Brailling the leisure culture

Our Leisure eNewsletter articles contain a lot of statistics and graphs. Why? We aren't statisticians and demographers. The reason we do all the research and analysis is so we can know what current consumer preferences and behaviors are, as well of what future trends are, so when we design and produce experience destination projects for our clients, they will be successful. We share a lot of that research with you our readers to try to help you be more successful as well. Call it road kill prevention. There're just too many CLV and other projects being developed today by entrepreneurs who are following outdated business models, many of which are destined to join the roadkill graveyard. That is not good for the entire location-based entertainment industry.

Faith Popcorn's BrainReserve calls it “brailling the culture,” scouring the consumer landscape for emerging cultural currents, searching for instances of “where the future is leaking into the present,” as Faith likes to say.

We try to not only braille the consumer leisure culture for future trends, but also braille it to understand currently where consumers are today. Too many new CLVs have a business model of where consumers were yesterday, not where they are today. The business models and designs we develop for our clients need to not only be in sync with where consumers are today, but where they will be in the future. Any leisure venue is a long-term investment and needs to be relevant and successful with consumers for many years to be profitable.

Several articles in this issue are examples of some of the brailling we've uncovered, the growth of plant-based foods, the shifting socioeconomic composition of bowlers and the growth and popularity of festivals.