26 BLUE WINGS

MARCH 2013

Klaus K hotels new lobby lounge in helsinki, designed in part by a patron, is an innovative example of cocreation in the travel industry. this way of engaging customers has traditionally been used by global product giants such as Starbucks and Nike.

Co-creation
the better-together

paradigm
Text by Katja Pantzar

illustrations by jussi kaakinen

n a warm August afternoon in 2012, Marc Skvorc, general manager of Helsinkis Klaus K boutique hotel, placed an open Facebook invitation Be a designer for a day inviting submissions for a new lounge scheme. Six hours later his inbox pinged with the first entry, an idea for a living room space by Jukka Juhola, a fan of the original hotel concept, which is built around the Finnish national epic The Kalevala. When I saw his sketches and Pinterest images, I thought, this guy really understands exactly who we are and what we do, says Skvorc, who followed his own instincts with the social media call for entries. Although expert recommendations suggested a more engineered approach, Skvorc, who manages the familyowned hotel with his wife Mia Cederberg-Skvorc, felt strongly about having the hotels heavy users drive the process. Our way of working is about challenging the traditional aspects of the hotel business, he says. We wanted to turn the normally business-led design proce-

dure around and give guests direct access to creating this renewal. We believe openness is a key element to managing a business in a flourishing community.
Inspiration strikes Juhola, who works for a Helsinki communications agency, says that openness was a key element in his desire to participate. The most important thing was that the threshold for participation was low, he says, which is why the co-creation paradigm works. I dont have the drawing skills, so the opportunity to submit ideas in words and pictures felt just right when inspiration struck. The Designer for a Day idea was part of the Helsinki World Design Capital 2012 official programme. Despite Skvorcs initial enthusiasm for Juholas ideas, further submissions were accepted. The jury, comprised of Klaus K board members and Finnish designerati, selected the top six submissions and deliberated. In the end, Juholas concept was chosen and carried out with Swedish interior architecture and design agency Stylt Trampoli in Gothenburg, the company that transformed the historic Klaus Kurki Hotel into a design hotel in 2005. Juhola will travel with Skvorc to
MARCH 2013 BLUE WINGS 27

MOST IMPORTANTLY, the threshold for participation was low.

A world where everyone wins or loses

In the board game Co-opoly: The Game of Cooperatives, players collaborate to found and run a democratic business. In order to survive as individuals and to strive for the success of their co-op, players make tough choices regarding big and small challenges while putting their teamwork abilities to the test (a challenge for anyone used to a hierarchical work environment where someone else tells him or her what to do). This is a game where everyone wins or everybody loses. By playing Co-opoly, players discover the unique benefits, challenges, and operations of the cooperative world as well as the skills needed to participate in a co-op. The Guardian newspaper described it as like Monopoly, but better.
store.toolboxfored.org

Using a Nike armband, runners could log their distances and times and check their heart rates and calories burned. Nike employees also created a datatracking sensor that allowed users to share their runs online. After partnering with Apple, Nike Plus membership grew from 600,000 to 3 million people worldwide. The platform increased Nikes market share by ten per cent in the first year alone. In addition to his work as an academic, Ramaswamy also helps organizations conceive and execute new co-creation business ideas. He has been instrumental in the executive development partnership between global auto industry giant Mahindra & Mahindra of India and the Ross School of Business.

people travelling for business dont want to stay in their hotel rooms alone.
Using co-creation, Mahindras company culture has been transformed by enabling the sharing of specialised knowledge that had to be rolled out at high speed and no cost. Senior Mahindra management estimated that within 18 months, 50 learning and training modules were created, with 400 to 500 employees benefitting. Its an achievement that would have taken ten years using traditional classroom methods.
Market research When Klaus Ks Marc Skvorc started considering different renovation options for the hotel, named Finlands leading hotel in 2012 by the World Travel Awards, he travelled to New York City and LA, Istanbul, Paris, and Moscow. The Rake block of buildings that houses the hotel in Helsinki has been in his wifes family for more than 100 years, and naturally the board had to approve the half a million euro renovation budget and the concept. I realised that when people travel for business, whether four, five or 150 times a year, they want a space where they can relax, work, catch up on email and socialise. The distinction between work and leisure has become less defined, says Skvorc. The space should be stimulating but not overbearing, alone but together. People dont want to stay in their hotel rooms alone, especially if theyre travelling for business, regardless of how cool their room is. Being alone is not conducive to creativity, he says, adding that the new Klaus K LivingRoom has a library, pool table, snack menu and fireplace. Locals are welcome too, we are not a closed community, and people in the neighbourhood do come for breakfast, brunch, events, and get-togethers.

Gothenburg to participate in a Day as a Designer event. He will choose his favourite table in the LivingRoom, which will be designated The Jukka Juhola table with a lifetime reservation.
Harnessing creativity Venkat Ramaswamy is widely credited with coining the term co-creation along with business thinker and professor C.K. Prahalad: they first introduced the concept in a Harvard Business Review article in 2000. A Hallman Fellow of electronic business and professor of marketing at the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan, Ramaswamy has written dozens of articles on the topic for top-tier business journals and is the co-author of The Power of Co-creation (2010) with Francis Gouillart. In my research, I have not come across many travel-related examples of co-creation projects such as the Klaus K design hotel, says Ramaswamy. There are examples out there on both the design and consumer engagement side, but the mindset shift from a traditional service delivery to service experience co-creation has not yet occurred, he says. In his The Power of Co-creation, the examples of successful co-creation initiatives include caf retailer Starbucks MyStarbucksIdea.com that was started to tap into customers ideas, and Nike Plus, the online platform that grew from a social network of runners.
28 BLUE WINGS MARCH 2013

Future Klaus K Hotel projects include increasing the current capacity of 137 rooms to 160 rooms and adding 400 square feet of solar roof panels. We will most certainly use co-creation again in other initiatives, says Skvorc.
Innovative airport spaces A similar sense of community and spirit of co-creation brought about Helsinki Airports Book Swap, which allows passengers to drop off books theyve finished reading and pick up new ones. It was launched in June 2012, arising out of Helsinki Airport and Finnairs Quality Hunters initiative. This project was started so that the airline and Helsinki Airport could receive concrete feedback on how to improve the passenger experience. The Book Swap has grown to be a small room with bookshelves and armchairs. Theres even a book swap sticker where readers can record each books travels. Future paradigms In the preface to professor Ramaswamys 2014 book, The Co-creation Paradigm, co-authored with Kerimcan Ozcan, he says that, harnessing the creativity of customers and employees is the heart of co-creation. Co-creation is much larger than just engagement. Its about bringing together different ways in which people can contribute. Its about the human experience, and I believe it has the power to change our future by creating a better world environment around us, which is badly needed in these times.

www.klauskhotel.com www.venkatramaswamy.com

What is co-creation?
Mobile web and social media are among the forces that have changed the way people think, act and work. Businesses can no longer afford to view customers and other stakeholders as passive recipients of products and services, and must engage them in defining and delivering enhanced value. According to The Power of Co-creation (2010) by Venkat Ramaswamy and Francis Gouillart, co-creation goes beyond listening and feedback. Its about redefining the process and how organisations engage individuals customers, employees, suppliers, partners and stakeholders by bringing them into the value creation process and engaging them in it. This engagement can then achieve results such as designing new products and services, lowering risks and costs, formulating new strategies, increasing market share and loyalty. An engagement platform comprises people, interfaces, processes, and artefacts, which then evolve into valuegenerating environments. The building blocks are dialogue, access, transparency, and reflexivity. Ideas generated via co-creation become an integral part of a companys decision-making process.

MARCH 2013

BLUE WINGS

29