Strategy is the creation of a unique and valuable position, involving a different set of activities from the rivals, based on understanding competition (Porter, 1996). As Michael Porter described in his academic article, operational effectiveness can be easily imitated by your competition for a fast path to success, but that would result in homogeneity. Strategy combines activities that focus on your greatest strength, while making other trade-offs and limitations on others, in order to communicate a new strategic position for your product or service (Porter 1996, p. 74-77).
The most distinctive part of the Curated Concierge service offerings is the customer segmentation. The MVS is the active expatriate/second homeowner in Mallorca who are affluent entrepreneurs or investors [that work remotely or are semi-retired/anticipating retirement], and culturally aware with a strong interest in art and design. One could quickly take a lion’s share by focusing only on this market. The pandemic and all the political instability with populist growth in other countries has only increased this segment of the expat population.
From further customer conversations, I was able to understand the following:
Expats form their social network due to common interests
Expats rely on other expats for information (word-of-mouth is a strong marketing tool)
There is a highly segmented population of expats (including but definitely not limited to, retirees, investors, hospitality business owners, ‘yachties’ (working on luxury sailboats/yachts), ‘culturaphiles’ (those who have disposable income or taking a sabbatical to live in a foreign country, and those escaping from bad experiences in their own country) – the best strategy is to focus on one particular expat segment
Expats use of digital technology in their daily lives to work, research, and keep in touch with friends and family is much higher than average resident
New expats have a much higher feeling of vulnerability when entering a foreign land, so trust is important (the reason why word-of-mouth recommendations is preferred method of getting information)
Most of the first contact to the island comes in the form of the real estate agent either renting or selling their first home – this the best segment to market to for first mover advantage
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Porter, M . (1996 ) ‘What is strategy ’, Harvard Business Review, 74(6), pp. 61-78.
“Tell me something that’s true, that almost nobody agrees with you on.” Peter Thiel
EARNED SECRETS
INTERNET: A majority of potential customers strictly use Instagram for information.
TRUST: Word-of-mouth was the most trusted source of information.
PRIVACY/EXCLUSIVITY: Most of the affluent expats and second homeowners prefer private dinner parties (catered by many of the chefs looking for work during the off-season) to restaurants.
ENTERTAINMENT/ESCAPISM: The affluent expat/tourist values art and culture as a form of entertainment.
PERSONALIZED SERVICE: Most of the customers interviewed highly depend on the service industry, such as travel agents, art curators, interior designers, chefs, bartenders, etc and also have joined at least one membership club.
COMMON INTERESTS: Expats/holiday homeowners tend to form groups based on a common interest – cycling, boating, hiking, wine and dining – being the most mentioned.
THE POSITIONING STATEMENT
TARGET CUSTOMER SEGMENT
Culturally aware and affluent expatriates, affluent tourists, and second homeowners
JOB TO BE DONE / OUTCOME / DREAM
Want to feel part of a creative community
PRODUCT CATEGORY
A consulting and hospitality service industry
DIFFERENCE
Alternative to Google, Instagram, Word-of-mouth, and Whatsapp chat groups: Save time with curated and highly selective knowledge base of recommendations and access to creative community
Alternative to traveling for art/design needs: curated art dinners and brunches with guest artists and other producers in the cultural creative community
CUSTOMER VALUE PROPOSITION
Saves them time and resources [giving them more time to enjoy their life]
Builds their social network and community [giving them a feeling of home]
BENEFITS
Information: Trusted outlet for organized information/recommendations
Social networking: Curated dinners, cocktails parties, and brunches
Unique and exclusive: membership-based and invitation only
Access: fine art and limited edition designer objects with a trunk show concept in unique spaces
For expatriates/holiday homeowners/affluent tourists who want to feel part of the art and design community, the Curated Concierge is a membership-based arts club that saves them time and builds a feeling of community unlike using their limited resources (time and social network) or traveling to other destinations (costs), we provide a personal concierge of carefully researched information with a members-only app and bespoke itineraries, a monthly program of curated experiences with the art and design community, and experiential exhibitions and other events in the arts.
ELEVATOR PITCH
Curated Concierge is an art and design concierge membership service that serves as an art and design advisory service, providing bespoke itineraries and information, pop-up exhibitions and experiential events in unique spaces to bring the creative community together in Mallorca.
FEATURES
A membership and invitation-only community group
A members-only app with full Website/Instagram Access
Monthly Newsletter with Event Schedule
Exhibitions and Events
Exclusive purchase opportunities and discounts for retail pop-ups
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Sturrock, P. (2020) [Simple Venture Design] Are you earning enough secrets? Available at: https://venturedesign.substack.com/p/are-you-earning-enough-secrets
EXPATS: a highly segmented demographic with a particular set of needs as a sub-section of culturally aware and affluent residents (especially new fast-growing expat demographic: Americans). They crave community the most as they are typically entrepreneurs who work remotely. Initially, they have no existing loyalties to businesses when they first move to Mallorca.
HOLIDAY HOMEOWNERS: sub-section of expats who have second homes in Mallorca and travel to the island as holiday/long-term summer residents.
AFFLUENT TOURISTS: sub-section of tourists (Jetsetter, Taste of First Class, Experienced Explorers/Cash Rich, Time Poor, Special Occasion, Instagrammers, Influencers) who place high value on the aesthetic world and the creative community, who stay longer than a weekend and spend more locally, and come to Mallorca for special experiences in unique settings, nutrition/yoga/heritage retreats, sports (cycle, boating, hiking) and/or special occasions.
CUSTOMER MOTIVATIONS LEARNED
SOCIAL
Craving a sense of community
Consumes art and culture as a form of entertainment
As members of the art ecology as art and cultural producers, the aesthetic world is a crucial part of their professional life
Art and cultural experiences through major exhibitions, events, biennials, and festivals (and other contemporary forms of art) are their primary motive for travel
Enjoys to be intellectually challenged/stimulated through art and design experiences (education)
Interested in new industries of entertainment – such as experiential exhibitions or warehouse festivals/popups
Willing to travel far for art and design experiences (even at the expense of inconvenience)
EMOTIONAL
Places excess value on art and culture as a commodity
Seeks art, design, and culture inspiration in their daily lives for personal enjoyment
Belief that art and design immersion (and its knowledge) will increase the value of their own human capital (social status at work, with friends, with peers)
Seeks to be part of the culture community for validation and self-worth
Belief that art and design immersion will increase the value of their social media presence
WHAT IS THE JOB TO BE DONE?
‘People don’t want to buy a quarter-inch drill. They want a quarter-inch hole!’ Theodore Levitt
@ Alan Klements
When I live IN/VISIT a FOREIGN country, (situation) I WANT to be more connected to the art and design community (Motivation)…
(expected outcomes:)
to help me meet more like-minded individuals (value: social)
to support my professional endeavors (value: education)
to support my own personal projects (value: education)
to be inspired in my professional/professional life (value: emotional)
to feel self-worth as a creative producer/culture vulture (value: emotional)
to be entertained by diverse creative experiences (value: social)
to have fun (value: social/emotional)
to gain more content for social media (value: social)
When I LIVE IN/VISIT a FOREIGN country (situation), I WANT to be informed of highly curated art and design services (motivation)…
(expected outcomes:)
so that I have more time for my family/partner/work (value: time)
for my professional/personal endeavors (value: education)
to make my new place feel more like home (value: emotional)
CONTEXT
Looking for diverse experiences, new knowledge (education), highly curated recommendations/guidance/network, and more “creative tribe” encounters within the creative culture context
OUTCOME
Information and recommendations (content)
Social networking and exposure (people)
Unique and exclusive (access)
Entertainment
CHALLENGES
CUSTOMER SEGMENTATION: (1) Choosing the right niche and recruitment plan (2) Distinguishing the marketing endeavors between the cultural tourist/expat who places more value on history, in contrast to those who place a higher value on art and design experiences
STRATEGY: (1) Not delivering consistently unique experiences regularly (2) Not passing the trust trial to increase membership (3) Not effectively communicating the value proposition in marketing strategies (4) bad data
FINANCE: (1) Immobility and high costs of art and design endeavors and event production (2) Limited funding streams (local government support and sponsorship solicitation)
VENTURE DESIGN CANVAS
@ Simple Venture Design
The Job Story
Who: The Customer is the affluent expat (or holiday homeowner/long-term visitor)
When: The Situation is when they are looking for art and design experiences or information
Wants to: The Outcome is an art and design concierge service/membership with experiential type of ‘supper club’ for creative community in unique spaces with art and design exhibitions
Because: The Motivation is to feel connected to a community.
Current Alternatives
The Expat/Holiday homeowner is solving this by using their close network and the internet (mainly Google and Instagram).
PROS: trust (friends/acquaintances) and ease of use (Google, Instagram, Facebook)
CONS: Too much time to curate and select experiences from internet. Social network in a new country is still relatively new.
The Expat is traveling to other European locations to satisfy their needs to feel connected to the art and design community.
PROS: diversity and easy access to find art and design experiences in metropolitan cities
“Truth is our goal and the questions are our tools” (Fitzpatrick 2013, p. 5)
When starting my preliminary conversations in my own network of “cultural vultures” who were visiting the island and art collector expatriates who reside in Mallorca, one of the risks are false positives from people lying to me in order to be supportive. In order to avoid this, I referred to the advice from the book The Mom Test: I kept each short and casual conversation focused on their own life, spoke about specifics in their past instead of their opinions of the future, and tried my best to talk as less as possible and listen more (ibid., p. 17). As I tried to articulate a point of view, I focused on things they are trying to do (needs) and ways they want to feel (insight/meaning). It was a huge challenge to avoid these following terms: would you ever, what do you usually, might you,do you think you, and could you see yourself. For the preliminary conversations, I never spoke of my business idea which helped me focus exclusively on them. When I accidentally hinted to my desire to host art-focused events, I brought the dialogue quickly back to them. I made sure to remember that compliments, referred to as “fool’s gold in customer learning,” are completely worthless (ibid.).
Credit @Bookcademy.com
“Doing it wrong is WORSE that doing nothing at all” (Fitzpatrick 2013, p. 13)
As the editor and author of books on the luxury market, it was additionally challenging to avoid lacing my customer questions with my own experiences, expectations, and inferences. As Klement (2013) rightly stated in his online article, “assumptions are dangerous.” I needed to learn the customer motivations by focusing on their own specific personal experiences, with cases and examples, without ever mentioning any of my business ideas (Fitzpatrick 2013, p. 41).
THE THREE BIG LEARNING GOALS (Fitzpatrick 2013, p. 67)
“A problem well stated is half solved” (Charles Kettering)
What does Mallorca offer in terms of art and design experiences? What do you love/hate about Mallorca in terms of art & culture? (How do you currently deal with this problem?)
Talk me through how you currently find the best … artists/artworks/designers/design objects/furniture/art & cultural events? (How do you currently do it? Why do you bother doing it this way?)
How are you dealing with it now? What could be better about how you do this? (What does the problem cost them now? Does the customer really care about the problem? Did the customer try to find a solution?)
Depending on the person/situation, I could additionally ask: Is there anything else I should have asked?Anything else you would like to share?
The Warm Intros: 7 degrees of bacon (Fitzpatrick 2013, p. 92-94)
I also ventured outside my immediate network by asking at the end of my conversations: Who else should I talk to?
I also formulated a “casual chat request” template/skeleton to frame the meeting to help guide me (What do I want to learn from these people?) (ibid., p. 96).
“I am exploring a new business model and I really value your advice. I am trying to learn more about the art and cultural tourism on the island. As I am just not sure how it works yet, I want to make sure I am creating and building something that really helps, and would really love a few minutes to ask you a few questions.”
“Learn of their actions, not their opinions!” (Fitzpatrick 2013, p. 21)
According to IDEO’s Tom Brown (2006), the human-centered process of inspiration, ideation, and implementation all cross over into fields of anthropology and psychology. Whereas his lecture mainly pertains to product design, these three main “central buckets” could also be applied to an art and cultural product or services that investigates “how people experience the world emotionally and cognitively,” rather than using the common path of analytics and pure user experience (Brown 2006, 8:45, 15:30).
As startups operate with too much uncertainty, it is important to start with value-added customer learning to uncover the truth about my vision (Ries 2011, p. 12). Tom Brown describes the best way to bring forth innovation is with intense collaboration between designers [entrepreneur] and its users [customers], but with an empathic — almost to the point of experiential — approach to peoples needs and experiences, through the “lens of people.” These customer conversations lead to an important source of co-designing the ideation, which leads to a kind of validating learning which is “more concrete, more accurate, and faster than market forecasting or classical business planning” (Ries 2011, p. 24).
The sweet spot of innovation: desirability, feasibility, viability. Credit @plays-in-business.com
Brown (2006, 22:50) also recommends collecting insights from extreme users in order to step into the world of the user. As a starting point, I selected both affluent tourists [long-term visitors] and expatriates for initial customer segmentation for my art and culture enterprise idea. As an Iranian-American New Yorker who spent most of her formative years in Munich and now currently resides in Spain, I am starting at “the adjacent possible”, at the edge of what I know personally as a refugee, foreigner, and expatriate as well as my former work with the luxury travel market (Sturrock, 2022, p. 13). For this reason, I chose to dwell deeper into the social, cultural, cognitive and emotional realm of the expat and affluent tourist customer segment as it relates to art and culture. The challenge will be to set aside all my own assumptions during the customer conversations and observations in order to gain new insight. I hope to learn more about the luxury tourism and expat consumer in Mallorca as I try to figure out the job-to-be-done.
SUB-SECTION GROUPS FOR CUSTOMER SEGMENTATION
The following list and descriptions are a sub-section of tourists/expats who I believe have the same interest in art and culture, either as art collectors on the island or as part of the creative industry. When creating this list, I tried to focus more on motivations and goals, rather than demographics or customer characteristics. Because I will start my conversations with different types of culturally aware and affluent tourists/expats, my specific criteria is that all of these potential customers have the same circumstance – they tend to value experience over product.
Palma Riad, Mallorca.
MASS AFFLUENT TOURIST / INDEPENDENT TOURIST / AFFLUENT EXPAT
The Mass Affluent Tourist/Expat is a wide-ranging group who doesn’t necessarily consider themselves affluent.
The Independent Affluent is usually single, travels with a tight-knit circle of friends, or are couples without children, such as empty-nesters, so there is a great deal of flexibility (Miele, 2017) . They value experiences, want to treat themselves and often seek out like-minded travelers along their journey, such as spiritual or yoga retreats (ibid.).
According to Deanna Canedo, Vice President of Acceptance for MasterCard’s GeoCentral division, affluent tourist consumers are driven by new and unique experiences, both where they live as in the destinations that they visit. As a result, the company has identified six key passion points through which it provides added value to its cardholders: dining, shopping, sports, travel, music, and culture (The Affluent Segment: Key to Propel the Tourism Industry, 2014).
Cap Rocat, Mallorca
JETSETTERS / TASTE OF FIRST CLASS / EXPERIENCED EXPLORERS
The wealthiest segment with the highest household income, Jetsetters are highly engaged in the travel category as frequent business and vacation travelers with a particular interest in foreign destinations (Baer 2019).
“In July, Mallorca saw a total of 2,685 private jets arrivals and departures – a 60-per-cent increase on the same month in 2019, while according to Essentially Mallorca, room occupancy at luxury hotels has consistently hovered around the 90-per-cent mark so far this year. Overall, by the end of the 2021 summer season the island had made some 1 billion euros (1.14 billion dollars) from luxury tourism” (Assahifa, 2021).
“Skewing younger, those in the Taste of First Class segment seek quality over quantity with a tendency to splurge on upgrades, as they are willing to pay extra for comfort and service. With the second highest household income, Experienced Explorers have both the time and resources to travel internationally on a larger scale to learn about cultures” (Baer 2019).
CASH RICH / TIME POOR
“These people are in demand. They have responsibilities and commitments that often leave them on the wrong side of a work-life balance. So, when they do force themselves to carve out some precious me or family time, they want to make the most of it with highly personalized, very private experiences. They are willing to use professionals to plan their lives and value flexibility in case they have to reschedule at the last minute” (Miele, 2017).
SPECIAL OCCASION
These visitors require a transformational experience for a special occasion such as weddings, birthdays and anniversaries (Miele, 2017).
Wedding at Cap Rocat, Mallorca.
INSTAGRAMMERS AND INFLUENCERS
Dropped in the “Always Opulent” group of affluent tourists/expat, these are people who have enviable instagram feeds bursting with content about living the good life. Everything has to be jaw-droppingly posh and culturally bold to impress their friends and followers (Miele, 2017).
Mallorca Influencer Sabrina Madleine
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Assahifa (2021) Is Spain’s Mallorca turning into a new haven for the super-rich? November 28. Available at: https://www.assahifa.com/english/tourism/is-spains-mallorca-turning-into-a-new-haven-for-the-super-rich/
Baer, M. (2019) Segmenting US affluent travelers. Ipsos. August 21. Available at: https://www.ipsos.com/en/segmenting-us-affluent-travelers
Miele, C. (2017) Luxury Travel Market Segmentation. December 14. Dana Communications. Available at: https://www.danacommunications.com/luxury-travel-market-segmentation/
Ries, E. (2011). The lean startup: How today’s entrepreneurs use continuous innovation to create radically successful businesses. New York: Crown Business.
The Affluent Segment: Key to Propel the Tourism Industry (2014) https://newsroom.mastercard.com/latin-america/press-releases/the-affluent-segment-key-to-propel-the-tourism-industry/
Rittel and Webber (1973, p. 161-167) defined the wicked problem as a unique symptom of another problem that is neither true or false, nor good or bad. There is no ultimate test or immediate solution to this kind of issue. The academic paper also points out that the most “intractable problems” is that of defining the actual problem (ibid., p. 159), or locating exactly where the trouble finds itself.
Adapted from Rittel and Webber (1973) Dilemmas in a general theory of planning.
The wicked problem of mass tourism in Mallorca is difficult to solve because of its complex and interconnected social and cultural nature. Low-cost, mass tourism affects important varied aspects of the financial and environmental well-being of the island, from lack of revenue into the local economy along with the issues surrounding redevelopment and gentrification, to increased waste and pollution problems (Yoeli-Rimmer, 2017).
My exploration initially took place with this problem in mind. In regards to lean design thinking, the task begins with identifying the actual problem to revealing user needs to form a vague cloud of ideas to delve into with customer conversations, resulting in “actions that might effectively narrow the gap between what-is and what-ought-to-be” (Rittel and Webber 1973, p. 159).
My next plan is to formulate a series of customer questions in order to narrow the gap even further, hopefully with a solution of a product or service, ultimately finding what is in actual demand (Müller and Thoring, 2014). My initial challenge in this project is to solve an aspect of mass tourism that was desirable, viable, and feasible from the “empathic” viewpoint of the customer at every instance (Brown 2009, p. 19)
DEVELOPING INITIAL CUSTOMER SEGMENTATION
As Brown (2006) stated in his lecture, insights from the world is a source of inspiration and the fuel for innovation. For this reason, I chose my newly adopted homeland Mallorca as my starting point.
The Balearic government (on behalf of the business entities and residents of the islands) is constantly looking for a healthier relationship with tourism and its international expatriate community. The international expat community in the Balearic Islands is made up of over 100 nationalities around the world with the largest percentage of foreign population in Spain with 220,297 people (National Statistics Institute 2022, as cited by Carter 2022). Mallorca has been a haven for decades for expats as well as second or seasonal homes. Expats tend to be well-educated, culturally aware, and have a relatively high level of discretionary spending, even despite ongoing global economic problems, and most importantly, spend locally, revitalizing the local market.
Tourism on an island is the vital ingredient for main revenue source of its gross national product, with positive impact for employment, structural, infrastructure and diversified economic development, as well as raising the overall standard of living for its primary residents. The dark side of island tourism is what tourism minister Iago Negueruela has termed cheap tourism, or worse yet, the drunken tourist (Ede, 2022). This undesirable segment of the tourist population are either low-cost all-inclusive resort guests, cruise ship visitors, or those tourists that come just for the weekend to get belligerently drunk.
The Balearic government has been recently trying to find solutions to attract a different kind of tourist that stays longer and “spends more” (as they also found that increased prices are not resulting in a decrease in the number of visitors). Mallorca’s politicians, hoteliers and restaurateurs have been trying for a while to put an end to what they refer to as party tourism on the Balearic Island of Mallorca by instilling new laws and regulations and actively redeveloping areas such as Playa de Palma to become a more quality tourism destination, not just one for cheap booze and never-ending parties (Martiny 2022).
Gabriel Barcelo Milta, the Vice President and Minister for Innovation, Research, and Tourism for the Balearic Government, states the importance to enhance the tourist products such as cultural tourism in order to extend the tourist season and shape the demand curve to combat the seasonal nature of Mallorca as a vacation destination (World Tourism Organization 2015, p. 10).
Brown, T. (2009) Change by design: how design thinking transforms organizations and inspires innovation. New York: Harper Business.
Carter, H. (2022) Balearics has largest foreign population in Spain. April 21. https://www.majorcadailybulletin.com/news/local/2022/04/21/100299/mallorca-has-most-foreign-residents-spain.html
Ede, A. (2022) The highest-spending Mallorcan summer ever. June 18. https://www.majorcadailybulletin.com/holiday/travelling/2022/06/18/102627/mallorca-tourism-2022-the-highest-spending-summer-ever.html.
Groen, H. (2017) Why target expats? March 16. https://reachexpats.com/2017/03/16/why-target-expats/
