Tomorrow-Bank? Tomorrow-Gaz? Tomorrow-Telco? Five lessons your company can learn from Tomorrowland.

1. Five lessons your company
can learn from Tomorrowland
By Geert Martens & Geert Teunkens
Image credit: mixing.dj
Waffles, chocolate, beer…
Tomorrowland. Ask a foreign youngster about Belgium
and these are probably the first things to come to
mind. People have marveled at our sweets and drinks
for ages, yet to have a music festival as an export
At 4C Consulting we allocate the success of
Tomorrowland to the consistent execution of a
well-designed, deliberate and emotional customer
experience, and a continuous focus on improving this
experience year on year.
product would have been hard to predict ten years
Should you ‘Tomorrow’ your business? Let’s take
ago.
a look at some of the techniques Tomorrowland
Only nine years after its first edition the popularity of
the festival is overwhelming. In 2013 Tomorrowland
welcomed 180,000 guests from over 92 nationalities
skillfully applies to deliver the best festival in the
world and how your company can learn from it,
...without having to dress up as a fairy.
while 16 million more viewers joined via live
These are the five lessons we think your company
stream TV. Facebook ‘likes’ exceed the actual
could learn from Tomorrowland:
festival capacity with a factor 70. The festival was
voted ‘Best Global Festival’ two years in a row
and Tomorrowworld, a recently born sister-event
in Atlanta, serves as the ultimate evidence of its
international appeal.
How to explain this massive success? It is about so
•
Claim your Fame
•
Choose your Audience
•
Unlock the Power of Emotions
•
Design your Customer Journeys
•
Apply the Magic of Storytelling
much more than just electronic dance music.
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2. Five Lessons from Tom o r row l a nd
September 2013
Claim your Fame
early beginning Tomorrowland has been focusing on
If you have ever organized a party you will
know that it is no rocket science to get the basics
right. Book a venue. Send invitations. Get drinks. Add
some music. Done!
the young (with a strict 18+ policy, though), higherend, trendy party lovers from Belgium and around
the globe with a shared passion for electronic dance
music. In a way this is a blue ocean strategy, since this
particular segment was previously not associated with
Although this setting has a fair chance of being
the rather ‘rock’-oriented festival culture.
successful among good friends you are still mostly
This target audience, and especially its international
relying on yourself, the guests and maybe the alcohol
profile with over 92 different nationalities at this year ’s
to make your party memorable. After all, people go
9th edition, has become an integral and differentiating
to these gatherings all the time and after a dozen
part of the Tomorrowland experience: it is impossible
of them it becomes hard to distinguish one memory
to talk about Tomorrowland without talking about its
from the other.
people. At no other festival in the world do you find an
What does it take to have a party that truly sets you
audience with a similar social and demographic profile.
apart? What do you want to be famous for? Many
options are available to distinguish yourself from your
competitors, but due to limited resources, choices
have to be made. Great companies don’t beat the
competition on all aspects of their business, but
they clearly outperform the playing field on some of
them, as advocated by Crawford & Mathews in their
bestselling book ‘The myth of Excellence’.
From the early days, instead of investing in low
prices, extended service or superior accessibility,
Tomorrowland has chosen to focus on a high quality
product - world class DJ’s - combined with an
exceptional customer experience. The festival has
continuously kept its promise of providing a magical
journey for their beloved guests, all based upon a
fairytale-inspired theme: “Yesterday is History, Today
is a Gift, Tomorrow is Mystery”.
Unlock the Power of Emotions
“People will forget what you said, people will
forget what you did, but people will never forget how
you made them feel” - Maya Angelou, American author
and poet.
Whether we’re discussing grocery shoppers,
banking clients or festival animals, each consumer
is continuously exposed to a series of emotional
cues, often on a subconscious level. Each customer
interaction, minor or important, adds to the
overall feeling customers have about a brand. Each
interaction impacts how they will remember your
business. An employee talking on the phone while
handling your payment subconsciously tells you
that you’re actually not that important, whereas
Choose your Audience
The easiest way to fail is trying to please
everyone. A clear choice of your target segment and
a relentless effort to understand, connect, serve and
delight their specific needs is elementary.
Tomorrowland is not aimed at everybody. From the
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a personal call from your dentist just to ask you
whether everything is OK does exactly the opposite.
Both examples have a price tag and both are
manageable.
While reason leads to conclusion, emotion leads
to action. In the short term, customers feeling
‘annoyed’ are likely to complain, thereby occupying
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3. Five Lessons from Tom o r row l a nd
your employees or creating negative buzz. In the long
term, emotions color the way customers remember
things, having an impact on future behavior. Positive
memories will lead to recommendations, cross-sell
and loyalty whereas negative memories will trigger
churn and detractors.
September 2013
Map interactions
The first step is to get a complete overview of all
potential interactions in a comprehensive customer
journey map. You will be surprised when you realize
just how many interactions there are and that they
are often managed by different people in your
A central step in customer experience management
company. Hence the importance of a shared view
is designing an emotional profile for your intended
on exactly how your intended customer experience
customer experience: a predefined set of emotions
should look like: your customer experience identity.
you want to elicit. Tomorrowland has clearly made the
choice to make visitors feel like the privileged cast
in a magical fairytale. For a whole weekend visitors
Align interactions
are immersed into a world where anything is possible
Now you can start matching the existing interactions
and where they are continuously reminded of how
with the emotions you want to trigger. This will
young, free and important they really are. This overall
quickly identify gaps and opportunities for alignment
‘magical’ feeling breaks down into specific emotions
and allow you to carefully streamline thousands of
such as ‘excited’, ‘happy’, ‘overwhelmed’, ‘inspired’,
small interactions.
‘connected’ and ‘cared for’.
Relative to a bank, insurer, telco operator, utility
company or most B2C and B2B companies for that
matter, Tomorrowland has the advantage that music,
At Tomorrowland purely functional objects are seen
as opportunities to engage visitors.
•
transformed main stage into a massive Volcano
a dominating component of their experience, is
as the centerpiece of a fully decorated scenery,
expressive of emotions and that it can easily convey
or elicit emotions in the listener. Studies indicate
for instance an association between fast tempo and
ready to be stared at for a whole weekend.
•
coins.
rhythm may be associated with happiness and peace.
•
Huge flowers are used to point out specially
designed garbage cans.
their intended emotions. And as you will see: you
don’t need magic to deliver a magical experience.
Drink tokens are no longer boring but delivered
in a medieval ‘booze bag’ as if it were golden
happiness or excitement and a smooth, consistent
But Tomorrowland goes far beyond music to elicit
This years central theme ‘the arising of life’
•
Entry-wristbands are no longer plastic and ugly
but nicely designed bracelets in the fairytale
Design your Customer Journeys
theme.
•
What you need is an in-depth understanding
While leaving the festival area visitors are
surprised by the recorded sounds of singing
and alignment of all customer interactions: you
birds while the path is lightened by fire-spitting
need to know exactly how to elicit the predefined
dragons.
set of emotions that deliver your intended customer
experience. This is where customer journey design
steps in with a three step-based approach: map, align
and add interactions.
•
Regular lamp posts are replaced by nicely
decorated ones.
Traditional Belgian festivals used to be infamous
for rainy mud fights, shabby clothing and low frills
accommodation. Not much in line with the lifestyle
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4. Five Lessons from Tom o r row l a nd
September 2013
of the somewhat trendier dance-lovers. In order
Apart from aligning existing interactions, we often
for Tomorrowland to deliver their magical fairytale,
find significant improvement opportunities in adding
they have tackled some of the issues ‘the People of
new, well-designed interactions to the mix. This
Tomorrowland’ would probably encounter at your
could entail expanding the journey and your span of
average festival:
control by challenging the beginning and the end of a
•
The festival terrain is covered with wooden
floors to allow for trendy footwear even on a
muddy underground.
•
could simply consist of adding interactions at various
stages within the journey.
Strategically stored supplies of free raincoats
are attempts to protect trendy outfits and
hairstyles from getting ruined by Belgian rain.
•
customer journey: start earlier and end later. Or this
Toilets and fresh points are staffed with themed
When does Tomorrowland start?
•
the festival, when pre-movies are dropped onto
employees ready to refresh visitors with
deodorant.
•
Food and beverages are somewhat to very
social media to announce the yearly theme.
•
can even enjoy creations by Michelin Star chefs
equipped with grass floors and DJ booths.
•
•
Empty smart phones are a problem from the
past with the creation of a rent-a-battery
service.
Take that Zeus!
Customer experience is about emotions. Emotions are
about perception. This year Tomorrowland announced
the installation of weather canons. When the festival
was hit with heavy rains, loud canon shots were
clearly audible. Meanwhile, big screens announced
that “A storm is on the way. Booming sound is weather
prevention”. Whether the canons actually worked, we
A grain circle shaped in the Tomorrowland logo
announced the proximity of the festival.
such as Sergio Herman, Roger Vandamme or
Wout Bru.
When the festival first decided to organize
world-wide travel packages, planes were
upscale, relative to the more traditional soda
and beer formulas at other festivals. Visitors
The Tomorrowland journey begins months before
•
Instead of handing out wristbands at the entry
of the festival, they are now being delivered
at home a few weeks in advance, in an again
specially designed box.
That ’s all folks... not just yet.
The journey doesn’t end either when you leave the
parking lot. A few weeks after the festival a thirty
minute long ‘official after-movie’ is created, having its
own launch event at the Antwerp Grand Square. The
end result forms the perfect example of a carefully
designed customer experience, with a major impact
on how the festival is remembered by its guests.
will never know. Fact is that the soaking wet visitors
And let ’s not forget that the fairytale continues on
still had the feeling that the festival was trying
Facebook, Youtube, Flickr, Instagram,... and various
everything in their power to keep the fairytale alive,
blogs, an attempt to bridge the gap between this
even if it takes fighting nature.
year ’s and next year ’s edition: “The countdown has
begun: next year the world will celebrate 10 years of
Madness…” A totally new interpretation of closedloop marketing.
Add interactions
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5. Five Lessons from Tom o r row l a nd
September 2013
Apply the Magic of Storytelling
Since the very beginning, Tomorrowland
Let your customers tell a story
pulled the card of storytelling on two distinct levels:
In our connected world marketing is no longer about
their product experience and their marketing efforts.
the controlled messages you send out. It ’s about
truly engaging with your customers so they take over
Let your product tell a story
the role of your marketing department. Customer
experience is not about social media, but social media
First of all the whole festival is organized as one big
are about customer experience. Truly unleashing the
adult fairytale, complete with villains, heroes and
power of social media, requires following steps:
miracles.
•
Every year a central theme is chosen and carefully
translated into every corner of the festival
terrain. The main stage serves as a larger-than-life
storyteller to introduce DJ’s. Festival employees
Deliver great customer experiences that include
conversation-worthy components
•
Make it easy to share
•
Encourage sharing
and dancers are dressed in matching outfits and
Tomorrowland actively promotes storytelling by
guests are continuously addressed as the ‘People
their audience with a very different approach to
of Tomorrowland’; a clear invitation to take up the
the usage of digital cameras and/ or video cameras;
central role in the story. A continuous chain of staged
Tomorrowland’s advice: “Make as much movies as
miracles - rosebuds falling from the sky, large bubble
possible and upload them on Youtube!” And with the
blowers - brings festival guests into a playful and
roll-out of a ‘rent-a-battery service’, Tomorrowland
friendly atmosphere.
addressed the problem of empty smart phones,
enabling guests to continuously stay connected to
share their once in a lifetime experiences on social
Let your marketing tell a story
media.
Apart from the terrain being a fairytale scene,
the festival also successfully applies storytelling
techniques in its own marketing efforts. Starting
channel to build up towards key moments, like day by
Now, should you ‘ Tomorrow ’ your
business?
day announcements of new artists.
Tomorrowland’s relentless focus on customer
The ultimate example is the buildup towards the
experience has resulted in massive customer
announcement of a second festival location last
engagement. Past visitors have turned into fans,
year. Instead of just revealing the new venue they
prepared to pay price premiums and even forgive
managed to engage dance lovers all over the world
operational hiccups.
by only announcing that it would take place on a new
Before you start painting your bank branches or
continent. A symbolic crystal bottle was pictured to
stores in fairytale colors – although we don’t oppose
be launched in the ocean and during weeks they had
the idea – it should be clear that the point is not to
social media worldwide buzzing with guesses about
blatantly copy someone else’s crazy theme. These
where it would finally arrive. When the new location
techniques can perfectly be applied by any company
of Chattahoochee Hills in the United States was finally
and with more neutral sets of emotions.
months in advance, social media is used as a preferred
disclosed, the new festival sold out in no time.
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6. Five Lessons from Tom o r row l a nd
September 2013
Are you an insurance player trying to make young
year on year and engaging your customers on an
customers feel ‘secure’? Or rather a utility company
emotional level.
aiming to make family heads feel ‘smart’? What about
car manufacturers making car owners feel ‘socially
responsible’ or rather ‘unique’? You will notice that
Contact us
merely describing the feelings you are after - and
Interested to find out on how we might help you
those you want to avoid - will help you to align
deliver great customer experiences? Or just want to
decisions and customer processes more consistently.
talk?
We are living in the age of the customer. According to
Please contact:
Forrester, the only source of competitive advantage is
the one that can survive technology-fueled disruption
— an obsession with understanding, delighting,
Geert Martens
connecting with, and serving customers: the ultimate
Partner
goal is emotional customer engagement. That is what
T: +32 15 281 281
will set apart future market leaders from those who
E: geert.martens@4CConsulting.com
come second. Customer engagement is the result of
Tw: @geert_martens
delivering great customer experiences: experiences
Geert Teunkens
that are deliberate, emotional and consistent.
Senior Consultant
So should you ‘Tomorrow’ your business?
T: +32 15 281 281
No, if you would interpret it as playing dance music
E: geert.teunkens@4CConsulting.com
in your bank branches, or setting off fireworks to
Tw: @Joeng_Teun
celebrate the reactivation of your nuclear plants.
Most definitely, if you would interpret it as clearly
defining who you want to be for your customer,
identifying which emotions you want to elicit with
your customers, designing your customer journeys
to consistently deliver your intended experience,
continuously focusing on improving your experiences
At 4C Consulting we believe that taking a fresh look at the way companies interact with their
customers can create long-term competitive advantages and unique value. By the work we do for our
clients, we contribute to build a customer driven society in an increasingly complex world.
“ The proof is in the people”: our consultants are seasoned business professionals that leverage
industry, domain and technology best practices and apply proven methodologies to tackle business
challenges in domains such as customer experience management, cross-channel management, CRM,
campaign management, sales force automation, customer analytics, business intelligence and change
management.
Our customer experience practices include customer experience strategy design, customer experience
maturity assessment, segmentation and persona design, voice of the customer research, customer
journey mapping, moments of truth design, customer experience metrics framework, governance and
cultural change.
4C Consulting
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T: +32 15 281 281
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A: Stationsstraat 60/5
2800 Mechelen - BELGIUM
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E: info@4cconsulting.com
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