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Editor's Notes

1. Thank you to Adam Scott for inviting me along to The Theme Park tonight, my inspiration point, the same as everyone else tonight, is this image – ‘On the high street…’ – when you look at this image, what do you see? I see a theme park, I see a man (in a tutu) buying a ticket and about to have ‘an experience’. The experience within may be paid for also, as this – what he is doing here – is merely ‘the price of entry’. Let’s explore…
2. Price of entry, getting a ticket.. What if you had to PAY to shop? An entrance fee onto Bond Street, for example? What if Libertys only let you in once you’d paid £10 at the door (like a club or disco or even – to a lesser extent - a church fate?) – once inside, would you, as a paying member of shoppers, be inclined to spend more? One thinks you might… also, speaking of those around you, your opinion of your surroundings might change: others, who have paid entry, they have similar taste and may enjoy similar things – surely you are more compelled to start a conversation with strangers who you now see as equals? Food for thought.
3. In the shop is a box. People, on facebook, can like the box and – as you walk by the box – this number is displayed, on the box. You’re walking around the shop and you see how others are rating the products that you are considering buying. Would you want a box with 2000 ‘likes’? Or would you perhaps prefer the box with NO likes? These are the positives and negatives of this kind of social media integration. The really interesting thing is – this is already happening.
4. IN Sao Paolo: C&A Brazil seems to have found the solution with the launch of its ‘Fashion Like’ initiative which connects internet users on the brand’s Facebook page with shoppers in store. The concept is simple: internet users can “like” on Facebook their favourite pieces from the ‘C&A Fashion Like’ womenswear collection. The number of likes for each piece is instantly displayed in store on screens integrated into the coat hangers. This is mental. This is.. The future. Let’s move on…
5. Did you know you could pay for things with barcodes? The new Paypal barcode app ‘inStore’ [show app on phone] allows you to do just that. QR codes haven’t really caught on in this country, but this new barcode app… might? It’s interesting. We’ve now gone from paying for stuff by the barcodes to… paying for stuff by barcodes. Innovation! But what if this doesn’t work? Well…
6. Then there’s NFC! You may have seen this symbol on your credit card. It allows [contactless] payments of up to £15, three times a day. It’s cool. It’s happening. It’s today. This, is on the high street. It’s important to remember that this isn’t the technology that’s on your Oyster Card, that’s RFID. Not, NFC. Explain the differences..
7. Pop up stores. They’re happening all over the place. Value in scarcity. A shop, a market stall even, can turn up for a day/week, sell its wares, then disappear as if they were never there. Marmite did one on Regent st.. That was cool. That’s just another sign of…
8. Innovation. Everything I’ve shown you tonight spawned from innovation. The High St, for me, needs – craves / STRIVES for innovation. It’s hardly changed for 2000yrs. How can innovation have a positive effect on the high street? As opposed to negative (like online shopping etc), what positive innovations can we make – together – for the high street at large? A question, for you to discuss, over dinner.
9. Thank you.