The experience economy is a fourth economic field, different from commodities, goods and services. Experiences are an economic value that is added to a product or identical with a product. When you buy an experience, you pay to spend time enjoying a series of memorable events that a company stages to engage a customer in a personal way.
Fueled by an expanding global and digital economy, the experience dimension has moved into a predominant place since the 1990s. In developed countries, people have become richer and more individualized, and with all their basic material needs being met they focus increasingly on personal development and self-realization. Demand is increasing for experience-based products such as tourism and sports, as well as film, music and other contents of media and interactive technologies. Furthermore, the demand for experience values has extended to include any product or dimension of modern societies, such as the design of houses, furniture, clothes, cars, computers, etc.
This is not a completely new story — commercial entertainment and design have, after all, been around for a century or so, and the universal values of love, sex, belief, family and the meaning of life have always been vital to human beings. What is new is the fact that capitalism is invading more and more fields of experiences connected with emotions and the extension of life. In all developed countries, and increasingly on a global scale, a series of expanding industries has emerged to supply the market with experience-oriented goods.
In this book, the business development of markets and industries is examined: from tourism, to media and entertainment, from design to sex, and the leading companies and trends in all the industries involved are also given consideration.
