The battle for the leisure pound or dollar is only a skirmish compared with the fight that should be engaged for the leisure minute.
It was Benjamin Franklin in 1748 in Advice to Young Tradesmen first said that
and there is nowhere that this is more clear than the competition for consumers leisure time.
time is money
So what is leisure? If it was just the absence of work that would indicate that there is a large resource of leisure time available. Most people work for around 8 or nine hours a day, leaving the other 15 hours for leisure. The Oxford English Dictionary suggests leisure is
which is a much more scarce commodity. Given the pressures on modern life the amount of leisure time is actually limited to only a few a week, and whereas it was once certain to involve a day out to visit somewhere or something different, it is now just as likely to be at home surfing the web or shopping at an out of town mall.
the time or opportunity for ease or relaxation
The leisure minute is the proportion of leisure time that a customer spends on any given activity. There is an acceptance amongst those with disposable income that leisure time has a cost associated. The expectation of expenditure of leisure money is already in place. As such the spending of it becomes arbitrary and may be a relatively low involvement decision.
The value of leisure time to suppliers of services and products is illustrated when considering the cost of peak time TV commercials or ads on high ranking web sites. Having your product advertised in front of thousands of surfers or millions of viewers who are enjoying their leisure time is a valuable marketing tool.
If consumers are relatively cash rich and time poor, then the ability to deliver value for time rather than value for money is where the real added value is accrued. The amount of cash spent on each or any activity then becomes purely notional for the consumer as it was cash they had committed to spend anyway. It is the way it is spent that poses the questions.
How value for time can be measured is as yet unanswered.
Mike Cline-Hughes is Managing Director of Northern Strategy and Operations, a Management Consultancy working with Cultural and Heritage organisations. NS&O have a unique mix of commercial and not-for-profit experience and skills that sets them apart from others. You can read more about this at http://www.nsando.com or cantact mike at mike@nsando.com
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