When Generic Gifts No Longer Cut It.
Imagine that you are at the farewell party of your colleague. Seventeen individuals carried the convenience-store coffee mug that had the same "Worlds Best" written on it. Then Janet unfolds a photo book about twenty years of office pranks, full of questionable haircuts and handwritten memos of the staff. Better guess my friend, what present is emotionally destroyed over? Customized gifts have emotional impact, which can never be compared with generic gifts. They engage in conveying something in meaning without saying a single word: I know you. The fact that they have been noticed is enough to justify their presence in our highly commodified gifting culture.
My brother in law is an die-hard collector of vinyl records. Couple Pitara His wife commissioned a piece of art last birthday that included covers on his favorite albums in a portrait of Miles Davis. Cost her maybe sixty bucks. He rightly became emotional. I have seen this fellow lift a 400 pound weight without raising an eyebrow, but custom art? Different story entirely.
The magic is hidden in particularities. Anyone can grab flowers. But still flowers in the favorite color of her dead mother, in a vase carved with a saying which they both loved? That moves the gift-giving practices to a level of almost magic.
Children feel special attention such as a concentrated pleasure enhanced into their veins. School supplies are turned into markers of identity by a backpack with their name stitched on it. Then they are having to guard the backpack just like Frodo Baggins with the One Ring. That nineteen other children have the same model is irrelevant—this one writes in permanent letters that it belongs to him.
The use of technology has democratized the concept of customization in manners that were unimaginable by the previous generation. Your grandmother required an exclusive store and three weeks lead time of monogrammed handkerchiefs. You? Get socks with the scolding face of your dog at 2 AM as she stares at the reality television. They arrive by Thursday.
However, this is where human beings come in and mess it up; mistaking personalization with careless name-stamping. BRIAN on a generic water bottle is the least amount of effort you can put in. On the other hand, making some sort of a family cookbook of recipes that are made by his family members that he lost? It is working with different wavelength.
Firms fail miserably when it comes to real customization. Another branded stress ball is transactional even to the point of vaguely insulting. Nonetheless, management that recognizes the efforts of individuals by creating personalized rewards such as leather portfolios with project milestones engraved, patents framed, personalized plaques commemorating their particular accomplishments, the staff members are suddenly made to feel that they are truly appreciated more than the numbers of projects and patents they generate.
The elderly beneficiaries usually state that they do not require anything, which technically holds water. But serve Grandma a quilt of baby clothes of her grandchildren? Defenses of watches are less solid than cookies. These objects revive memories in a almost magical way making cloth and thread memory machines.
Quality is a 100 times better than flash. The use of cheap materials that convey the message of last-minute panic purchase discredits the whole idea of personalization. Be more selective of pre-made, well-done items, and then do a little customizing to show that real thought was actually put in.
The difference between easily forgotten and unforgettable can be made or broken with this single decision: did you think about them when making this decision, or just cross off gift on you to-do list sheet?
Individuals lose gifts in a matter of weeks. They never forget the way you made them feel. Customized presents take a shortcut to the emotional realm rather than going through the process of rational assessment where price does not matter and meaning is the most important thing.