COLUMNIST – CUSTOMER SERVICE
Thinking outside the box
IAN HUGHESopened a little black container . . . and found inspiration.
In these days of financial doom was unfamiliar, reminiscent of a
and gloom, I thought I would business card-sized calculator,
The contents
You have to wrestle it back, as
the card creates a multi-sensory
bring you a parable of a black although it was too thin for that.
box that arrived just before the My curiosity peaked as I looked
lifted my heart
experience of touch and sight.
The holder cannot fail but notice
New Year. The contents of the into the pouch.
and filled me
that the owner of the card is not
box lifted my heart and filled It was a card. a normal person; they are as
me with joy. But what kind?
with joy.
distinctively different as the
The box, delivered by I removed the card from the card itself.
courier, was inside a yellow DHL pouch. It was a new American The card is Mine.
bag. This immediately sparked Express Centurion card in matt It is an extension of me.
my curiosity, so I ripped through black, possibly the most
the yellow skin and found a beautiful credit card I have ever Think differently
perfect black cardboard cube seen in my life. In a world filled with cost-cutting
inside. The only thing on the Embossed on the card was and streamlining, this is a
outside of this matt box was my name. It was mine and the company that has dared to think
my name. pouch was a holder for it. differently about how to get
To open the box I had to My curiosity was now people to use this card.
tear off a strip on the front and running rampant, I hadn’t asked Remember, wallet real estate is
lift the top. As I did so, the sides for a new card; my card wasn’t one of the most precious things
of the box were engineered to lost or stolen. This had just in financial services.
also fall away, to reveal a box shown up on my desk. This card is not only a work
within a box. At this point I I pulled out the drawer to of art, it doesn’t bend or break,
thought maybe somebody had discover a letter and a beautiful it has a character of its own and,
sent me a very expensive watch, booklet. The letter welcomed me did I mention, it’s heavy?
it was that quality of to my new Centurion card and That means that you have
presentation box, although pointed out that this wasn’t any to move other things out of your
made out of cardboard. In order card. This was a hand-embossed wallet to make way for it. In fact
to get into this box you had to titanium American Express card, two other cards got moved. The
remove the top. custom engineered for me. only personal credit cards I now
The contents where all It’s not a piece of plastic, carry are this Amex and a card
black and the only thing visible you could send this card to the that has a nice picture of my
where two drawers at the moon, or potentially use it to family on it.
bottom of the front of the box stop bullets. By appealing to three
and a small, rectangular, suede senses –touch, sight and self
leather pouch held upright on a Create an experience –Amex has created something
cleverly-engineered piece of My point in all of this is not to that cuts straight through all the
cardboard. This box had been tell you that I have the card, but paradigms that normal card
built to hold whatever was in to try to draw you through the companies worry about.
that pouch. Custom experience of owning this card. So, ask yourself this
manufactured with great We are in the middle of the question: how could you do
passion and love. worst credit crunch ever, with the same for your product or
And everything was black. banks tumbling like a house of service?
As I carefully lifted the cards and here is a financial How could you create
suede holder, I realised it had services company bold enough something for your best
one word embossed on it, not in and brave enough to create an customers that is not a little
gold, but simply pressure experience. different but which is
stamped into the suede. The American Express has dramatically different?
word: transcended credit, transcended
plastic and arrived in a new
Mine place that I can only truly
describe as Experiential Finance.
What the hell was inside the Can you imagine what
Ian Hughes, managing director,
pouch and whose was it? happens when you hand over Consumer Intelligence. Email:
It was heavy, a weight that this card to pay for something?
ianh@consumerintel.com
50 January/February 2009 www.dmi-news.com
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