Bringing the Purple Cow to the Market: Tapping Into the Experience Economy by Lara Bazant

Mootivational Cow
Artist: Joanne P. Cassaro
Sponsor: Waypoint Bank
From the Cow Parade in Harrisburg, PA

In this lecture from the 2013 SNAG Professional Development Seminar Sacred Cow,
Purple Cow,
Cash Cow speaker Lara Bazant offers articulate explanations for how her "experience" workshops have provided visibility, increased retail purchases, and augmented revenue.

Her lecture presentation offers a new perspective on the experience economy. Within only 15 minutes plus the Q & A with the audience she was able to answer all our questions and offer a solid approach to finding a new audience.

Below are some the questions we asked her to address:

• Can you tell us how your experience workshops came to be?
• What led you in this direction--was there an “aha” moment?
• Do your experience workshop increase purchase of your jewelry or compete with retail purchase?
• How do you promote your experience workshops?
• Do you charge the same price for every event?
• Do you charge per person?
• How many people can take an experience workshop at one time?   
• Do you charge a material fee?

As you listen to this lecture, THINK about how you can participate in the experience economy. 

Bringing the Purple Cow to the Market: Tapping Into the Experience Economy by Lara Bazant posted on  SlideShare.

Harriete Estel Berman

P.S. The 2013 Professional Development Seminar was organized by Brigitte Martin, Andy Cooperman and myself Harriete Estel Berman to provide nuts and bolts entrepreneurial information. It is sponsored by SNAG and MJSA.  

Here is my question for you?
What information would you like to see covered as a topic in 2014. Any ideas? This is your opportunity to be a force for good. Please leave your suggestion in the comments or contact me privately through my website.
I look forward to hearing your ideas.

The Experience Economy is GROWING

Next week's presentation from
Sacred Cow, Purple Cow, Cash Cow
is about the experience economy. The experience economy is described by Joseph Pine in his TED Talk: "What consumers want."

Maker Faire is a great example.  It is all about the experience. The attendance at the Maker Faire events has increased significantly every year. The original Maker Faire event was in San Mateo, a few miles from my house, so I've gone on several occasions. You would not believe the crowds and excitement at $25 to $35 per adult (depending on when you bought the ticket).    

MAKE Magazine is all about the experience economy filled with do-it-yourself projects appealing to a wide range of ages and demographics. My son has had a subscription for years.

A parallel growth on line is Instructables. There are multiple ways to participate. You can post instructions online, or follow the instructions that other people post. They are even doing a 3-D printing month tapping into new technologies that require no hands on skill, but perfect for the geeks more familiar with a computer than a pair of pliers. If you write instructions for Instructables, you get a free class at the TECH SHOP.

The TechShop is all about the experience economy and it is growing! The TechShop now has multiple locations. The first location was 20 minutes from my house. Now there are three in the San Francisco Bay Area alone. Three more in other U.S. locations. Three more in planning. The TECH Shop wisely offers day passes, month, yearly and business memberships. They also offer free memberships to Veterans. In the Bay Area they are a hub of start up businesses. The are about the experience of hands on making of anything, practical, industrial, artistic to experimental.

The experience economy is a growth market and it is expanding exponentially. It appeals to a demographic that may be interested in the craft show marketplace, but also to D.I.Y.'ers, hobbyists, and geeks. The experience economy is developing and growing phenomenally despite the poor economy and has a strong future.

What does that say for all of us with a craft background?

On Monday Lara Bazant will talk about how she has been able to tap into the "experience economy" with her presentation from the Professional Development Seminar.

Subscribe to ASK Harriete or become a SNAG member. Two ways to assure you will not miss this  lecture.

Harriete Estel Berman

Cash Cow, Sacred Cow, Purple Cow

The SNAG Professional Development Seminar is coming up soon. 

The topic for 2.5 hours of programming is:
"Cash Cow, Sacred Cow, Purple Cow"

The Professional Development Seminar will have the fabulous volunteer efforts of Lindsey Snell who will blog and tumbler the lecture LIVE!!!! from Toronto, Canada, on Friday, May 17, 2:30-5:30pm EDT.

http://pds-news.tumblr.com/

https://twitter.com/PDS_News

Here is what Lindsey Snell has to say about our topic:
"I'm really looking forward to the PDS! The topics seem very well timed and I think it will really resonate with people at the conference" [along with the listeners on tumbler & twitter].

"This stems from the kinds of recent conversations that are happening with many of my peers. This is especially relevant to those students who are about to embark on the transition out of academia. There is a definite sense that things are very different from the lives that our professors have known and we need to be working independently to adjust to the way things are now."

"Especially with the rise of general interest in DIY culture, interactive media, social networking, and much more, many of us feel that being talented or a great maker will not prove to be as fruitful as it once was. There is a tension between the expectations of having good craftsmanship and design skills and the ability to develop one's identity as a maker and networker."

"In the last discussion I had with a friend, I think we used the phrase "social as survival" for a way to think about things now. Not only is being unique important as ever, but visibility and accessibility are essential." 

"Also, alternative exhibition spaces are exciting and rarely get discussed in comparison to traditional galleries and museums. I always think of the Clutch Gallery that is still in Chicago- it was a girl's handbag that was transformed into a mini traveling space."

"I'm sure I could go on forever about all of this-but that is precisely why I am excited about this presentation. It really should start good and necessary discussions about contemporary issues."

-Lindsey

Attend the PDS 
Anyone may attend the Professional Development Seminar.

Date:          Friday, May 17, 2013
Time:         3:00 – 5:30 pm
Location:  Canadian Hall, Fairmont Royal York Hotel
Address:   100 Front Street West,
                      Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5J 1E3
Admission:  

• Free with conference registration, OR
• Purchase a Friday day pass.
• Purchase a PDS pass on day of event at the conference registration desk onsite at the hotel (PDS pass will also get you into the Vendor Room and the SNAG Juried Student Exhibition).
  
  

This year's program was inspired by two TED talks:

Seth Godin: How to get your ideas to spread

Joseph Pine: What consumers want

Our speakers include:

Lara Bazant- “Bringing the Purple Cow to the Market: Tapping Into the Experiential Economy”

Michelle Bilodeau – “Milking Your Purple Cow in Fashion”

Natasha Granatstein – “The Unexpected Purple Cow: Pop-Up Stores and Alternative Exhibition Spaces”

Justin D. Hartzman -  “All You Can Eat” Website – Customizing the Cow: New trends in New Trends in Cross Platform Web Optimization”

Rachel Timmins – “Purple Cow: Documentation via video and photography”

LECTURES FROM Past PDS

All of the PowerPoints from the past three years of the Professional Development Seminar were recorded and made into a SlideShare presentation with audio. Fourteen presentations from the SNAG Professional Development Seminar can be found on the SNAG website. The information is intended for artists and makers in all media.

The Professional Development Seminar is organized by Brigitte Martin, Andy Cooperman and myself, Harriete Estel Berman.

Related articles

PDS Preview with Andy, Brigitte, Harriete "Cash Cow, Sacred Cow, Purple Cow"