For this challenge, my response was inspired by the question I found most challenging: how do you get a variety of people to come to such a challenging experience, and how do you keep them coming back once the element of surprise is gone?
My solution was to look for pre-existing experiences that are centered on the idea of bringing a diverse set of people together, then introduce the idea of examining some of these differences more closely in a pain-free manner, and attract people by in fact solving some of the pain points associated with these pre-existing experiences.
After brainstorming a variety of different experiences, I landed on sports teams, and more specifically football teams, which draw the largest crowds, tend to have their stadiums in the least pleasant locations, and unite geographic regions of people behind an equally diverse team that wears the name of that region on the front of their jersey. The more I thought about it the more ideal this seemed, given that the experience fans are immersed in at a game is one of watching individuals subordinate their personal goals for those of the team, which closely mirrors our political goals as a democracy.
My next thought was to find
a pain point of this otherwise great experience and use it to our advantage. I settled on getting to and from the game, which sucks because:
- It’s
super boring - there’s
awful traffic - parking
is miserable - prevents
drinking
Another advantage of games and fandom in general is that they naturally funnel people to the same sources of information as well as public transportation. I figured targeting ride-sharing app, especially given Uber’s push towards UberPOOL, would be a perfect way to create synergy while harnessing the power of these large organizations. The Redskins would also support ride-sharing, since it would
- Reduces
traffic - Reduces
greenhouse gases - In
the long term could lead to less parking lot dead space
Thus my idea was sparked, to create an experience that could be shared by as many people in the stadium as possible, then discussed in smaller, more comfortable groups in Uber rides home. For what this experience would be, I turned to my local team, The Washington Redskins, and the recent challenges they’ve been having with their logo. At home, arguments rage over whether it is racist or not, and whether it should be changed or not. Many of these arguments tie into larger political conversations about whether culture has become too PC, which seems particularly relevant to the most recent presidential election.
