Food and hospitality next frontier of innovation
Your most difficult customer
5 devices/ 8 second attention span
I will try to help you see the opportunities in servicing distracted, always connected, always comparing clientele.
I just want to say a few words about strategic foresight and how we can use this to understand generational change.
As a futurist I like to look beyond the trends. Trends tell us what’s happening, but we can understand the underlying forces we will see them in a larger context. The top green bubble tells us how these changes manifest and what we can do to evoke a desired outcome. The green bubble represents the strategic opportunities that these trends generate.
The trends surrounding Generation Z typically say something about the attributes that distinguish them from other generations, and they are typically driven by two underlying driving forces, Digital Transformation and the Post-recession Economy.
Digital transformation is more than just using digital technology, it’s about not knowing a world without it. This transforms the way they live, study, work, travel, eat, love – everything.
The post-recession economy refers to the new business models, values, expectations and life styles that started to emerge since the financial crisis in 2008. It also refers to an economy where jobs can be automated and the things we took for granted are no longer there. With a high young unemployment rate, you are truly very familiar with this trend.
In this presentation I thought it might be useful to think of the strategic opportunities as the Marketing Mix – or the ways in which these trends play out strategically for the various aspects of your business – such as price, product, promotion and place. So for those of you who are unfamiliar with marketing concepts, don’t fret. This is just a way to cluster these trends together so you can build better strategies using these different tools.
As you can see here many of these trends are combinations of these two driving forces. And by the way, don’t think you have to remember each one of these. I will make all these slides available on my website, which I will post at the end of my presentation. And if you send me an email, I’ll send you a trend document. And if you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to grab me in the hallways later. Or message me in social media. Or via telepathy, holographic projections..whichever way.
In the rest of the presentation I’ll put on a firehose of information, but I’ll cluster the trends in a way that will hopefully make sense.
What I think is pretty remarkable is that generation Z represents a disruptive force in all the four areas of the marketing mix and this will affect how you could better reach them in four areas.
Surveys everywhere shows this generation to be far more price conscious than their predecessors were at the same age. 60% savings account, 12% saves for retirement.
Being connected means they never had to pay full price.
Price conscious from last recession. Don’t take continued growth for granted.
Use price optimization tech to always get the best rate.
With the emergence of OTAs, the hospitality industry has felt this trend longer than any other industry. It might seem that price is the only thing that matters, but it really isn’t. They are just more selective.
FOOD AND HOSPITALITY UNIQUE TO GEN Z.
It turns out that your industry is in a very unique place for appealing to Generation Z because they are all about paying for experiences. When I was young people would express themselves via their clothes, today it is through experiences such as eating experiences with friends. And although the days with the full-service brands seem to be gone, they will spend on food that meet certain criteria.
Which brings me over to the Product aspect of the four Ps of the Marketing Mix.
PAST – PRODUCT WAS FIXED AND MASS PRODUCED. VACATIONS – BEACH OR SKISLOPES, LITTLE VARIATION.
NOW – UNIQUE EXPERIENCE IS THE PRODUCT. THE END PRODUCT IS A CO-CREATED EXPERIENCE BETWEEN THE FASCILLITATOR (HOTEL, RESTAURANT) AND THE USER, EXPRESSED AS DIGITAL FOOTPRINTS IN SOCIAL MEDIA.
In the age of digital devices the experience economy is more than ephemeral moments shared only with those who are physically present. They are etched into people’s personal stories via mobile devices and social media.
And since your industry is facilitating these stories you are co-creating the final product with your user. (Pause)
ULTIMATELY, THE USER IS THE FINAL PRODUCT SINCE THEY EXPRESS THEMSELVES VIA THE CONSUMPTION OF IT.
You can see that their preferences are reflecting who they are. Generation Z is
Multi-cultural – ethnic
Personal
Healthy - information
Fair- care about the full production cycle. It’s becoming hip to be a farmer and be in direct contact with the earth.
So again, you see how the product is so much more than what you deliver them. It’s the full experience. And ultimately it is them.
ANY PLACE CAN BE A DESTINATION NOW IF IT CAN HELP CREATE A UNIQUE PERSONAL STORY
MORE FLEXIBLE WORK AND NEW WORKFORCE DEMANDS BLURS THE LINE BETWEEN LEISURE AND BUSIENSS. AND THIS TYPE OF LINE BLURRING THEY ARE COMFORTABLE WITH BECAUSE THEY DON’T LIKE TO PUT ANYTHING IN CATEGORIES.
When this generation comes of age, over half of them will be freelancers. This means that they both can work from anywhere and they might have to when working with a diverse customer base. They also indicate that they want to in surveys.
Young people don’t put a distinction between work and leisure. They are willing to use their own portable devices for work and expect to do personal things on company time. Which means that destinations will have to look more into creating destinations that combine these two purposes. We will see fewer hotels that cater only to one of these segments, but more that combine work experiences with interesting attractions and events outside of business.
Gen Zers have been fully immersed in streaming and surfing since they were very young. This on-demand life has produced a level of expectations and impatience to have everything available immediately. They expect services such as the ability to check wait times or add their name to a waitlist and restaurant details such as menus and reviews to be available online.
Moreover, they expect that you will recommend what they like, so that the only advertisement they see from you are those that appeal to them.
The “good news” is that we now live in the world where everything is recorded. By using data analytics tools like association algorithms and predictive models that can can estimate churn rates you can customize a personalized experience for all customers based on their profiles.
The bad news is that when you predict human behavior so you can give them a customized experience, you risk being “creepy”. The retail chain Target went beyond their expected level of customization when they started recommending sending advertisements and coupons for baby products to a teenager. The girl ultimately had to reveal the pregnancy to her father because of the algorithms Target used.
But personalization is not just about digital technology. Especially for generation Z. Quite often it starts with a personal experience. And this experience becomes a story and then if the story is good or touching it goes viral.
Do anybody know what story I’m about to tell here? The story of how a lost stuffed animal received a laminated VIP badge from the Ritz Carleton.
So Joshie, the stuffed giraffe was forgotten in a hotel room at the Ritz Carleton by a young boy, a boy who belongs to generation z. Obviously, forgetting stuff in hotel rooms is something I can relate to. But this was even worse. Because the boy had never spent a night without Joshie. If you are a parent I know you can relate. When your kids suffer, you suffer.
The father pulled a white lie and told his son that Joshie is only on an extended vacation. Now he had to call the less prevention department, and thankfully they found Joshie in the library. But they didn’t only return him. Then made him an honorary member, gave him his own member badge and created a binder of Joshies many adventures.
So here’s Joshy at the pool, getting spa treatment, hanging out with other animals. He even got to drive a golf cart and work as a patrol officer.
Now the real story here is what this did to Ritz Carleton as a bran. And without a dime in advertisement.
The reason I brought up this story is because besides the type of personalization that really appeals to generation Z, it spread the same way this generation creates and consumes content. Now this was 6 years ago and made viral by a a father in my generation, and we are not digitally native. So you can only image what similar stories will do when put into the hands of generation z. They WANT to co-create stories of this kind. Because that is what social media is all about.
Which brings me to the next and last value factor.
BECAUSE MORE THAN GENERATIONS, MORE THAN YOUNG, OLD OR ANYTHING IN BETWEEN, WE ARE ALL MADE UP OF STORIES. SOME OF THOSE STORIES MIGHT INVOLVE ITEMS FORGOTTEN AT A HOTEL ROOM. SOME OF THEM MIGHT BE TRYING TO EAT ROASTED TARANTUAL SPIDERS. BUT ONE THING IS FOR SURE, YOUR INDUSTRY IS AT THE ROOT OF ENABLING MANY PERSONAL STORIES.