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Every weekend we visit one or more Farmer’s Market in Fort Collins to buy fresh food and produce. I am reminded of “The Experience Economy” as I walk around the market. Pine and Gilmore, Harvard professors, wrote an article in 1998 with that title and then followed it with a book of the same name in 2000.
As Pine and Gilmore explain, in the traditional agricultural economy you bought your goods from neighbors and friends at their homes or at a local marketplace. Then their goods were sold to wholesalers who packaged them for sale as commodities at a grocery store - the manufacturing economy. Then the grocery store put in a deli section and the goods are cooked, diced, flavored and packaged as casseroles, slaw, meals for people on the go - the service economy. You pay a bit more for the service component but you still look at the price.
In the experience economy (Starbuck’s, REI, Disney, great interpretive sites) we expect to pay more because the experience is complete and rewarding. It is not a commodity. An experience has a something about it that makes it 
worth more to us.
A farmer’s market is a wonderful agriculture/experience economy hybrid. I happily pay more for organic peanut butter, free-range chicken and ground bison. I get to talk to the people who raised the food and processed it. The bluegrass group or Celtic band performing in the market creates a friendly cultural sound background for the market. The aquaponics guy selling lettuce can really explain how this unique ag technology works.
We still go to the grocery store and buy commodities like brand name dog food. And we still look at the price. But we buy the homemade dog treats at the farmer’s market that support a local school group.
The experience economy has that emotional component we talk about so much in heritage interpretation. We want to make emotional and intellectual connections with our audience with the experiences we design. When those experiences are complete and make people feel better, they are willing to pay more.
Value-added interpretation must be holistic. As Pine and Gilmore point out, an experience is thematic, adds positive cues, eliminates negative cues, mixes in memorabila and employs all five senses (multiple learning styles). Lisa Brochu outlines an experience design process in her book on Interpretive Planning: The 5-M Model for Successful Planning Projects. If any one of the steps from Decision to Commitment is not consistent with the whole experience, your interpretive efforts lose value. We step on our own message sometimes by not planning the entire experience. Our audiences care about the consistency in what we say and do.
The interesting thing to me about value-added interpretation and local markets is the feeling that goes with it. I carry off my organic peanut butter, bison and dog biscuits in a cotton bag made in Malawi sold to benefit orphans there. I feel good about the investment and the experience. I’ll be back next week at the farmer’s market, again and again. It’s more work and more interesting than going to a supermarket. As an interpretive planner and manager, we want those warm feelings and return visits at interpretive sites, adding value for our audiences. We can charge more for the experience when it is complete, enriching and encourages good feelings about all we do.
-Tim Merriman
