Want to turn everyday moments into unforgettable experiences? This one small idea “Breaking The Script” is how you build lasting loyalty and stand out in a sea of sameness

In today’s email

• Discover why small surprises can create massive loyalty.

• Learn how to design "wow" moments without a big budget.

• See real-life examples of brands breaking the script to stand out.

_{Want to design better for your customer or employee, want to move fast when it comes to designing product solutions that are human centric then The People Product OS digital deck is perfect for you. All my ticks and tricks I’ve picked up when designing product and experiences for the likes of Dyson, HSBC, GSK}

Power of the popsicle

At first peek, the Magic Castle Hotel in Los Angeles looks like it stumbled out of the 1970s. No marble fountains or crystal chandeliers instead its just a humble hotel with a powerful secret weapon, The Popsicle Hotline.

By the pool sit a bright red phone that would make London telephone boxes jealous. One ring, and like magic, a butler appears wielding a silver platter of frozen popsicles, yours for the taking. this cheap yet brilliant hotline burns itself into your memory.

The Popsicle Hotline proves you don't need deep pockets or fancy frills to craft jaw dropping moments. It's about cooking up clever little micro experience that make you stop and smile.

This tiny micro experience helped this modest hotel leapfrog over luxury giants like the Ritz Carlton on TripAdvisor.

Why? Because it shatters expectations and breaks the script of BAU expectation

Most pool service blends into the background like beige wallpaper. But a red batphone that summons ice lollies? That's a tale worth telling to as many different people as possible

This isn't just about frozen treats on demand. It's about sprinkling unexpected delight into the everyday.

The Magic Castle doubles down with more surprises free snacks, laundry magic, and a treasure trove of board games. For families watching their pennies, these touches feel like pure gold.

This breaking the script of BAU is simlair to when youre at the movies and the actor for a split second breaks the forth wall and address you the audience.

It unexpected, you feel seen its add something unique to the movie and you come away often rating the movie a little higher because - Deadpool, Fight Club, American Psycho are all great example.

But how is it these moment be it the popsicle line, or the breaking of the forth wall stand out, well its due to some tricky psychology

That if done right will turn your customer/Employee experience from okay to awesome

Tricky trio for designing micro experiences

Why do some experiences stick in our minds more than others?

Well it down to the tricky trio of the Oddball Effect, Peak End Theory and Silence

Oddball Effect

First is the Oddball effect which play on the fact humans are wired to notice the unexpected.

This effect happens when a person discovery something unexpected or novel for the first time, the brain like a moth to the light doubles down and zoom in its focus to process it.

Because the experience is unexpected and break the script of routine and repetitiveness of day to day the brain gives way more attention to it, and in doing so changes the perception of time and slows it right down.

Peak End Theory

Second, Daniel Kahneman’s Peak-End Rule shows that people judge an experience based on its high point and how it ends. A single extraordinary moment can overshadow everything else and leave a lasting impression (Good and bad)

Salience

Third is Salience this is ultimately all about how much something stands out in contrast to what going on around it, think a pink cow surround by lots of normal black and white cows the pink one is way more noticeable. This salience grab our attention because they are different, novel, or emotionally charged.

Together this tricky trio shows why thoughtful micro experiences, like a free popsicle or an actor addressing the camera can become etched in our memories and inspire loyalty.

• My friend Natalie three years on still talks about a free desert she was given one Christmas eve at our regular Christmas get together and Rudy’s

• Pret A Manger encourages its employees to give away random drinks and snacks to lucky customers (it really does pay to be nice).

• Zappos, the online shoe store, allows customers to return their shoes if they're not happy within 30 days... no matter how many miles are run in them.

Threading these little unexpected micro experiences into a customer or employee journey doesn't need blockbuster budgets it can be as little as a handwritten note or a little hidden discount or a service that breaks the customer BAU routine and turns it into a special moment that makes them think wow.

Moments Over Perfection - You Can't Fix Everything

When we zoom in on the employee experience, tight budgets might limit our grand plans, but we can still nail those heartfelt MOOs (Moments of Opportunity).

a day-one welcome pack that screams "we see you" stuffed with goodies that match your new hire's passions. Or when a leader hangs up their boots and leave the business imagine a heartfelt note from someone whose career path they paved.

Here's wild moment… we're sitting on goldmines of human data in our HCMS system that would allow up to create these micro experiences (hello, birthdays, work anniversary) yet most organisations just dont use it in the right way

• Netflix dress up their meeting rooms with nods to their blockbuster shows - imagine glancing up during your morning catch up to spot The Queen's Gambit playing chess on your ceiling.

• The London Underground sprinkles daily wisdom across their stations. Think it's just words on a wall? The social media buzz tells a different story, with snapshots flooding feeds faster than a bullet train.

• Back at a tech giant I worked with, we cooked up a 'win wall' in reception. It became a daily celebration spot where victories big and small shared the spotlight - from taming tricky customers to dodging the office cake temptation, right up to ringing the cancer-free bell (proof that a simple board can become magic when you give it meaning and soul).

The trick is to not try and fix the world, just amplify those mighty micro experiences

By zeroing in on these micro experiences, we can transform workplaces and the customer experience from meh to marvellous.

Imagine an employee logs their maternity leave on the system and wham!

up pops a message: "Buckle up, your next big adventure's about to get wild. Let's kickstart your journey."

Then like magic, a new parent survival kit lands on their desk kitted out with everything from nappies to Netflix, pampering vouchers to peace of mind essentials. That's not just a gesture it's a game-changer its designed to break the script and built on empathy and compassion

Back when I was directing at a consultancy, the pitch team came knocking asking how they turn their pitching into a experience I remember saying

"You're not losing because you're rubbish - you're losing because you're forgettable."

Think about it I said, clients sit through pitch after pitch, presentation after presentation. They all blur into same old same soup. So I worked with them to design a six concepts on how to turn pitching into micro experiences that would stick. One was called Chocolate Delight

Clients would received a mysterious locked boxes, a dash of intrigue, and by pitch's end, every client had crafted their own signature hot chocolate. Not just any pitch meeting a memory they could taste. We didn't just talk experience design we served it up hot and fresh when they least expected it.

The result?

We cleaned up. Because while everyone else was playing it safe with the 95 powerpoint decks, we broke the script and gave them something unexpected, novel and turn a mundane ordinary moment into some special.

Identifying your “popsicle hotline”

To identify your "Popsicle Hotline," analyse your customers' needs - three tactics you could use from the People Product OS would be

• Empathy Maps,

• JTBD

• Journey Mapping

All of these will allow you one way or another to identify tensions and MOOs.

From there, ideate some ways in which you can exceed expectations in just one touchpoint of the journey in The Insightful Innovator I talk about using creative constraints which forces you to reframe the challenge by adding tension to it.

• What if we had to do this with only £5?

• What if it could only be done with technology?

• What if we could only do it with human connection?

It's this type of constraints in your experience design that will make the micro experience feel human, unique, and magical.

Design and sustain a culture of delight

To create these moments you need to be led by empathy and compassion, so first you need to immerse yourself in others' experiences to understand their challenges.

This means observing and engaging customers and experiencing the customer journey for yourself, feeling the tension of disconnected workflows and pain points.

Where possible using tag-along immersion, live with your customer for the day then jump into ideation, prototyping and experimentation and see what works, what doesn't, what can scale and what wouldn't.

Remember these should be little moments not big grand shows.

Delighting customers and employees consistently requires effort and commitment. To sustain this experience-first approach, it starts with Leadership Buy-In.

Leaders must set the tone for prioritising delight and signal with their participation its importance across the organisation.

Embedding delight into the policies (like mentioned above in the maternity leave example) is a great bold and often great first step when organisations want to be experience-led.

How to find your popsicle by starting small 👀

Take a moment to think about the customer or employee journey in your organisation. Where are the dull, expected moments? What’s one small, thoughtful act you can introduce to break the script and make someone’s day.

If thats too close to home, think about your commute to or from work, find the a micro moment in your journey and ask yourself how could I level this tiny thing up so it becomes a oddball, breaks the script and delights the next customer

Conclusion

These small moments, the popsicles, the handwritten notes, the unexpected gestures these are what people remember. In a world where businesses often blend into the background of "business as usual," breaking the script isn’t just refreshing; it’s necessary.

Creating moments of surprise and delight isn’t about grand gestures or endless budgets. It’s about empathy, creativity, and a willingness to see the world through someone else’s eyes.

These little things can transform ordinary experiences into stories people love to tell. After all its the small, thoughtful moments...the popsicles...that people remember and share