Experience Design - Special Edition
'Tis the season when shopping experiences are usually a negative in the minds of most consumers. The traffic, the crowds, the prices, the pressure...that the consumer feels to create an experience themselves with the ritual of a loving gift...draws away from the real intent of the experience: love, joy, goodwill and honoring those we hold dear.
By popular request, I am posting an Encore Edition of this article from last holiday season. Please enjoy for the 1st or 2nd time with my most sincere wishes for the warmest holiday experiences for you and yours:
It’s Christmas Eve and I’m scurrying through the mall in a procrastinator’s frenzy when something catches my eye. A pensive, 7-year old boy was meticulously fishing through a sea of clearance merchandise piece by piece. Frustrated, he looked up at his father and said, “I can’t see those.”
The boy’s father gently scooped up his 7-year old son and held him against the glass jewelry counter. A loud clanging emerged from the boy’s waist pouch upon contact. The boy remained undistracted as he studied the hodgepodge collection of costume jewelry cocktail rings.
Trying to offer assistance, his father suggested the boy consider this one and that.
“No, Daddy,” the boy responded, “Mommy needs the biggest diamond in the world.”
The father retracted his suggestions and joined his son in his quest. Once the boy was convinced the biggest and best was found, he victoriously held it up in his cupped hands and announced that this was to be his mother’s ring. He then opened his pouch and released a small cascade of coins and wrinkled bills to settle his debt.
The associate graciously took his payment and spent several minutes dramatically polishing the glimmering $30.00 square-cut plastic. All the while, the boy chattered with pride about his mother and how happy she was going to be.
The associate then insisted on liberating a velvet bag from the fine jewelry department for the ring before performing ornate gift wrapping.
Another associate soon arrived with perfume and cosmetic samples in a case to go along with his purchase. She explained that it was because his mother must be the best mom ever. Without hesitation, the boy looked at his father and exclaimed with pride, “She knows Mommy!”
I lost it. Not easily driven to public tears, this was too much – it was too real not to be completely swept away. Every person who witnessed this beautiful boy’s actions was transported from their current reality and delivered into a memorable experience. And then it struck me…Over what? A cheap, blatantly fake, junk jewelry ring. Amazing.
I grabbed a handkerchief and was instantly grateful for the important lesson this 1st grade experience master had to offer:
It was the sincerity of his intention which created the power to make that cheap piece of plastic the most valuable item in the store. His sincere affection, pride, desire to please and honor his mother plus his lack of willingness to compromise his standards of what she deserved was so completely genuine – it made the ring more than real; the ring’s value became contagiously priceless to everyone else. His sincerity was so authentic, that the associates believed they must care for this ring and its future owner as if it was a Harry Winston en route to Queen Elizabeth.
All this - even before the mother’s reaction. Wow.
As I think about it, I’ve had my share of “fake gestures” performed with such “real sincerity” they transformed objects into priceless experiences:
· At age 4, the boy next door put a rubber band around my finger and had the girl across the street “marry us”. Although “just pretend”, the sincerity of his commitment to be in it with me for life was real – He remains a friend today. Can’t ever seem to throw away a rubber band…
· At age (never mind), my boyfriend made a ring out of tin foil and we eloped. A more “fake” wedding ring was never fashioned, but the love of that marriage has been completely authentic for 19 years.
· Several years ago, an organization “registered a star” in my name as a gift of honor. Although technically impossible & false, (you can’t truly lay claim to a star like that), the humility and appreciation I feel each time I look at “my star” is quite real.
· A few years ago, a resort expressed I would always be “royalty” on their property. With gypsies and other rustics as ancestors of mine, any suggestion of me having regal blood is ridiculously false. Nevertheless, the treatment they deliver makes their promise “real” and I am transformed to experiencing the attention of being genuinely noble.
Thank you, Beautiful Boy, for the lesson in the transformational power of being wholehearted and sincere to create genuine relationships and experiences - regardless of the gesture’s preconceived market value or seemingly unimportant nature. It is the genuineness of the giver’s intent and belief of its enormous importance, in large part, which determines the real value of the act.
Something people who have endeavored to grow up and go into business ought to remember.--Dolores McKay, ZAG Group CVO
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