Download - Web 2.0, Dutch Railways & Teststation Leiden
The Dutch Railways, Test Station Leiden
and Web 2.0
Coen Dirkx
Good morning
I would like
to give you a presentation about:
Mijnproefstation.nl my test station.
This is a website that belongs to the virtual world we’ve just seen
And that’s part of the project World Stations.
The title of my presentation is:
How we try to build a new station
together with our customers…
or more modestly:
How the Dutch Railways try to listen more carefully
to their customers
and even ask them for help.
First a little history of myself:
My University major was political sciences
with a minor in communication,
which is now my core business.
I started as a journalist,
then I worked as a communication manager in the world of training companies
for 15 years.
Two years ago I made a move to the Dutch Railways
as a senior advisor in communication,
always inspired by doing new things
and trying to learn and grow.
Okay,
back to the subject.
How did we begin?
It was a Monday in January last year
when I was asked to join
a small team with a mission:
Build a test station
in Leiden within 1 year:
a test station where 1. the latest ideas about stations
are put into effect
and 2.where customers are being
challenged to
help think up ideas and join in.
A test station, where we can learn
from implementing
new ideas
for the upcoming new international stations.
Such as this one in Rotterdam.
Our management also told us
to dare to -if necessary-
step outside the usual working process
even when it implies taking ‘unusual’ steps.
sometimes it’s easier to ask for forgiveness instead of permission.
in other words:
we were asked to really take responsibility.
So we could do things
instead of mostly
talking about things.
And that’s what we did,
and that’s what I did.
I was in charge of the communication
in the process of making this test station.
So far so good.
Well, we started with nothing:
just a small team of enthusiastic people.
I organized a brainstorm session
and then we had a plan,
or maybe it was more of a dream:
to improve our performance in cooperation
with our public
Can we create a site
where we build a new station together with our clients?
And let’s use the latest communication techniques
in order to fulfill this dream.
Let’s build a website
that tries to:
relate to the public,
and test the innovations.
Mijnproefstation.nl was born 9 months later, in December 2007
And this is how we started:
We didn’t succeed to build the real station in 1 year,
it was easier to build the virtual one.
That’s for sure.
One of our first learning points.
Actually, this interactive website is an
ongoing learning process.
It’s also – like the test station –one big experiment:
How can we use the new media to our gain?
Our intention with this website was
to inform
to engage
to test
and to entertain.
and above all:
to introduce and improve the station of the future.
And what did we accomplish?
That’s a serious question,
that deserves a serious answer.
So let me give it a try.
We set ourselves 4 targets:
The first target
To inform our customers better and broader
than before.
We offer an insight
into the future of stations in
The Netherlands.
Like this one in Utrecht.
And we provide information
of the actual building process of the test station in Leiden.
And what are the results?
First of all, the visitors know more about our plans,
not only of Leiden,
but also of the other cities
where the international train
will stop
like Amsterdam South.
More knowledge leads to
more understanding.
For example, for the inevitable
chaos of a building construction.
How many people visited the website during these last months?
We had more than 60.000 visitors,
who could read about the new stations
and experience the new dynamic shops in the virtual world.
They could read about our plans to improve
the perception of a station.
But
we’re not only telling our customers about our innovations
we’re trying to get them
involved:
The second target
To get a real and direct opinion
of our clients.
We ask them:
‘what do you think of this?’
‘And do you want to help us?’
following the rules of
Web 2.0:
which means:
information sharing and collaboration of the public,
giving and taking
And how did we get them
involved?
With daily polls,
surveys and tests.
The mere fact that a customer
is asked to share his opinion,
makes him feel appreciated
and also important.
And at the same time
it gives us insights
into the hearts and minds of our public.
What do they really care about?
What’s their perception of the station?
What can and must we do
better?
The fundamental question is:
do our new stations’ concepts work?
That’s what we hope to find out in Leiden
and that’s what we are already testing virtually,
before everything is realized.
This involvement of our visitors and
insights in the needs of our customers
must lead to more salesin the station area.
It gives us the opportunity to learn
which innovation works and
which one doesn’t.
Results till now?
12.000 filled in polls
More than 4.000 filled in surveys
(with 38 questions!)
2.500 responses to the Study of Colour and Light
and more than
400 ideas, tips and warnings from the public.
The third target
To work together with the business partners in the station.
In real and in the virtual world.
We come up with activities,
that must lead to more traffic
not only to our site, but also to the site and shops
of our partners.
Let me give you 1 example.
The Photography contest Mooi op het station
(what’s beautiful in a station?)
Mooi (‘Beautiful’)is our new
station perfumery.
With this contest,
which is now running
we inform the public
about the arrival of Mooi in Leiden,
and in the other big international stations
like Arnhem.
That brings us to
The fourth target
To enrich the brand of the Dutch Railways.
Can a website do this?
Yes, I think so.
How?
By showing that we are more than just a company with trains
We want to improve the station, the station area and our service in
the station.
And by showing that we try to listen to our customers:
‘Give us your opinion’,
‘Think and work with us’.
We know that a strong brand
leads to customer loyalty.
and so to
more business.
But there’s another relationship between
a strong brand and business,
especially in the world of business – to – business.
It’s called trust.
When you’re building or rebuilding a station
there’s one thing crucial:
Cooperation
and thus
trusting each other.
How can a website contribute to
building a brand?
We try to be transparent
by telling the public what goes right and what goes wrong.
One of the most visible features of the website
is the daily blog,
which allows people to peep behind the scenes.
This blog gives
a big, anonymousorganization
like the Dutch Railways
a human face.
10 colleagues of mine who are working within this project
write about their daily routine, but also
about their hopes and dreams
and –sometimes- about their
fears and furies.
For 2 months now
we have been giving some visitors
this platform to write about their
experiences and opinions.
As far as I know
this is unusual on a corporate blog.
Does this building the brand
work?
Does it have any effect?
We cannot give an answer yet.
But let me tell you this:
in the last years
the Dutch Railways are climbing in the list of
strong brands
and in the list of
most popular employers in The Netherlands.
I’m not implying that this is an effect of
Mijn proefstation.nl
it may well be just a pure coincidence.
Let me finish my presentation with
a case study: the design contest.
It’s an example of co-creation and crowdsourcing
(outsourcing to the crowd)
which means: use the knowledge of your public.
I’m going to tell you what we have done
and what we have learned from this contest.
We invited the public
to design the station toilet areas
of the future.
There were two parts to this contest:
1. Design a logo,
2. Make a design for all the glass walls.
The public was asked to participate in 2 ways:
1. by sending in designs and
2. by voting.
The winning design would be realized at Leiden Station
and the winner would receive 5.000 euro.
Choose a serious subject for co-creation,
so the people can really join in.
So Lesson 1 is:
The next thing we had to do,
was convincing all the internal players.
So that they would cooperate with us.
think of the internal designers, the project managers, the builders.
And that is Lesson 2:
Focus on selling your idea in your own organization.
The next step was more difficult:
to make the right regulations for this contest.
How can you make sure
that you get serious contestants
and serious designs?
You can’t.
but you must anticipate and hope for the best.
We had to think about:
which procedure, which upload mechanism,
how to vote? etc., etc.
A lot of questions, because some of us
feared fraud
and some of us feared
a lot of non serious contestants.
We devised a procedure with a “way out”.
In short:
the public made the short list
and the jury (staffmembers of the
Dutch Railways) picked the winner.
And that’s Lesson 3:
Think carefully about your procedure.
We decided to inform every Art School in Holland
and we launched a 3D-movie.
So, Lesson 4:
Give it the right exposure
And it worked
(Yes!)
We received almost 250 designs
-in our modest opinion- of good quality.
After that we had some serious discussion with the jury.
They did pronounce a winner for the glass walls.
this one:
But they decided not to choose a winner for the logo,
due to a ‘ lack of quality and applicability’
(as they put it mildly).
Then we had to make sure that
they explained their choices
openly and transparently.
That’s Lesson 5:
Be transparent and honest at all times.
And this August we opened the new toilet area in Leiden
with this result:
So, let me finish by saying one more thing:
it’s the most important thing I’ve learned these last 2 years.
We must realize that the new media
give our customers more
power.
It’s in our best interest
to let them use this power
to help us!
And if you take them seriously
they will help you!
Thank you for your attention.
Any questions?