The Experience Economy

Yesterday I finished the book The Experience Economy by Pine & Gilmore. This was more a "work read" than anything else.
Honestly, I could actually only get through the first few pages and then put it aside.
So I decided to download the audio version from I-Tunes instead and listen to it during my daily commute.
It was actually a nice change from my Argumentation audio tapes in that the subject seemed refreshing.

I must warn you though, the narrator is horrid.

I actually thought the voice was digitized. Like on those automated telephone systems that string various computer generated words together without change in tone or pitch and make recordings out of it.---Until I saw on the I-Tunes page that the narrator had a name. A HUMAN name.

Wow. This was a cross between the voice of my my high school Physics teacher, Ben Stein and my grandma's answering machine. Painful.
If you can get pass that for just short of four hours, you are OK.

This book basically describes from an economist's perspective, the advantages of providing a service experience that ultimately transforms the consumer/client/customer into a life long devotee.
It's not Customer Service for Dummies. This book is not even geared at the "front line" worker that is often associated with providing "customer service"

This book is geared at the executives, the financial analysts, the "suits" that need to be convinced, in their terms, why going above and beyond the call of duty is a sound financial decision. It goes a step further to suggest that staging the experience economy is actually the only way to obtain and retain a competitive advantage and sustainable financial edge on this market.

This book was co-authored by two individuals and sometimes the difference in their perspectives and seen even in the audio tape. Some parts of the book are dry, dry, dry. Then the following chapter chirps with an enthusiasm that is obviously not shared by both authors.

Overall, it was a good read--for work purposes.
I actually gained a lot of knowledge because finances and economics are not my strongest subjects.
Would I recommend this as a casual, friendly read? NO. But it the time spent absorbing this book was a sound business investment.