Learning Launch

Challenge

As I’m currently at home due to Covid19, I will take on the project of finding new methods  of revenue generation for the Zoo in my country. It has been recognized worldwide as one of  the best zoological parks in the world and has been known for the quality of care it provides  to the animals. However, for the first time in almost 50 years, the zoo had to shut its door  because of the spread of Covid19. While the lockdown in our country is speculated to open  within a month, it is unlikely that the borders for leisure travelling will open up anytime  soon. A country so heavily dependent on tourism will take a hit, and businesses dependent  on providing experiences will have to come up with new and creative methods to generate  revenue and stay relevant in the changing times.   The method best suited would be for the management to take the experiences online and  turn animal care into virtual tours that individuals or groups can pay to be a part of.  Zookeepers can impart knowledge via Zoom to a group of 5-10 people in one session. They  can also tie-up with schools to provide virtual tours for students, instead of field trips that  won’t be happening at least until the latter part of 2020. Selling merchandise online with  personalized messages would also be a great source of kickstarting income generation while  capitalizing on that as a social media movement simultaneously. This would help to not only  reach out to local customers but also a vast clientele globally, including a potential to reach  out to schools all over the world, thereby creating, virtual tourism. But the challenge would  be that the risk appetite in such times isn’t extremely high since there is no revenue being  earned right now and so the right balance is extremely crucial so as to not incur any losses.     Selection & Application

The design tool best suited to help with this would be the learning launch. The concept of  testing the ideas fast and cheap, especially in times of a pandemic where currently, no  revenue is being generated, seem to be the crucial tool in order to not only come up with a  winning idea but also to come up with an idea that could potentially be the future of tourism  in changing times. The process which includes weighing your key assumptions against  factors like value creation, execution, defensibility and scalability to prioritize those  assumptions that fit best in order to design and perform the test for it is a great method to  narrow down the best ideas.   The idea of holding virtual tours, and selling of personalized merchandise can be tested by  sending out emails to the already existing customer database within the country. Small  groups of 10-15 people can be made in order to test these ideas and ask open-ended  questions as to what are the things people want to see and learn about during zoo visits. This  can then be used to curate the virtual tours for larger audiences. This could be a great gauge  as to how customers respond and to see how we can tweak our key assumptions to fit the  experience that they would want. Since it’s a completely new concept for the zoo, whether it  works or needs to be saved for later, the experiment will be fast and cheap, thereby, ensuring  a move in the right direction.

Insight

If applied, this would lead to a whole new world of experimentation in a company that has  previously thrived through conventional methods. This pandemic has changed the way  people behave, communicate and reciprocate. The learning launch tool will help the  company adjust to the changing needs of the people in a relatively cheaper method to extend  their freshly curated services to a global level after tweaking the methods through testing on  a local level.       Approach

Another way to approach this challenge could be to form a prototype of the ideas after  brainstorming and mind mapping. The teams have managed consumer expectations for  decades and diverse teams could sit together and brainstorm ideas. This can then be tested  by getting in touch with their customers through emails and offering these prototypes. The  consumers after testing the prototypes could have a feedback session on which one they liked  best, why, what could be done better and what more can be offered. This would use both the  employee expertise along with the consumer needs to build a sturdy business model for  virtual tourism.

