Innovation Culture

The Kings Video Game visit was my favorite business in Barcelona. One of the Agile Coaches for the Pheonix Studio, Ferran, was one of our speakers during the morning. He gave us an incredible insight on how Kings is successful in executing their mission of focusing on customers by making sure their employees are happy. Ferran described the company culture as “cult” like, because of the level of investment in employees and rigorous hiring process to ensure the culture is protected. In their innovation and development process, our speaker mentioned that ideas can be generated at any level of the company, and the CEO constantly encourages this during a bi-monthly call with all employees.

Throughout all of the talk about innovation, I think Kings is the most powerful example of how to actually create that culture within people. Having innovation labs is essential to develop ideas, but if companies and organizations are not fostering a culture where every person feels comfortable sharing ideas, it severely limits the potential of innovation. At Kings, leadership seems to recognize the importance of giving a voice to every employee, and reinforcing that idea through their internal idea pitch process.

Xavi, a data scientist for the studio, also provided very informative insight on how the company weighs the cost of acquisition vs. the lifetime value of a customer. It was a great lesson for how to make the case for or against a campaign when you present the costs and benefits in dollar values. It helps make a very convincing argument. While only a small percentage of the customer base that plays one of the Kings games, that customer could end up referring others that could be more profitable. Overall, I did not expect the level of sophistication in how a new game is created, a modification is tested, and how performance marketing is measured.

The Sagrada Familia tour with Professor Xaviar Puertes was a very in-depth look at how art in Barcelona has developed throughout its history. Gaudi’s designs for the Sagrada Familia are in such detail, that even with the two hour tour, we barely scraped the surface of the significance of all the pieces. The details of stonework on the outside is spectacular, but entering inside is absolutely breathtaking. I have never seen sunlight displayed so colorfully through stained glass windows. The building is completely funded by private donations, which includes the cost of admission. As a tourist attraction, they’re providing a service to experience an important cultural aspect of Barcelona. Although Gaudi died almost a century ago, it was a wise investment in the last decade to continue construction. The Sagrada Familia is on every tourist map of the city with its own metro stop on two lines, which is a form of marketing. While other attractions in the city are nice to see, the basilica is generally regarded as a must see when visiting. The visit definitely lived up to the hype.

The other staple of Barcelona life is the Futbol Club Barcelona, which we also had the opportunity to experience. While I will discuss further in my fieldwork study, the experience of being at the game is unlike any other sports event I’ve attended. The game of soccer is generally easy to pick up and understand, which enhances the experience of watching the game. The entire game there was a section at Camp Nou that was dedicated entirely to fans that were hyping the crowd and continuously sang cheers and chants for the team. I was surprised at how outdated the stadium felt for one of the best teams in world. Understandably, there was no alcohol sold at the games, but the facilities were very small (only two stalls in the restroom) with limited food and merchandise choices. This didn’t take away from the experience of the game, but it felt very different from a sports event back home where everything is commercialized. Even though it was cold and seats were uncomfortable, I preferred the experience at Camp Nou because I realized how much of a distraction the commercializations is to the overall experience. I went back the day after the game to the Megastore, and it certainly makes up for the lack of stores within the stadium. FCBarcelona is missing an opportunity to sell merchandise in the stadium, but that could be my American capitalist thinking. There are plans to remodel the stadium by 2022, so I will look forward to seeing what improvements they choose to make.