Abstract
Two marketing and communications experts present a cutting-edge model for managing group creativity, expanding on the ideas introduced in Bernd Schmitt's revolutionary Experiential Marketing. Bernd Schmitt, a leader in experiential thinking, introduced the concept of the "experience organisation" a business that thrives on innovation, buzzes with ideas, rejects bureaucracy, questions convention and allows the spirit of its employees to soar. Now he teams up with Laura Brown to show not only that these companies exist, but how any company can become one. Build Your Own Garage is at the forefront of the new field of study focused on the dynamics of workplaces that feature breakthrough ideas and new initiatives. Using the metaphor of the garage to represent these most successful businesses of the new economy, the authors draft blueprints that bring together the on-line experience, branding, communications, cultural perspective and people to foster maximum corporate creativity. Using examples drawn from real life, Schmitt and Brown demonstrate everything from how the physical environment and size of an organisation can substantially improve the quality and flow of ideas, to the relative effectiveness of various e-commerce models.