Sometimes the best innovations aren’t new, they’re borrowed
Nightclubs in the UK have been struggling for years, with three closing each month and seven out of ten running at a loss.
To keep their business alive, Manchester’s XLR night club borrowed and adapted an idea from the restaurant industry: BYOB.
You bring your own booze, they keep it safe in a locker, and you drink it when you want.
Two industry killing challenges solved at once:
Women don’t have to second-guess what’s in their glass (drink spiking has become a big problem).
Clubbers can afford to go out because they aren't forced to pay for high priced drinks (a major factor turning people away).
Entry tickets to the club increased slightly from £5 to £10 as the trade off, but the overall savings and increased trust in what people were drinking more than compensated. Opening night with the new BYOB model quickly sold out.
XLR's use of BYOB as a problem solving strategy is a great reminder: innovation doesn’t always mean invention.
David Bowie once said, “The only art I’ll ever study is stuff that I can steal from.”
Sometimes the most efficient way to innovate is hunting for a proven idea from other industries and adapting it to fit your specific problem.