"Magical Gatherings"

Well here I go again praising Disney. If its not obvious, my expecations are high for our vacation to their Disney World theme park.

Here is a qoute from a guide book that was mailed with an incredible DVD movie and planning tool:

"What happens when you get together with the people dearest to you? In no time, you're telling old stories. Making up new ones. Laughing until it hurts. And feeling like everything is exactly right."

"At Walt Disney World Resort we have a name for the special magic that happens when you gather together with the people closest to you - magical gatherings".

Wow, can you imagine if companies started thinking of transacations as "magical gatherings"? What would that do to the experiences we as consumers could have?

Imagine a magical gathering with your; financial planner, home builder, pizza delivery person, accountant (ok, that might be a stretch). Regardless of a companies product or service, they can create "magical gatherings" by focusing on three key elements of their experience:

1. Expectations - build remarkable and realistic expectations for the experience customers have while interacting with you. Be careful, if you can't execute at a level to meet the expectations, you will fail miserably.

2. Experience - actually plan the experience customers have instead of leaving them to chance. Establishing cues throughout the process that reinforce the theme of your interaction.

3. Memories - does the customer remember the experience as remarkable? Something they would tell their friends about? Something they would lend their credibility to? If they remember their experience in a way that touches them emotionally and made them feel good, then you have successfully imprinted the epxerience in their memory!

The magical kingdom

In a couple days my family and I will decend on Disney World in search of childhood memories. Do you remember the first time you were awed by the magic? I had long erased it from my memory, jaded by years of business and life. However, now as the father of two amazing daughters, I cannot wait to see the sparkle in their eyes as they begin their adventure... And to see what magic is really about. Funny part about it is that I now also look at it through my epxerience lense and how a company actually creates such a remarkable experience - now I too share the magic!

When planning for this vacation, I realized the mastery of the experience staged by Disney. Despite their failures, and they have many, they continually re-imagine the magic they create. A couple pictures below are examples of how they engage even Mom and Dad...

Notice in images 1 and 2 that the literature has been personalized - nice touch! Now, notice that Image 3 shows a personalized iteniary and luggage tags sent 1 week in advance of the trip - a very nice touch! I thought it was cool, my daughter thought it was... well, magic of course!

An innovation education - comming soon!

A post originally at Dishwashersafe (Polymer Studios great blog).

This article in Business Week Online does a nice job outlining the need for companies to add a creative person to their strategy - empolyee or consultant. We couldn't agree more in this multi-disciplinary approach to designing remarkable experience.

On a related note, we will begin hosting a series of round-table sessions, where we will explore the concepts of designing customer experiences so that executives can begin to learn more about this emerging trend. Stay tunned!

• Getting Schooled in Innovation

Pop ups

Another indicator of the need to create pure experience that will capture current and potential customers. Interesting ideas, but I am not yet convienced about their long-term position in the field of experience...

Just think if companies would instead invest into their core operations the same amount of money to improve their exisiting experience!

• Shopkeepers

Blogs are changing the world

Regardless of your political leaning, this book is required reading if you are new to the blogosphere. What's a blogosphere? Read the book.

The impact that blogs are having on the political landscape is just the begining. As bloggers link together, the power of "distributive intelligence" is going to change how consumers buy things, and who will become their trusted intermediaries.

I have placed a link to Amazon on the left navigation...

Success on the Net?

A brillant post on Seth's blog. You need to think about these points if you want to be successful online...

• So, what will it take to succeed?

Getting started

Today marks the launch of The Experience Journal by unlimited options, inc. We are simply a group of frustrated consumers who decided to take fate into our own hands, and start helping companies improve their customer experiences.

Welcome to the journey!