Stefan
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I am standing in a large hall at a mid sized European airport. My heart is pounding. There is an angry crowd in front of me. Some are frustrated, some are outright angry.
“I know many of you are frustrated.” I start. “Just like you I arrived here excited to start my vacation. Instead, I have been queuing for hours without meaningful progress.” I jump forward and head to the counters. My arms point to the staff who were trying to process people for the past hours with limited success. “But I want you all to see how these guys have tried their hardest to help.”
Four of the 6 staff were not working for Ryanair, the airline we were traveling with, but we’re airport staff. “These four guys here have decided to help out, with no extra value to them. They won’t get extra cash or credit for ensuring we all make our planes.” People start to look at the four employees, noticing that they weren’t wearing Ryanair uniforms. “These folks have been called upon and they decided to answer that call because they knew it is the right thing to do.”
“And today they are going to get something back.” Their heads peek up from behind their counters as I take out my wallet. “This morning I picked up 400 Euros in cash for my vacation. But I realize now this money needs to be rewarded right now.” I take out four 50 Euro bills. “Every one of these individuals who have been working so hard is getting 50 Euros from me personally Today for coming into a tricky situation and helping out.” People’s faces lighten up. I walk to the Ryanair employees. “And for these two, who have been put in an unmanageable situation by their employer, I will give them 100 Euros each. As a bonus for their hard work.” People start applauding. “Because as many of you have already said: this mess isn’t their fault. It is Ryanair’s”. People become extatic.
“As consumers” I continue “we have little power. But one power, which in some way is the greatest of all powers, is ours. And that power is whether or not to buy a product. And we all need to realize that what we have experienced this morning – utter chaos as we were trying to consume what we paid for – is the product.” People started to nod to each other. “Just like you can’t divorce a handle from a cup you bought, you can’t exclude the experiences which enable a service from the product. They all belong together. In other words: your experience is the product. And if you don’t like the experience, don’t buy the product.”
But this isn’t the way it went. There was no speech, no cash handouts, and no happy end for those 6 employees. There was no deeper insights or head nodding or applause. There was just frustration. Some was directed toward Ryanair, some toward the employees who were totally understaffed to adequately handle the volume of people and tight flight schedule, and some toward fellow travelers.
It was a product you just don’t want to consume. It is bad for you, stressful, and maybe even harmful in terms of what it does to people’s emotions. It was the equivalent of road rage in the queue at the check-in counter. While I don’t have the courage to address these situations in real time, I’ll address it here and tell you: the experience is the product. And if the experience sucks, it is the product owner’s responsibility. And as a consumer we can (almost) always decide not to buy.
