Experience Hubs

I continue to read from the book Authenticity.

In the latest installment of my reading, the authors talk about experience hubs, that is central locations for putting retail and b2b stores or offices(respectively) where people already in the area for other reasons(like they live in the area, or are visiting the area for other reasons) can experience your brand.

As it relates to shows, this explains the reason for events being so hot in places like New York, San Francisco or Las Vegas of course, perhaps for different reasons. I am not a big fan of Las Vegas, but love New York and San Francisco. As some events become regional to get closer to their audiences(and save them money), it also makes sense for events to piggyback on complementary aspects of the regions(like call center tours at an event I did a couple of years ago in Phoenix). Maybe all the above is obvious.

I for one am looking forward to eventually going to the Autostadt(the Volkswagen experience set in Wolfsburg, Germany) but not for the non-informative website.

The book next goes into 'derivative placemaking' which means having an experiential location that is a part of another location. Here's where reading multiple media feeds helps you- it mentions Proctor & Gambles Charmin NYC restrooms- which were the only public toliets available to hundreds of thousands of revellers in Times Square on New Year's- although I guess they got massive 'exposure' for Charmin, if that's the right word. The author should mention that he is biased towards Charmin for the sake of 'full disclosure' TMI probably.

The book then goes into the virtual extensions of placemeking, which I'll describe and comment on in my next post.

See you soon.