Ephemeral experience might be the next economic currency

Ephemeral experience might well become the next economic currency, or so says Harvard Business School professor John Quelch. How about that - a perfect entryway for dance to stand up and shout "We are fleeting! We're expensive! We're an experience! Come here!"

It'll all make sense when you read the article at Harvard Business School's Working Knowledge website: http://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/6067.html His post is based in part on Professor Quelch's Economist article "Too Much Stuff."

John Quelch is Senior Associate Dean and Lincoln Filene Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School.

Here's a taster:

The Next Marketing Challenge: Selling to 'Simplifiers'

Published:	October 29, 2008
Author:	John Quelch

Watch out for a new brand of consumer in 2008: the middle-aged Simplifier.

She finds herself surrounded by too much stuff acquired. She is increasingly skeptical in the face of a financial meltdown that it was all worth the effort. Out will go luxury purchases, conspicuous consumption, and a trophy culture.

Tomorrow's consumer will buy more ephemeral, less cluttering stuff: fleeting, but expensive, experiences, not heavy goods for the home...