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[@ChrisWillx] “How I Would Improve Airports” - Rory Sutherland

· 4 min read
[@ChrisWillx] Summarizer
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@ChrisWillx - "“How I Would Improve Airports” - Rory Sutherland"

Link: https://youtu.be/VBfcMdr37Ao

Short Summary​

Number One Action Item/Takeaway:

Apply "reverse benchmarking" to airport experiences by identifying overlooked areas or pain points that competitors have ignored, and then innovate in those areas to create a unique and superior customer experience.

Executive Summary:

The speaker advocates for using "reverse benchmarking" to improve airport experiences. Instead of copying competitors, airports should identify aspects where others are lacking and focus on excelling in those areas to differentiate themselves and enhance the passenger experience. The speaker provides suggestions for improvements to car rental and hotel experience as further examples.

Key Quotes​

Okay, here are four direct quotes from the transcript that I found particularly insightful:

  1. "Benchmarking is for losers. Okay, that all you do is you you diminish your margins by making yourself in direct competition with your other competitors. So you don't benefit uh your uh your profits or your shareholders and also you don't benefit your customers." (This highlights the counter-intuitive idea of reverse benchmarking.)

  2. "Find out something that your competitors have completely overlooked, do it really, really well and I would argue as a marketer and then actually turn it into a feature, you know, spotlight it." (This is a practical application of reverse benchmarking.)

  3. "It's a lot easier to innovate on the ground than it is in the air." (A pragmatic observation about the constraints of airline innovation.)

  4. "Make the thing that stays still move and make the thing that moves stay still." (A compelling principle of engineering innovation from the Soviet era.)

Detailed Summary​

Here's a detailed summary of the YouTube video transcript using bullet points, focusing on the key topics, arguments, and information discussed, excluding sponsor announcements:

  • Main Topic: Improving Airport Experiences through Innovation and Reverse Benchmarking.

  • Problem with Airports:

    • Airports are too big and dominated by shopping centers, making it obligatory to walk through them.
    • Airports becoming homogenous which deprives the customer of choice

  • Reverse Benchmarking Concept:

    • Traditional benchmarking focuses on copying competitors, leading to homogenization and diminished profits/customer choice.
    • Reverse benchmarking identifies aspects competitors overlook or do poorly and excels in those areas.
    • It's about finding the unmet need or area of disappointment and turning it into a key feature.

  • Example: 11 Madison Park Restaurant:

    • The restaurant, aiming to be the #1 in the world, focused on improving areas where the then #1 restaurant was lacking (coffee and beer service).
    • They appointed coffee and beer "sommeliers" to create exceptional experiences, surprising customers and creating a unique offering.

  • Generalized Theory of Innovation:

    • Steve Jobs focused on aesthetics and usability in technology, an area largely ignored at the time, to create innovative products.
    • Moxy Hotels doubled down on making the ground floor of their hotels a unique experience, giving customers a place to hang out after checkout.

  • Applying Reverse Benchmarking to Airports:

    • London City Airport is great because you go in and 6 minutes later you are at the gate.
    • Premimizing an experience is easier to innovate on the ground than in the air.

  • Specific Airport Innovation Ideas:

    • Mobile Lounges (Washington Dallas example): Using vehicles that resemble rooms to transport passengers directly to the plane, eliminating the need for gates and reducing taxiing time. Based on the Soviet era TRIS technique.
    • Treating the airport more like a car park than a building.

  • Related Hotel Innovation:

    • Hotels should provide monitors for dual-screen work setups.

  • Related Car Rental Innovation:

    • Offer a "concierge" service at car rental locations to assist customers with directions, paperwork, and vehicle location, to ease a stressful experience.