about
AN EXPERIENCE ECONOMY
Any business that relies on customers to visit will fail if they - well, don’t get enough customers to visit! The need seems obvious, but the successful practice is anything but. Your customers are increasingly knowledgeable and critical about what they want to devote actual, in-person time to.
A combination of strategies is needed to ensure visitors are engaged and enthralled, return again soon and, importantly, to recommend you to friends or family. The experience of each customer needs to be considered and orchestrated from end to end along their entire journey.
Many Leisure, Attractions and Tourism businesses miss the mark in surprisingly similar areas:
Failing to differentiate from competitors with unique marketable assets - both tangible and intangible. Sometimes not understanding who their competitors really are (not always the obvious).
Unable to find an emotional connection with their target market and fostering necessary engagement.
Clearly understanding that crafting the total experience is critical and every visible part of the business and every interaction is “on stage” as part of that experience.
In Tourism, Leisure and Attractions business, experiences are what you actually sell, not how you sell. Experiences are your product. Your Customer Experience Strategy then, becomes your essential business strategy.
Understandably, the physical environment is a huge part of this crafted experience. Providing more than simply a setting, it must offer marketable opportunities, emotional engagement and foster connections not only with staff but between your guests and their friends or families. It must provide authentic communication - both literal and intuitive. Sometimes it must have a wow factor, or excite and thrill. It must have an authentic narrative. Undoubtedly, that physical environment will always tell a story about the business and your commitment to your customers.
The business case for better design is undeniable. So everything we do starts with that end in mind – to improve our client’s business position.
We look critically at every aspect of either an existing customer experience or, a proposed new experience or development - then we define, master plan, conceive, strategise and design exceptional customer and remarkable experiences. We help businesses craft the ingredients for success.
Contact us and ask how we can help.
THE EXCEPTIONAL ART THAT IS CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE
DESIGN THINKING AND MORE
Problems seldom have one cause or one outcome. This is why we start with comprehensive analysis and research which leads to leading to integrated solutions.
Truly remarkable customer experience takes a collaboration between the service providers, the expectation creators, the physical environment, and the product on offer to align around a singular customer experience vision.
So for each project, or each problem, we ensure a holistically planned and coordinated interdisciplinary solution.
COMPREHENSIVELY USER-CENTRIC
Understanding customer needs is the first step. However the ongoing quality of experience is influenced by operational functionality and resilience, so we will include administrative, customer service and maintenance staff in our list of users that need a more effective interaction with these environments. It needs to work for all users.
RECOGNISE DIVERSITY
“There is good business sense in recognising a diversified market. Around one third of the population either has a disability or has a family member or close friend with a disability of some kind. So for one third of your potential market, your accessibility and inclusivity is on their radar”
We give incredible attention to gender, cultural and religious diversity. We actively promote accessibility in physical space design and appropriate use of multiple language signage and international symbols or assistive technologies.
Beyond this we are careful to consider age-based needs at every levelincluding the very young and the elderly.
TRANSFORMATIONAL EXPERIENCE
Beyond simply doing more things and having more memories, any kind of experience can be transforming. Frequently, experiences can take us from one place to another: from one mental or physical state to another - from one mindset to another.
So we must ask “Where do we want to take our customers?”. Not withstanding the ability for products or services to be tools, the purchase alone does not provide transformation. How then do we guide customers to facilitate the transformation.
THE BIGGER PICTURE
IT’S A COLLABORATION
We have worked closely with businesses across diverse sectors. While some specific needs differ, the goal is always the same: successful businesses with successful projects.
Strategy and solutions that work best for our clients are based on achieving business goals - not just colourful pictures or trying to win awards. 100% of effort is about making clients successful.
Contact us and ask how we can help.
TEAM EFFORTS
We are dedicated to developing exceptional experiences and for these projects we seldom work alone. We have developed a diverse, international and interdisciplinary network of experts, collaborators and creators built up over more than 20 years experience.
With a focused expertise in customer experience we can engage people with locations, brands and environments, entertain, inspire, deepen communication, enhance empathy and help bring about attitudinal change.
MEET OUR FOUNDER
Philip Drake has been leading multi-disciplinary design teams and successfully completing major projects in leisure, tourism and attractions for over 30 years.
Philip is a recognized expert in Customer Experience Design, Design Thinking and Master Planning for Leisure and Tourism Projects. He has consulted to numerous tourism and attraction businesses and been an advisor to state and federal government in Australia, New Zealand Thailand and Singapore.
His overriding focus has been on developing exceptional and engaging customer experience using research insights, design, storytelling, technology and media.
Using unique Design Methodologies, Design Thinking, a broad multidisciplinary background, and ongoing pursuits in Design Psychology, Philip has been engaged to help develop Theme Parks, Water Parks, and Tourism Destinations, Zoos and Museums, Airports, Railway Terminals, and other high-need, high-impact public spaces and facilities for Government and private clients.
Philip is an enthusiastic advocate for the importance of Customer Experience development as a critical business strategy. He is also a committed promoter of better accessibility to attractions and leisure facilities for people with disabilities.
To date Philip has been recognised with many awards including for design, publishing, media and built environment.
If you have a project to discuss, see our Contact page to book a call.
