#nextpedition

[christianspinillo]

Nextpedition - David Detourist Traveler

Video highlighting one of our Nextpedition travelers.

[christianspinillo]

Nextpedition Intro Video

This is our introduction video that played on our website, showing people what the program was all about.  We created this product and program as a way to reach a new audience for the American Express Travel brand.

[wsaadm]

Culturematic Revolution - Taking The Experience Economy even further...

A fascinating article in the Harvard Business Review by Grant McCracken about AmEx's latest product/service: Nextpedition.

Taking Pine and Gilmore's experience economy even further, he argues that a new kind of managerial capitalism - a new corporation - is emerging: one that produces "randomness, variety and delight". What does this company look like?

"Standardizing production was the great objective of the second industrial revolution. It almost always made the product or experience better because in those days, randomness was enemy of consumer satisfaction. But as consumers, it turns out, we are totally ungrateful. No sooner do we get perfection, sometime in the mid-20th century, than we tire of it. Enter Joe Pine's mass customization and eventually Etsy.

Now it feels like we are on the verge of another revolution. Call it the Culturematic revolution. Now we want not just customization, but noise in the system, things that emerge (apparently) in real time, and the world to resist expectation."

[shinyhappypia]

nextpedition

                             While watching Jimmy Kimmel Live, I saw their advertisement for Nextpedition.com. Apparently it's a travel website that creates a custom mystery trip for you based on your travel profile.  I couldn't say no to trying that.

My Results:

You, Rustikeer

In the wild, you can always tell a Rustikeer by their swagger. And, you have swagger. It radiates off you like steam from a thoroughbred racehorse after a brisk morning workout. It’s as if you’re stepping off of the deck of an oceanliner, just back from a reckless adventure, your brow kissed by the sun of distant lands.

Interesting.

[travergence-blog]

Are Mystery Tours More Fun For Travel Agents than Travellers?

Given we live in a world where people will pay for the experience of being kidnapped ("designer abduction" was pioneered in New York in 2002, and reemerged in France in 2010), it's not terribly surprising that "mystery tours" are now one of the hottest travel trends. Mystery tours have been commercially available since as early as 2005, but it took a recent World Travel Market Global Trends Report (PDF), and the entrance of American Express into the market, to make them truly de rigueur.

Nextpedition is American Express' attempt to corner the mystery tour market. Traveller's visit nextpedition.com and take an online quiz, which assigns them a badge that tells them their "travel sign". A travel agent then builds a trip itinerary based on activities that match that travel sign. The itinerary is kept a secret until departure, and unveiled day by day via a smartphone that is sent to the customer. 

The concept is interesting, and I definitely had fun taking the quiz, but aren't surprises often more fun for the person planning the surprise? A friend of mine is taking his dad on a surprise trip to Augusta, Georgia next year to see the Masters. Guaranteed the anticipation leading up to telling his dad they're going to the Masters will be one of the funnest parts of the trip for my friend. It's just plain great to be able to give someone an exciting, unexpected experience. That's why I wonder if, in a sense, American Express' Nextpeditions are more fun for the travel agents than the travellers.

The added adventure of a mystery tour obviously appeals to many travellers, but what fun is there in a surprise if no one in your party gets to yell "surprise"?

[amycao]

Staying in on 11/11/11 to watch the last Harry Potter movie with Soraya and thinking about the fresh beignets I had just a week ago at Cafe Du Monde in New Orleans...

Cafe Du Monde, 800 Decatur Street, New Orleans, [phone]

[danligon]