How Do You Define Extraordinary?
The dictionary seems like a good place to start. Merriam-Webster defines extraordinary as 1 a: going beyond what is usual, regular, or customary
Google. Nike+. iPhone. Facebook. These things aren’t extraordinary simply because they are “out of the ordinary.” Rather they make life easier. They help us connect. They change the way we behave, think and experience the world.
Every year at Critical Mass, we hold a Summer Event to take a break from our daily routines. In all our offices—from Calgary to Toronto to Chicago and London—we take one day out of the year to set aside briefs, wireframes, storyboards and strategies. [Note to clients: rest assured, many hours were spent slaving away on your accounts before Summer Event so no balls would drop during the festivities!] This is the time that we celebrate company successes, bond with co-workers and look forward to the year ahead.
The theme this year was “Extraordinary Experiences.” If you know anything about our brand, that’s what Critical Mass is all about. Through a multitude of activities: relay races, animated skits, pipe cleaner origami and yes, the inevitable karaoke serenade, we explored ways that we can achieve extraordinary in every aspect of our work. Our ideas, our client interaction, our customer understanding, our relationship with each other.
A few moments captured…
Calgary
London
Chicago
Toronto
The Elements of Extraordinary
During one exercise, each employee was tasked to bring in a specific tangible example of “extraordinary.” It could be an actual thing, a picture, a recording or an artifact. The instructions read: “Remember, ‘extraordinary’ can be as big as a moon landing but it can also be as small as a Pez dispenser. It can be a product, a service, a process, an event, a gesture, anything. It can be one thing or it can be a stream of things.”
With such a liberating call-to-arms, it’s no surprise that the “extraordinary” items brought in spanned the gamut from:
- tangible (a perfect piece of driftwood) to intangible (Cubs fan loyalty)
- ethereal (faith in God) to mundane (a lego)
- inspiring (the first Atari game, joysticks and all) to just downright silly (Season 1 and 2 of Dallas)
After everyone took a turn at “Show and Tell,” we regrouped to share our findings and see if we could identify common threads among all these disparate objects and ideas. Surprisingly, it was relatively easy. We boiled “extraordinary” down into 4 key tenets.
1. Simplicity. When relegated to one single item that represents extraordinary, 9 out of 10 people chose “ordinary” objects, be it a photo, a golf ball, a book. What made the items extraordinary was the context, the meaning infused into the object based on a memory, a story, a game. While bells and whistles are nice, the most meaningful experiences (online or off) are those that strike a chord with your audience because they’re simple, basic, essential.
2. Value. To be extraordinary, you’ve got to deliver value. Shazam helps you identify that elusive song, view the video and buy it on iTunes, on the spot. The Wii is infinitely entertaining, and you can lose weight to boot. Whether functional or fun-inducing, extraordinary means providing something useful that draws people in, and keeps them coming back for more.
3. Unexpected. An extraordinary experience is unexpected. It could be something groundbreaking, that’s never been done before. Or better yet, it’s something you know, or think you know—only to find that it’s different, better than you expected. Like a great customer service experience or an unexpected pat on the back for a job well done. It’s the element of surprise or delight that creates a lasting impression.
4. Emotional. Despite all the talk about users and target audiences, at the end of the day, we’re all people—driven by emotions (cue the Don Draper reference). If an experience makes you laugh, makes your job easier, makes it easier to stay in touch, makes you as obsessed with your iPhone as I am with mine—now that’s extraordinary.
So that’s how we define “extraordinary.” How about you?
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I’d define it as doing more the essential. What the article picks up on though is that is in the majority of cases people just want the simple things doing well.
The word extraordinary is subjective. It is up to the person to consider a thing or experience extraordinary depending on how it affects him or her.
Thanks for the comments. Totally agree with you about extraordinary being subjective. It was amazing how different the objects were that people brought in, but what inspired the post was the fact that such clear common threads that emerged!
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