My next topic of discussion is about what makes leisure activities worth participating in and how experience economy influences choices. Is the experience based solely on the money we spend or the experience we wish to gain? Research has shown that once to sale a product we must now sale the experience gained. If a company cannot sale the products uses and help the audience imagine the experience of the product then success of the product lowers. Today we will discuss what attracts the audience to that activity and how do you maintain that perceived experience once they are participating. To describe how this topic works I will be using the restaurant Dick's Last Resort in Las Vegas Nevada.
In the case of Dick's restaurant the theme of the experience they are selling to the customer is opposite of most restaurants out there. They want to talk back to, be sassy, yell, and name call the customer when providing service. The experience economy they are selling is you are here to be treated like you are bothering me and are not worth time. Many of you might be thinking what is the difference between Dick's and other restaurants that you have seen out there that provided a similar experience of high ting the negative cues? The difference with Dick's and other restaurants is that Dick's could be considered a non-family friendly environment. Some of the words used would make even a sailor would blush. The experience economy they are selling is unique by their use of adult content and border line excessively demeaning comments towards customers.
The question then becomes how did they sale the experience to the audience to make them remember and agree with the restaurants name "Dick's last resort"? Firstly, they greeted guest at the reservation station with a quick question and comment of "Have your ever been here before?" and "Here we server with attitude. Just the (number of people) of you huh" . After seating guest and dropping down menus the wait staff walks towards the table and proceeds to use general names later the name calling becomes specific to the guest. For example they might make a comment about they type of clothing, hair style, or facial expression you display and base a new "name" for the guest. During the course of the meal the wait staff will make an individualized hat out of paper, resembling the white top hats a teacher would place on disruptive student in the corner, and write moderately vulgar things on the hat for the customer to wear and keep as part of the memorabilia. When the wait staff makes eye contact with customers they give a sigh of annoyance and walk towards the table to check on the guest.
How does Dick's stimulate the senses to heighten the experience? Appearance, the restaurant decor resembles an run down shack. The tables are en-elongated wood picnic tables and the restaurant is decorated in money that wait staff has received over the years with comments, number, names, an such written on it. While the restaurant itself is clean the dark finishes make the restaurant look menacing. Classic rock music and 50's 60's songs and pictures transport guest to a different time or place then present day or even Vegas bling and lights. The female wait staff has their hair and make-up similar to pin-up models in classic movies.
As the experience comes to an end guest are directed towards the memorabilia station with shirts, cups, hats, pictures, and other assorted items to re-assert the experience in the future. They also have comment cards available for concerns next to a sign stating what the service should and should not be like. Overall the experience Dick's Last Resort restaurant presents is if you are in the mood to take verbal smacking and can laugh about how you never before paid to be treated like an annoyance, Dick's is the place for you.
