[From PopTech] Joe Pine, the author of “The Experience Economy,” tells us that “experiences are a distinct form of economic output, as distinct from services as services are distinct from goods.” He takes as his example the American Girl store in Chicago where they don’t just sell American Girl dolls but provide an entire entertainment experience with a stage show and a perfectly dainty little world to play-act in. I’ve seen a video of the store and it certainly seemed like a great example of selling experiences, but also seemed like a sign of the coming collapse of civilization. That is, it made Davey-kins wanna pwuke.

Pine admirably includes a discussion of the objection to his theme. He says that when he was teaching in The Netherlands, every time he gave a talk, someone would say, “You Americans…you like your experiences phony and packaged, but we like ours real.” Pine replies that because all experience is internal, it is all equally real. This is pretty unsatisfying, so he continues, quite amusingly, to point out that all of The Netherlands is unnatural. It’s below freaking sea level, after all.

[Nevertheless, there is a difference between cultivating the earth and creating a calculated environment intended to simulate another human-made environment; there is a difference between The Netherlands and the “Dutch village” at Disney Epcot. – DW]

Pines ends with the good point that businesses can’t give you authentic experiences because businesses want to get your money. But his advice is “Get real,” which raises more questions than it answers. But his half hour is up.

Pines is a good speaker and looking at modern commerce as often being about the creating of an experience is a useful lens. But, in listening to him I find myself pulling back precisely because of the issue he raised at the end: authenticity. At just about any restaurant in France, you’ll have a great experience because the chefs and the waiters are committed to providing excellent food and excellent service in a space well designed for the social act of eating. They are focused on the food and the service, not on the experience. On the other hand, at The Olive Garden in the US, the food, service and space is in the service of creating a particular experience, that of a lusty, rustic Italian restaurant. If we no longer can tell the difference because “everything is an experience,” then we ought to start carrying our own laugh tracks with us. Oh, and theme music.

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