“Sunlight is the best disinfectant” / “Radical Transparency” for Soft Play

If “hope is the best of things” then perhaps fear is the saddest, the most desperate and the most likely to result in actions that lead to decay.

Inevitably, fear results in attachment to the status quo rather than a willingness to embrace what is new, fresh, challenging but ultimately more rewarding; this is the same for individuals, organisations and industries.

Although we use the Internet everyday, I am not sure any of us comprehend the degree to which it changes everything. Organisations are generally woefully ill-prepared for change enabled at lightening speed, they fail to realise that decisions based on fear will result in organisations and whole industries becoming irrelevant.

“Radical transparency” http://tinyurl.com/2eu2f5 is one such reality and it is changing the way that markets operate and decisions are made; take a minute to look at http://www.yelp.com, amazon.com (http://tinyurl.com/9j87t8) and http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk; why should soft play be any different?

Staggeringly, even witnessing the continuing decline of the soft play market (study the financial statements of indoor play suppliers and it has nothing to do with the credit crunch), some organisations continue to cling to the status quo and are afraid to embrace the transparency and opportunities provided by Shareandcompareplay.com.

During our recent workshop outlining the impact of the “Social Web” on the Soft Play industry, after five minutes one of our guests (the Manager of the Soft Play centre) stated it best, “we have lost all control of what is said about us”. Once we all accept that is the case, we can begin to work on how we can adapt and benefit from the chaos.

Perhaps for people or organisations of a certain mindset, this loss of control is impossible to take and difficult to grasp; unfortunately this is the case with some suppliers of soft play equipment.

For example; in the last few months, we have invited indoor soft play suppliers and their trade body, the Association of Play Industries (http://tinyurl.com/ded7rt) to participate in our website.

In its own words, “The Association of Play Industries (API) is the lead trade body in the play sector; with over 70 members it represents the interests of manufacturers, installers, designers and distributors of both outdoor and indoor play equipment and safer surfacing.

Working together through the various steering groups and committees, members separate themselves from commercial interests for the good of the industry, customer and suppliers.”

Shareandcompareplay.com aims to take a holistic approach involving play suppliers, trade associations, soft play operators, children and families to form a collaborative play focussed community to enable growth and innovation; as such, we hoped to share a common purpose with the API and find productive ways to work together.

Unfortunately, we recently heard that some member companies of the API (we should emphasise here that this relates only to the Indoor Play division and that the Outdoor division has made progress on some important issues) encouraged the Association to boycott http://www.shareandcompareplay.com.

This seemed a little dramatic and so we contacted an API representative and it was confirmed that a few larger suppliers (we decided to withhold their names for now) had suggested the website was not a positive thing for Members and so the API decided not to participate.

Apparently, the justification for this action related to questions regarding the independence of the website and the honesty of the reviews.

If this is the case, not only is this decision based on fear and false, biased and misleading information; it would seem to directly contradict with their mission to “separate themselves from commercial interests for the good of the industry, customer and suppliers."

Unfortunately, we were never given the opportunity to prove our independence or to demonstrate the current and future steps we take to ensure that reviews are genuine.

This decision does not impact us greatly because of the range of suppliers we list and the markets we will soon be covering. However, it is disappointing and potentially damaging to the future of indoor play because the larger the number of participants in a community, the great the potential for change and innovation.

Our response is to continue to list more suppliers (new companies are forming to take advantage of our platform), to provide more information for free and to review more sectors of the play industry (more information in the next few days). In time, as with every other market, the voice of reviewers will speak loudest and they will help decide which suppliers prosper and which continue to decline.

Thankfully, the Internet not only enables me to post this blog to a significant number of readers, it also allows new networks and partnerships to be established without the need for top-down approval or the involvement of established organisations interested in preserving the status quo.

Each individual, organisation or company has a choice whether to participate with Shareandcompareplay.com, a trade body or a boycott; surely our choices should be based on what is best for our industry and its customers because then we will all benefit.

I can personally assure you that the decisions of Share & Compare Play are based on helping re-build the indoor play industry by focussing on providing the best play experience for children, to do otherwise is exactly the kind of distraction that leads to the manifestation of all our fears and the decline of a potentially great industry.

In the coming days and weeks, we will continue to outline our plans to radically change the play market and ensure that the next generation of play centres reflect the needs of today’s families and children.

Thank you to people that care enough about the future of play to get involved; an open invitation remains for any individual or organisation that wants work with us in any way to deliver a play market that reflects our collective best hopes.

Having said all of this, we are beginning to witness ‘green shoots’ of recovery http://tinyurl.com/cdlbrn; perhaps first we need a little more sunlight!