Outline Playa Carmen Workshop

July 18th 2011
WORKSHOP-OUTLINE
FORO DE ESPACIO
PUBLIC.
Playa del Carmen, September 28th - October 1st 2011
PCH AT A GLANCE
OUR PHILOSOPHY
Innovation Agency
for Marketing, Engineering and Design.
We apply all that in the fields of communication and marketing,
corporate foresight, consumer and technology scouting, product
Located in Berlin and Los Angeles.

We deliberately disband with the established limits between the
disciplines of design, marketing and
engineering while questioning petrified processes and structures.
& brand experiences with the aim to strengthen the core

composition of companies.
PCH BerlinLos Angeles GmbH helps companies & projects
to detect and break with redundant, frozen patterns
inspiring individuals to the highest creative non-standards.
PCH Berlin-Los Angeles GmbH provides multi-perspective

insights, empathic immersion into and inspiration from the world
of consumers, other industries, tipping points, best practice tools
and future business models. We creatively incorporate disruptive
elements and methods into innovative projects & processes and
help to transport & communicate ideas by creating tangible
prototypes.
Driven by our core philosophy Understanding. Seeing.
Believing., we move with an arsenal comprised of diverse
elements such as constructive disruption, surprise and
innovation design.
Image: Entourage Restaurant LAX August 2010
PCH AT A GLANCE
OUR PHILOSOPHY
We are idealists.
We are visionaries.
We are unorthodox.
We are thorns in the sides of outdated business models that
wish we would keep silent and still.
3 Researchers.
2 Strategic Foresight Analysts.
2 Consumer Insight Experts.
4 Innovation Designers.
2 Car Designers.
1 Industrial Designer.
1 Interface Designer & Information Architect.
2 Illustrators.
2 Web- and Application-Coders.
We speak passionately. We think big.

We look towards the impossible to motivate and challenge our
creativity.
We are hell-bent on innovation and apply painstaking
principles to our practices.
And a scouting radar ring of 250 hand selected creative

catalysts.
From the areas of architecture, science, urban planning, art,
filmmaking, literature, philosophy, Tech start-ups, Cradle-to-Cradle,
product design, fashion, mobile communications, etc.
PCH involves these catalysts as experts, inventors and
methodologists in most of its projects.
Image: PCH - Pacific Coast Highway Malibu August 2010
PCH @ THE PLAYA DEL CARMEN WORKSHOP
OUTLINE PCH CONTRIBUTION
PCH contributes with

4 key pieces in the
Workshop.
PICTURE OF
THE FUTURE
PCHs Picture of the Future 2011 2015+:

Relevant drivers & developments in technology, society, health,
urban mobility, economy, ecology, politics, etc.
So What Playa del Carmen?

Translation in hypothesis. Shifting tasks for brands, tourism
industry and Playa del Carmen.
CREATIVE
CLASS 2015+
Creative Class 2015+:

Shifting Consumer Needs, New Sharing Economy.

Shifting tasks for brands & development projects; the future of
successful geo-tourism communication & marketing.
CONSUMER
LAYERS
3
PEARLS OF
LUXURY
Consumer-Centric Layers in urban & living environments:

Social, learning, cultural & commercial layers; the future role of
media.
How consumer-centric layers have to be addressed in urban
tourism and living projects.
Pearls of Luxury
New luxury archetypes emerge as consumers shifted from the
aspirations of the 90s to recent economic uncertainty.
Codes, requirements & principles for the transformation &
relevance of luxury in future tourism & living environments.
OVERVIEW CONTRIBUTION
PCH Piece No.1:

Picture of the Future
2011 - 2015+
PICTURE OF
THE FUTURE

Translation into hypothesis. Shifting tasks for brands, tourism
industry & Playa del Carmen.
1
The Picture of the Future will address amongst others the
following topics and will emphasize how these developments
will influence the Playa del Carmen project:
The future is good and playful
Align around good: Implement solutions and help create real change
The future is collaborative

Collaborate with likeminded brands, universities, app developers,
beyond the brand, motivating individuals and communities to take action

Teach people to be better through Edutainment
Approach the serious with playfulness: Create inspiring environments that
encourage imaginative thinking
Support child-like optimism, foster communities and environments that
shun overlay-rational scepticism

Appeal on Dreamtelligence
The future is experimental

Question the impossible: Approach the impossible with a new perspective.
Ask why? At least 5 times

Create free thinking hubs that dont go along with the established status
quo
Challenge conventional automotive & mobility habits in the urban space
and try to find ways to change them.
designers, scientists, artists, customers, businesses: Similar brands build

on the strengths and attitudes of each other
Together, they represent a whole experience. Use storefronts as
collaborative workspaces: Share space, resources and mindsets with
likeminded communities and individuals
Embrace scientists, they are the new heroes

Be open, share your ideas and vision, collaborate, integrate them into the
product development process and talk about it
Make them feel like a part of the brand/ enterprise-family
Look for imaginative and artistic ideas, and let them help co-create the
brands authenticity (but do not fake it!)

And make it a continuous effort instead of the usual one-offs
etc.
PCH Piece No.1:

2011 - 2015+
PICTURE OF
THE FUTURE

Translation in a tangible scenarios and hypothesis. Shifting
tasks for brands & Playa del Carmen.
1
Technology & science will assume new importance - and that will add to
the turbulence, Scientist & Engineer will be the new celebrities
Demographic tipping point: the world's poor are getting out of poverty into
greater economic and thus energy activity, and the world's population is
booming, peaking at near 9 Bio. around 2040
Demographic flashpoint: pension crisis & intergenerational wars - Baby
Boomers feel marginalized and are a 'Selfish Giant' ('The Boomers have

Leading Questions: How do we stay relevant in a rapidly changing

society? How do we stay a relevant and credible lifestyle brand?
Times to come full of highs, lows, rush - challenging, problematic, yet

optimistic, imaginative, insecure
The top 4 concerns 2010-2020: climate change, population, security,
financial system
Focus on environmental acknowledgment, accelerated food costs,
expansion of a global middle class, rocketing energy prices, decoding of

human spikes, etc.
Everything (social, economic, corporate, governmental, geopolitical,
technological, civic) will act & behalf like teenagers: mood swings, stress,
trying out new things, conflicts, risky behavior, succumb to peer pressure,
developing own personality, very fluid
Public Opinions will do 180-degree mod swings
Societies will have raging debates about pros, pitfalls, and ethics of e.g.
xenotransplantations, nanotechnology, and organ pharming
done well out of occupational pensions, the welfare state, and the property
market, and they trashed the planet') Middle Class Revolution; Baby
Boomers worry about the 20 to 30 years they have left.

The world is about to reach peak oil and peak gas, maximum rate of
resource extraction
The next economic collapse: Global systematic shocks like the recent
financial crisis will become an endemic feature of the next decade - impact
will be worse because the world is much more interconnected and the
banking sector is so influential;
Shift in geopolitical power from mature to emerging countries, and from
poles of extreme wealth to middle classes, middle incomes, and middle
cultures.
etc.
PCH Piece No.1:

2011 - 2015+
PICTURE OF
THE FUTURE

Translation in a tangible scenarios and hypothesis. Shifting
tasks for brands & Playa del Carmen
1
Be global in reach, local in everything else
Hyperlocalism: Morph depending on local needs
Eco & Social as hygiene factor

Live Environmental acknowledgement & Embrace the Post-Carbon
Embrace Glocalization 2.0: Companies & brands have to combine global

knowledge with local means of production
Consumers and business will globalize their consumption, production, and
operations
Brands have to show a serious interest in local communities
Economy: Brands have to show a visible shift from environmental

awareness to environmental acknowledgement - Fence Sitting is no longer
a strategy; Businesses, brands, and consumers will embrace a new PostCarbon Economy. Brands have to help consumers try to do their bit for the
planet; Lower carbon emissions will become yesterday's news - Brands
Celebrate all things being local, from materials, products, methodologies.

Brands have to be global in reach but local in terms of communications,
image, service - everything
Shift from globalized uniform (product, service, retail) blueprints
will offer to go beyond expectations

Environmental, hyperlocalized Acknowledgement: Companies will try
harder to reuse and reduce; stores will care seasonal food, meat becomes
more unfashionable as processed/synthetic food, consumers will shift to
growing their own, supermarkets will be farms. More and more brands
embrace the cradle-to-cradle concept - items are seen as part of the

planet's eco system. Smart brands are adopting positive climate change
policies, carbon-neutral stances, and pro-earth & anti-climate change
mission statements
PCH Piece No.2:

The new Creative
Class 2015+
CREATIVE
CLASS 2015+

Shifting Consumer Needs & Trends, New Sharing Economy.
2
New Consumer Groups & tribes are on the rise - their needs
will have huge influence on future product, services & new
biz fields. The digital natives bring in revolutionary assets.
Shifting Consumer Needs
Growth of new consumer segments and (urban) tribes
Shifting Tasks for Brands & Playa del Carmen

Anti-Stuffocation solutions will dominate future business discussions
Seek for personal identity - What can a brand contribute?

Nationalistic & Local driven choice of brands
People will demand more playtime in life
We all become consumers and producers = Prosumers
Suffering from Stuffocation, people will embrace considered consumption:
Nega-Choice vs. Mega-Choice
Solutions for Time Reshuffle, Deletion Parties, Attention Management &

Essence Seaking Services
Slots to switch off the web, Opportunities to Pause, Guidance to Declutter
Consumers want brands to help them to make positive environmental &
moral change of behavior visible
Let the consumer shout, scream, whisper to the other eco-gnoscenti that
they are practicing sensible planet craft
Consumers need leadership and are purchasing with brands that express
their desire to 'do their bit to save the planet
People will step into the digitalized, democratized Anarconomy, a new
wave of non-commercial, open-source alternatives
Consumers go away from exclusive value of goods towards inclusive
values
etc.
PCH Piece No.2:

The new Creative
Class 2015+
CREATIVE
CLASS 2015+

Conscious Living
High awareness of self, wellness
Stay informed, Stay in touch

Be connected to your loved ones, community at all times
New Spirituality, Functional Food, Health Style

Convergence of industries : nutrition, pharmaceuticals, medicine, cosmetic
Retreat, relax: activities that were once considered backwards become
part of a process of self-discovery
Live the moment: Feel-Good products that stimulate all senses
Medical Entertainment: Professional medical equipment is used by private
consumers: People consciously influence their appearance through
medical and surgical procedures
Increasing environmental consciousness, your impact on the rest of the
world
Raised social responsibility
Enabling transparency
Quality time and efficient use of time

Snack Culture - Defeat boredom On-the-go Learning, TIVO, mobile TV
Need for instant and constant feedback
Flat rate access to travel information Location- and context based information
etc.
Play & Experience

Seek spontaneity and entertainment, fun in every aspect of live
Enable life-long learning and social interaction

Trial and error mentality promotes new solutions
Blurring boundaries between work and pleasure
Personalization: Make it my own
Kiosk Consumption
etc.
PCH Piece No.2:

The new Creative
Class 2015+
CREATIVE
CLASS 2015+
2

Status Shift
Back to go Forward
Values are fundamentally shifting Knowledge as Status: Willingness to make

a personal investment in ones education and in the family is increasing;
Experiences as Status: Experiences vs. hardware, Shopping for Stories:
Behind-the-scene stories about the product become a significant success
criteria
Use of alternative sources of energy as status symbol; Saving energy is sexy

Erosion of car as a status symbol within urban context; access to mobility
rather then ownership of hardware
e.g. no Car: not perceived as downgrading, but smart choic
Sophisticated Simplification
Less is more, but no sacrifices - Show me what I need, when I need it
Age of less
Need for digestible packages
Increased need for intuition in a complex world
Automatization and artificial intelligence
Simplicity contributes to the total user experience and joy of use
New Sharing Economy

The new timeless culture of sharing (synchronous, asynchronous,
collaborative, etc.)
The new stuff of sharing
Peer-to-Peer Benefits of Sharing
Open source culture
Collective intelligence
Collaborate for Impactful Change

Empowered individuals join forces to manage complexity and initiate
global change through collaboration

New social entrepreneurialism (Sinnstiftung) and new forms how business
is done Collaborative technologies (Digital Natives) and increasing
independent from place and time
the 3rd Place - home is everywhere, everywhere is home
etc.
10
PCH Piece No.3:

Consumer Layers
trigger new solutions
CONSUMER
LAYERS
Consumer-Centric Layers in urban & living environments:

Social, learning, cultural & commercial layers; the future role of
media.
How consumer-centric layers have to be addressed in urban
tourism and living projects.
People in the future will fly through different layers in urban

and any other living environment. Development projects have
to address the layers with adequate products & services.
Social Layers
Social power by the power of the crowd
Various systems connect people

Create systems for self-expression
Consider role of games in creating sociable spaces
Assign stories to people
Merge performers & audience into one crowd
Commercial Layers
Connect information & cultural significance with revenue generation
Additive features for an ubiquitous mobility experience.

Create commercial services along 'Every day needs'.
Extend brand to connect above- and below-level economies, develop
transition platforms.
Cultural Layers
Transform public transportation spaces into dynamic cultural spaces,
micro-performance spaces and small event worlds

Make use of under-utilized areas: e.g. people can rent free space via their
mobiles with dynamic pricing (adjust for location, traffic, time of day,
weather, day of week + type of activity
Learning Layers
Space = "Human Museum" or "Fluid Knowledge"
Engage collective knowledge

Information transfer between people
Social interventions help through interactions
Pop-Up Education, Education on-the-go
Physical public knowledge base
versus Isolation in (urban) space
It is about taking down social & cultural barriers
11
PCH Piece No.4:

Pearls of Luxury new archetypes
PEARLS OF
LUXURY
4
Luxurys codes have evolved over the last two decades.
Access erodes meaning. The reality of new network
Pearls of Luxury
Archetype GUILTED LILLIES:
Not content with leisure, want brand involvement. They want stories and
economics impacts and dilutes meaning. Once luxury was

the realm of the elite; its meaning devolved and consumers
widened: new luxury archetypes emerge as consumers
shifted from the aspirations of the 90s to recent economic
uncertainty.
Archetype PURIST:
Respect icons but seek contemporary themes; understand the process by
participation with the brands they consume.

Guilted lilies seek connections to nature
Guilted lilies shun ostentation.
Drivers: strive, authenticity, total disclosure, honesty - not bravado, feeling
connected, zen.
Archetype PASSPORT POSSE:

Absorb culture, lean towards irreverence. Luxury is a hybrid of personal
which an object is crafted. Here is where couture thrives.

The purists recast traditions and respect a confident steady hand
Purists fuel a return to craft.
They respect for invention and craft contemporary themes calls for
transparency meaningful sustainability.
Drivers: nuance, detail, smart pairings, longevity, collective intelligence,

orchestration, evolution of icons.
acquisitions and accomplishments. An unfolding participation in process as

they migrate from city to city, and abroad.
Passport posse engage the process and applaud irreverence.
Passport posse embrace hi/lo synergies and respect playful themes.
They absorb new ideas irreverence for tradition unforgiving of faults
demands perfection gatekeeper of information will evangelize if pleased.
Drivers: play, experimentation, elegance, irreverence, irony of consumption,
hi/ lo synergy, deluxe, something to talk about, a step ahead.
12
PCH Piece No.4:

Pearls of Luxury new codes
PEARLS OF
LUXURY
4
Pearls of Luxury
New forces push luxury to seek new codes for relevance:
Recession reveals fallacies: the recession has left us acutely aware of the


uncertainty.
Archetype BRAND HEAVIES:
Old school luxury, the last bastions of conspicuous consumption.
Consumers with newfound wealth. Likely to be entrepreneurs fast

emerging from BRIC economies.
Heavies keep badges alive and respond to articulation of status
Heavies crave bling and price point and are fearless in showing the money
Heavies still seek to strut.
Drivers: buy to impress, badges, articulation of status,, legacy, bling,
plumage.
fallacies of finance and the need for sustainability.

Globalization forces new responsibilities: as global economic growth has
begun to slow in tandem with the U.S. economy's woes, there are some
positive signs including China, India and other rising economic powers
offering alternative poles of growth for the global economy.
Green gains its skeptics: e.g. the plan to make Dubai Green
Transparency forces new stories.
Politics as runway.
Rich & exhausted - a breadth of luxury consumers will soon be fully spent
and craving perspective.
A hard look in the mirror: Realization - money is not enough. What is - selfperception of increased status.
The defensive stance is wearing thin: were slowly waking up, were
thinking, were searching for new ideals.
Word to the wise: to move forward, we need to look back and understand
origins. Weve lost track of history.
13
PCH Piece No.4:

Pearls of Luxury new requirements
PEARLS OF
LUXURY
Pearls of Luxury

Empowering Artists: artists make us question. they bring vision and

foresight. they open our minds to possibilities.
Fluid Function: if we expect investment in high-ticket merchandise,

merchandise must function ideally from all angles.
Sustainability in Context: sustainability must be ingrained in the culture.
consumers will see through green washing.
Serendipity: serendipity allows for participation. there is passion and

uncertainty.
Requirements for the transformation & relevance of luxury:
Transformative Knowledge: if we know more, we can make more informed
choices and develop collective intelligence.

Stealth Sensibility: the strongest permeating force at work is the most
silent & invisible. no one wants screaming luxury. privacy, hoard for
exclusivity.
Sensorial Experiences: its not enough to look and not touch. we want to
be drawn in and inspired.
Cultural Appreciation: cultural affinity and appreciation leads to engaging
sustainable discourse.
reward in its quest.

Reasoning: reasoning trumps greed.
Distribution: whether online or offline, distributors and messagers need to
control how their products are experienced.
Risk: risk is about choice and consequence, taking on responsibility.
Delight: its emotive to do something special that no one else can.
Total Empowerment: e.g. fully wired homes, nanotechnology, fully loaded
smart phones.
14
PCH Berlin-Los Angeles GmbH

Innovation Agency for Marketing, Engineering & Design
STUDIO BERLIN
www.pch-berlin.com
Fon +49 30 2848 9723
Fax +49 30 2848 9777
traceur@pchberlin.com
Swinemnderstrasse 121
10435 Berlin
GERMANY
STUDIO Los Angeles

www.pch-losangeles.com
Fon +1 310 457 5477
Fax +1 310 457 5478
traceur@pchlosangeles.com
5710 Trancas Canyon Road
Malibu, CA 90265
USA
Note: All documentation, discoveries, designs and methods of PCH BerlinLos Angeles GmbH remain solely the intellectual property of PCH BerlinLos
Angeles GmbH.
The analysis of works presented in the form of ideas, text, graphic design,
plans, photographs, audio, video, and another storage media made available
along these concept lines reflects the realization of the concept by PCH
Berlin-Los Angeles GmbH.
Free use of these materials is only available under contract with the creators
and through the fulfillment of that contract, only in the case that a contract
with the creators grants entitlement to such use. In the case these rights are
granted, usage is determined depending on implementation of the spatial,
temporal and substantive scope of the rights of use.
Usage, in whole or in extracts, without consent by the creators, and its
disclosure to third parties, constitutes a breach of copyright with all legal
consequences.
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July 18th 2011

Located in Berlin and Los Angeles.

& brand experiences with the aim to strengthen the core

PCH Berlin-Los Angeles GmbH provides multi-perspective

We speak passionately. We think big.

And a scouting radar ring of 250 hand selected creative

PCH @ THE PLAYA DEL CARMEN WORKSHOP

OUTLINE PCH CONTRIBUTION

PCH contributes with

PCHs Picture of the Future 2011 2015+:

So What Playa del Carmen?

Creative Class 2015+:

So What Playa del Carmen?

Consumer-Centric Layers in urban & living environments:

PCH @ THE PLAYA DEL CARMEN WORKSHOP

PCH Piece No.1:

So What Playa del Carmen?

The future is collaborative

beyond the brand, motivating individuals and communities to take action

shun overlay-rational scepticism

The future is experimental

Ask why? At least 5 times

designers, scientists, artists, customers, businesses: Similar brands build

Embrace scientists, they are the new heroes

brands authenticity (but do not fake it!)

PCH @ THE PLAYA DEL CARMEN WORKSHOP

PCH Piece No.1:

So What Playa del Carmen?

following topics and will emphasize how these developments

Leading Questions: How do we stay relevant in a rapidly changing

Times to come full of highs, lows, rush - challenging, problematic, yet

expansion of a global middle class, rocketing energy prices, decoding of

Boomers worry about the 20 to 30 years they have left.

PCH @ THE PLAYA DEL CARMEN WORKSHOP

PCH Piece No.1:

So What Playa del Carmen?

Eco & Social as hygiene factor

Embrace Glocalization 2.0: Companies & brands have to combine global

Economy: Brands have to show a visible shift from environmental

Celebrate all things being local, from materials, products, methodologies.

will offer to go beyond expectations

embrace the cradle-to-cradle concept - items are seen as part of the

PCH @ THE PLAYA DEL CARMEN WORKSHOP

PCH Piece No.2:

Creative Class 2015+:

Shifting Tasks for Brands & Playa del Carmen

Seek for personal identity - What can a brand contribute?

Nega-Choice vs. Mega-Choice

Solutions for Time Reshuffle, Deletion Parties, Attention Management &

PCH @ THE PLAYA DEL CARMEN WORKSHOP

PCH Piece No.2:

Creative Class 2015+:

Stay informed, Stay in touch

New Spirituality, Functional Food, Health Style

Quality time and efficient use of time

Play & Experience

Enable life-long learning and social interaction

PCH @ THE PLAYA DEL CARMEN WORKSHOP

PCH Piece No.2:

Creative Class 2015+:

Values are fundamentally shifting Knowledge as Status: Willingness to make

Use of alternative sources of energy as status symbol; Saving energy is sexy

New Sharing Economy