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?