Learning from 7 Year Olds (Play Design)

“Design” and the adoption of its methods, tools and thinking will increasingly be the difference between success and failure for Indoor Play centres.

It is thirty years since Indoor Play Equipment was developed and it is changed little in a World that has changed a lot. It is time for us to re-imagine our industry and Design (not just of Equipment but of the entire Business System and overall Experience) is without doubt the key to transformation.

As part of this process, we must take inspiration from wherever it resides; we must talk to children, learn from the way they play and be the conduit for their imaginations. Our role is to interpret Children’s needs based on what they show / tell us and turn observations into ideas and subsequently into financially viable products and businesses.

In my experience, the play design pyramid is the wrong way around. Play areas are “Designed” by adults sitting behind a computer “Dragging and Dropping” standard items and the Environment / Experience is hardly Designed at all.

Although you could argue that Soft Play Equipment is proven, I would suggest that instead we are building play areas that are virtually identical and in time many will therefore become commodities and commercially redundant.

As part of our efforts to motivate and inspire Soft Play Suppliers and Play Operators, we have been planning “When I Play I Want.com,” a Crowd Sourcing competition where children get to participate in inspiring the next generation of Indoor Play Experiences.

As part of developing the competition, last week we visited Wat’s Dyke Primary School and spent a couple of hours with a Class of 7 year olds, these are a few of things we learned by listening and observing:

• Collecting: The whole class (boys and girls) love collecting things, everything from a series of dolls to stickers and cards

• Naming: Names were very important, not only the names of children and their friends but the names of their toys and teddy bears (by far the most popular toy they brought from home)

• Social: The play and learning experiences were more social than I recall; play was at the centre of the way children learned and developed / maintained friendships. The potential of play to develop social skills was evident, is anything go to be more important in the economy and child wellbeing during the next twenty years?

• Identity: The whole class loved to draw, to write their name, to leave their mark

• Safety: In the safe environment of the classroom and a teacher of whom they were evidently fond, they felt free to express themselves and share their ideas (if only workplaces could achieve the same freedom mixed with order)

• Noise: With children comes noise, full stop.

• Play time: Unstructured and with minimal interruption from adults resulted in all kinds of weird and wonderful games (aka total mayhem) and conversations that are part of the social learning experience.

• Classroom: Filled with artwork, the classroom was an expression of the Children’s creativity and I imagine it changes constantly. When was the last time a play centre covered its wall in paintings by Children (or even better, allowed them to draw on the walls)?

All of this in ninety minutes. If it doesn’t change the way you design and operate your play centre then sorry, you are missing a BIG opportunity; plain and simple, you must get out more and be prepared for constant trial and error to be successful in this or any other business.

PS. I never did get used to being called Mr Lymer so I settled for being called Mr Beardface, it seemed to cause much amusement.

Connecting the (Indoor) Play Community

Since it was established in the 1970’s, the Indoor Play Community has been a fragmented and disparate group of organisations taking an individualistic and short-term approach; we can see the results today, a community that consistently underperforms its potential in a fight for survival.

The characteristics of such zero sum markets are typically decisions based on short-term self interest, fear, incomplete information, emotion and attachment to the familiar rather than business rationale and creative embracing of the possibilities of change; ultimately, this limits potential and investment causing markets to shrink and in time, disappear.

Not a pleasant picture and so in 2009, we started ShareAndComparePlay with the objective of raising the standard of play provision in the UK; we hoped that this in turn would encourage investment and innovation, reversing the trend.

Although our small company started life as an exciting experiment, the three key values we embraced to achieve this objective were freedom of information, transparency throughout the value chain and collaborative working.

In some ways, our progress has been in advance of what we anticipated whilst in others resistance has meant that we have taken time to find alternative methods of spreading the word. In recent months, we have been working on several key initiatives to broaden the impact of such values and more of our services are being designed to better support existing operators; if we can help operators to become more successful, the circle of possibility raises upwards.

One such initiative is the collaboration between ShareAndComparePlay and Play Operators to form a new Community of Play, Play Connected. As the name suggests, our medium term aim is to create a more connected industry incorporating suppliers, operators, associations and parents / children who use the play experiences that we create.

The first meeting has taken place with astonishing results for the participating operators, the open nature of the meeting resulted in breakthroughs in terms of access to Management Information that can potentially transform the profitability of the play industry.

The next meeting is scheduled for April when more details will be agreed regarding the organisational structure but an interim progress report (requested by several people) is as follows:

· All organisations in the Play Community will be encouraged to participate; membership will be free although certain standards will have to be achieved to become a full member (membership is restricted for a little while as we implement the programme)

· ShareAndComparePlay.com and Play Connected will work together to introduce the best possible value deals from suppliers of all items needed to start and operate an indoor play centre; suppliers will have to pass an approval process to be certified by Play Connected

· The benefits that each member receives will be in direct proportion to the contribution that they make to the community

· Play Connected will explore innovative ways of generating additional revenue streams for soft play centres at both an individual and collective level

· The organisation will not be run by committee; we would like in time to create a full time role but it will generally be a democratic organisation ran by its members

· Play Connected will work with ShareAndComparePlay.com to produce quality content that will raise the profile of indoor play and encourage investment

· The structure of the collective is to be clarified but it is likely to be a co-operative of partners working towards common objectives

· Play Connected will aim to provide “Thought Leadership” and research in mission critical areas such as Information Technology, Social Media and Child Wellness

Our hope in time to provide a path to success for indoor play; we aim to inspire creativity, best practice and innovation throughout the play industry so that ultimately we can provide the best play experiences for children.

If you look at successful industries throughout the world, there is an acceptance that no organisation exists in a vacuum. In IT for example, the degree of interconnectedness will often determine the level of overall success, we hope this is the first step towards using these principles to grow the pie for all.

We will update again soon but if you have any comments, questions or wish to register interest in participating, please get in touch.

ShareAndComparePlay.com is the Indoor Play Supplier Comparison Website that Saves Play Operators £10,000s. The only source of independent reviews on every Supplier to the Play Industry, ShareAndComparePlay.com works to revolutionise the Play Experience for Children and to enable Businesses to profitably understand and meet the future needs of Families.

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Questions to ask when starting an indoor play centre

This is the first week in a month that we are not running one of our “how to start a soft play centre” seminars; we are taking the opportunity to update content and plan the schedule for the next few months.

One of the most enjoyable aspects of running the seminars is the convergence of creativity, enthusiasm and curiosity as prospective play operators evaluate the viability of starting an indoor play centre.

Reflecting on the latest seminars, there are three key questions that together we seek to address on the website and in more detail at the seminars, these are as follows:

1. What are you aiming to achieve by starting a play centre?

The answer to this question will impact upon every subsequent decision. In simple terms, there are some people that wish to create a lifestyle business (earn a living and improve the play experience) and there are others (increasingly so) that are serial Entrepreneurs wanted to build shareholder value. Each has its merits; it is however important to understand your personal motivations and objectives and develop your business plan accordingly.

2. What kind of play area do you want to build?

The Indoor Play Centre business is due a revolution in terms of business model and design. The design is perhaps the easier to address in this short note but I would suggest you ask yourself a simple question and explore the answer fully; “If an indoor play centre had never been built, what would your perfect play centre look like?” Seek the answer and build accordingly.

3. What does a Sustainable Play Centre Business Model look like?

This is the fundamental question of our time (not just in the soft play industry); the traditional model of “Pay and Play” has yielded only limited success and is unsustainable, (certainly at the scale we have seen in the last few years). We need to work together to re-think and re-imagine a new play experience and accompanying business models of which there will be many.

Asking the right questions is merely the start. The possibilities will only begin to reveal themselves once you, we and the entire play community begin to experiment and are open to the answers; I happen to believe that the future is rosy for the brave.


ShareAndComparePlay.com is the Indoor Play Supplier Comparison Website that Saves Play Operators £10,000s. The only source of independent reviews on every Supplier to the Play Industry, ShareAndComparePlay.com works to revolutionise the Play Experience for Children and to enable Businesses to profitably understand and meet the future needs of Families.

Follow us at Twitter.com/shareandcompare or (Un)subscribe to our Blog by e-mailing us.

Indoor play centres, how much is a customer worth?

Question: Marketing, how much should a play centre spend?

Answer: Nobody knows for sure but this may change your mind…

At our recent seminar for people starting a soft play centre, one Entrepreneur reminded us that companies he has previously worked with (large Supermarkets) calculate marketing spend based on anticipated lifetime value of a customer; a very different number to what they would spend if based on people who occasionally nip in for a can of beans.

This conversation reminded me of a post by Seth Godin that has rattled around my head for weeks, once again he succinctly outlines the business case for “Embracing Lifetime Value;” these two events got me thinking.

What is the lifetime value of a child to a soft play centre and what should consequently be spent on Marketing a soft play centre?

If you run some very basic numbers, you can begin to calculate (in Financial terms at least) the value of each visitor to your play centre.

(Excuse the simplicity of the numbers, these numbers are likely low but they illustrate the point).

Assuming the entrance fee is £5 and a child visits with one parent once a week, between the ages of 0 and 8, that would be worth £2080 to the play centre. The child loves the play centre and has each birthday there, inviting 15 friends at £10 per head, that is worth another £1200. Finally, Mum or Dad comes along on each visit and has a coffee and cake spending £4 per visit; this equals £1664 over the lifetime of the period.

In total, one child that loves your play centre but is an average or low level user is worth £4944; this does not include the intangible value of parent and child being your part-time marketers.

In terms of Marketing spend, this raises several interesting questions:

· What would you be willing to spend on Marketing to initially attract parent and child?

· What Marketing initiatives offer best value to you and the customer?

· Once your centre is known and liked by child and parent, what additional services can you offer that increases the lifetime value? (I bet in can easily but doubled or tripled)

· Perhaps most importantly, what do you spend on maintaining and enhancing the play experience so that the lifetime value is protected?

My plan for 2010 was to write shorter blog posts so I will save my “answers” for future posts, for now I just wanted to invite everyone to spend a couple of hours profiling customers, calculating lifetime value and thinking of their business plan for a soft play centre; it is an exciting number.

PS. Surely, a CRM system is a must for every soft play centre; I am constantly amazed at the priceless data that we let walk out of the door!

ShareAndComparePlay.com is the Indoor Play Supplier Comparison Website that Saves Play Operators £10,000s. The only source of independent reviews on every Supplier to the Play Industry, ShareAndComparePlay.com works to revolutionise the Play Experience for Children and to enable Businesses to profitably understand and meet the future needs of Families.

Follow us at Twitter.com/shareandcompare or (Un)subscribe to our Blog by e-mailing us.

Now we all have the power; "Yes sir/madam, of course"

Leading and working in transparent times is challenging and even scary to some; however, this same risk offers untold possibilities as we discussed in "Twitter in Play".

Each day, we encourage soft play suppliers and other organisations to open their business to social media and in the words of Seth Godin, lead with their glass jaw.

Once again, Seth has written a concise insightful note for leaders in transparent times who are worrying and planning rather than doing, listening and evolving; an excerpt:

When your staff sees how much power you've given random consumers, they'll freak. And then, magically, they'll start treating customers differently, because maybe, just maybe, this customer is the one who's going to use the power. Suddenly, the answer to, "do you know who I am!!" is, "yes sire, forgive me."

Social media and transparency, jump in and see what happens.

ShareAndComparePlay.com is the Indoor Play Supplier Comparison Website that Saves Play Operators £10,000s. The only source of independent reviews on every Supplier to the Play Industry, ShareAndComparePlay.com works to revolutionise the Play Experience for Children and to enable Businesses to profitably understand and meet the future needs of Families.

Follow us at Twitter.com/shareandcompare or (Un)subscribe to our Blog by e-mailing us.

Why is play not all aflutter about Twitter?

Depending on who you believe, Twitter is either:

1. “A real-time short messaging service that works over multiple networks and devices”

Twitter

2. “A playground for imbeciles, skeevy marketers, D-list celebrity half-wits, and pathetic attention seekers.”

Daniel Lyons, Newsweek

3. “A tool for connecting people with people and people with information; a tool that at its highest manifestation can change lives and empower people to change the world”

Gareth Lymer, ShareAndComparePlay.com

Whatever your thoughts, you have likely heard about Twitter (we have been presenting on Social Marketing in play for almost twelve months) but as of yet, the play industry has yet to embrace Twitter or Social Marketing to reach anywhere near its potential.

Let’s go back to basics and remove the distraction of technology and hype.

Organisations exist to create products, services and experiences so valued by people that they are willing to exchange their time, effort and money to benefit.

In the case of Play, we are asking parents to trust that we are creating and providing valuable experiences for the most precious of people who cannot fully articulate their thoughts and needs whilst the impact of the experience may not be felt for many years.

As the indoor play centres we design, build and operate impact children for the rest of their lives, is it not our responsibility to figure out new ways to create value; to observe and listen to customers, sharing information and collaborating to invest in the play experiences of the future?

Today, technology enables us to listen and observe children and parents, to gather, analyse and utilise information so that we can better provide transformational (play) experiences and yet we choose to ignore the opportunity; why?

There are a woefully small number of soft play suppliers (three to my knowledge; as it happens, the same three suppliers that have embraced our website / transparency) and a relatively small number of play operators that use Social Media to exchange information with (prospective) customers and the broader community.

Furthermore, those organisations that use Twitter et al waste the valuable attention of their customers by talking solely about their business. This is like being the guy at a party who continually talks about himself rather than genuinely being interested in others.

Just because you are being ignorant using Twitter rather than in person, doesn’t make those that just talk about themselves any less of an ass.

In terms of opportunity, the potential of Social Media in play is infinite. To get the ball rolling, here are three simple opportunities where Twitter and / or Facebook can be used by play centres:

• This prototype toy for kids sends Tweets to parents to say what the child has been playing with. Why can’t we use a similar principle to gather information as to what children use and like on indoor play equipment (so we can track which events they like rather than us guessing)? Why can’t we communicate this to parents on a big screen so they can “see” what their child is doing?

• Weather often equals a busy play centre and yet it is difficult to predict either. Why not incentivise customers to use Twitter to let you know if and when they will be visiting so that you can adjust staffing accordingly? A better service for customers and more profit for play centres.

• Why not establish a social network around your play centre so that parents can exchange information on parenting and then meet at your play centre when they like; if you can facilitate new connections, you will win (and so will your customers)

Whether you believe Twitter is for “imbeciles…/…half-wits”, has the potential to change the world or somewhere in between, in coming weeks we hope to persuade of the potential of social media to provide additional value to customers of play providers / suppliers and significantly grow the value of the play industry.

In the meantime, can we persuade you to take the first step of visiting Twitter and registering your name? 5 minutes could change your life, or at least, your business.

ShareAndComparePlay.com is the Indoor Play Supplier Comparison Website that Saves Play Operators £10,000s. The only source of independent reviews on every Supplier to the Play Industry, ShareAndComparePlay.com works to revolutionise the Play Experience for Children and to enable Businesses to profitably understand and meet the future needs of Families.

Follow us at Twitter.com/shareandcompare or (Un)subscribe to our Blog by e-mailing us.

What we can learn from Walt Disney...(and thanks Paul)

In September 2001 whilst we were at Disney World, my wife bought me a paperweight engraved with this quotation by Walt Disney:

“You can dream, create, design and build the most wonderful place in the world…but it requires people to make the dreams a reality”

In short, business is all about people.

This valuable message is one that I have carried with me for many years; business is so much easier when you respect and trust the talents of others, enjoy their company and share a common purpose.

I write this blog at this moment because ShareAndComparePlay.com will soon be losing its Managing Director, Paul Smith.

I have been friends with Paul for many years and we started our first business together in 2002, since then we have started two companies, sold one and travelled throughout the world looking for innovative products and services to introduce to the UK’s indoor play industry.

When Paul started working with us in March, it was at a time when we were largely unknown with few soft play suppliers aware of the potential to engage with customers and prospective play operators using our website. At this time, Paul was the one leading the way to contact suppliers and spread the word, a thankless and difficult task at the time but one that he pursued with typical vigour, skill and ultimately success.

Although we did what we could to persuade Paul to stay, there are certain things that even we can’t change (like moving Kilkenny to the UK); the reasons for Paul leaving us are twofold.

Firstly, Paul and his family live in Kilkenny, Ireland. If you have ever visited this beautiful place then you will understand why they choose to live there but also be aware that it is two hours from Dublin which makes travelling to the UK and back in a day or two (it involves a 3am start) a challenging affair.

Secondly, the birth of Holly Mae in March means that Paul wishes to be at home a little more than he has been in the last few years and so he will be leaving us to work in Ireland which means he can for the first time in many years, work in the country in which he lives.

We would like to thank Paul for his dedication and leadership during the last eight months and I would like to thank him for working with me for so many years on a journey that has been extremely rewarding; we wish him well in his new role and I will do my best to hold the fort until additional help arrives.

Our dream of a world where children can live their dreams continues and so as Walt said, we require people to work with us (this doesn’t just mean colleagues but also partners and individuals with a passion for play); therefore, the search will begin in the New Year for a new Managing Director capable of continuing the good work started by Paul, there is still lots to do.

Thanks for your support.

ShareAndComparePlay.com is the Indoor Play Supplier Comparison Website that Saves Play Operators £10,000s. The only source of independent reviews on every Supplier to the Play Industry, ShareAndComparePlay.com works to revolutionise the Play Experience for Children and to enable Businesses to profitably understand and meet the future needs of Families.

Follow us at Twitter.com/shareandcompare or (Un)subscribe to our Blog by e-mailing us.