Luxury is when a person has lavished care into the creation of something that you enjoy. When we buy a handwoven product, we are buying not just the utility of the object but also the many hours that someone has dedicated to creating this for your enjoyment.

At a fancy restaurant where the portions are tiny but look like art, we appreciate the craft and effort that has gone into making this morsel for our 30 seconds of consumption.

At my office canteen there is a vending machine for snacks. It’s a very efficient way to buy food. But when I order food from the small business owner who runs the canteen, she smiles, and remembers that I don’t want ghee on the roti or offers a sweet for free because the combo isn’t available.

I feel seen as a person when I buy from food from her.

I see you

Blinkit is very efficient and allows me to be very inefficient. But despite being a heavy user with multiple deliveries per day there is never a familiar face dropping off the packages. On the other hand, there is a small kirana shop trying to survive on our street, and the owner waves as I walk our dogs and has tried to make friends with them.

I feel seen by this interaction. 

I am now redirecting grocery purchases to this shop where possible – to help support them, and also because I am fed up of the quick delivery people forever riding up the wrong way up the street and on the pavement.

Being seen is a basic biological need. We humans are wired to this – back in the day, not being seen by your tribe would lead to death. October 10th was World Mental Health Day, and it is important to remember that loneliness – which is not being seen at an emotional level – is a contributor to many illnesses.

Automation leads to depersonalization and that leads to empty interactions. The Starbucks barista can be told to customize a note on your coffee, but it is a forced interaction not driven by either party actually “seeing” each other.

What can Maggi and Betty Crocker teach us?

The success of Maggi noodles in India was due to its positioning as a “convenience” food rather than ready-to-eat.  The visuals emphasize the importance of the additional ingredients such as Maggi or cheese…In other words, the customizations are an opportunity for the Maggi chef to “see” the Maggi eater. 

Betty Crocker also provides the means for you to make fail safe cakes but, unlike a store-bought option, this cake allows a human to lavish an hour of their time on the process. A fresh-from the oven home-baked cake is the culinary equivalent of a warm hug.

WPP embraces AI with a $400 million investment – efficient, effective, but emotionless

I was working at Ogilvy Advertising when it was being consolidated into WPP by Sir Martin Sorrell in the 90s. Wire and Plastic Products – which is what WPP stands for – seemed like a very offbeat name at the time. However, as everything gets automated the name is seemingly very prescient.

The press release highlights AKQA’s generative store which it says brings emotion and intuition back into online shopping. I personally don’t think it is possible to have an “emotional experience” without a human being involved. I can have an efficient experience, I can recognize the thoughtfulness of the design, but as a human I cannot be “seen” unless there is a human to see me.  We need validation of the human experience.

Luxury is being seen 

There was a time when furniture, domestic appliances, clothing were luxuries. Mass manufacturing made these accessible to the masses. AI will definitely make newer experiences and products more accessible to a wider group of people. What it cannot do is replace the human need of being seen, of being acknowledged, of having their emotions validated and witnessed.

If it feels that there is an exponential rise in the number of therapists it is because as erstwhile human touchpoints get depersonalized, we are willing to pay for the luxury of a human interaction!

As marketers we should keep this in mind and craft experiences that blend efficiency with the human need to be seen.

This newsletter is handcrafted. It was helped along by a gift of Eleven coffee, cuddles from two dogs, multiple human interruptions, and the interactions and feedback from my readers.

I promise that if you write back your mail will be seen

Have a great weekend.