You're probably familiar with Randy Pausch. If not, you should go and
familiarize yourself with his story. Randy is both a a tenured professor
at Carnegie Mellon, a scientist, a husband and father. And he's dying of cancer.
His last gift is for all of us, in the form of a video that's made it's way around
the internet—as well as a precious book titled "The Last
Lecture". There are many stories worth talking about which Randy has
put into words, but I wanted to take a moment to highlight one of them as it's
helping me think through the idea of "Micro-Interactions".
The $100,000 Salt & Pepper Shaker
The story is simple. At 12 years old, a young Randy Pausch was
exploring Disney World with his family and he and his sister decided they wanted
to show their parents their appreciation for the trip. So they did what
any other grateful children would do—they pooled their allowance money and
headed straight for the Disney gift shop. A few minutes later, they
emerged with the perfect gift. A ceramic Disney salt and pepper shaker
featuring two bears in a tree holding the salt and pepper (not the ones in the
photo above.) Randy and his sister left the store excited to see their
parents faces when they opened the gift.
Minutes later, a mini-tragedy
struck when Randy accidentally dropped the shaker, breaking it on impact.
A nearby adult suggested that they should take it back to the store and they did
so hesitantly, not expecting a positive outcome. To their surprise and
delight, the Disney employee who had sold them the items apologized for not
wrapping them appropriately and gave them a new set, no questions
asked.
So why is the Salt & Pepper Shaker worth
$100,000?
As an adult faced with his own mortality, Randy looks back to that event with
a unique perspective. His whole family including his parents were so taken
back by their "micro-interaction" with Disney, that they appreciated the
institution on "a whole other level" to use his own words. By Randy's
calculations, over the years his family has enthusiastically spent over $100,000
with Disney brand over the years and they never forgot the symbolic importance
of that one specific interaction. In recent years as a consultant, Randy
would often ask Disney executives this question:
"If I sent a child into one of your stores with a broken salt and pepper
shaker today, would your policies allow your workers to be kind enough to
replace it?"
Randy says, "the executives squirm at the question. They know the
answer: Probably not." After Randy passes, his family will still have that
salt and pepper shaker, and more than likely the memorable story that goes with
it. As we continue to look at the holistic relationship between marketing,
products and the experience—it's worth noting that the little things really do
matter. More than we know.