contrast to 3D glasses which put the movie out of the screen the Oculus Rift is getting you into the movie instead. For example if you are watching a movie about a roller coaster the Oculus Rift lets you feel like you are actually sitting in the roller coaster. You can look around and see the birds in the sky and you can the buildings next to you when you look to the side. Your view changes whenever you move your head just the way as it works in the real world.
In conclusion, the Entertainment Industry is really focusing on being innovative and new. Both inventions are very innovative. They both look similar in a way because you wear them as glasses on your head but the things they do are completely different.
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That gives us an insight on how the world might be in a few years.
Innovation will always be a huge part of whatever someone is doing in the Leisure Industry and not only there but also in every of our lives innovation is having an impact on what we do and how we act.