Do the thing nobody asked for.

In 2012, a family came home from a stay at the Ritz-Carlton on Amelia Island, Florida, without their son’s stuffed giraffe, Joshie. The boy couldn’t sleep. His father, Chris Hurn, told him Joshie was just staying on for an extra vacation. Then he called the hotel, and asked if staff could take a photo of the giraffe on a lounge chair so the story would hold up.

The hotel found Joshie and sent him home with a small album. Joshie by the pool. Joshie getting a massage with cucumber slices on his eyes. Joshie driving a golf cart. Joshie in the security room, watching the cameras. Hurn wrote about it online, and the story spread far beyond anyone who had ever stayed there. People still retell it more than a decade later.

What made it a story

Returning a lost toy is good service. It wouldn’t have travelled. What travelled was the gap between what was asked and what was done. The father asked for one photo. The staff gave his son a whole holiday for Joshie, and nobody had to approve a budget or write a brief to do it.

That gap is the story. People don’t retell what a business promised. They retell what it didn’t have to do.

Why most businesses never get one

Ritz-Carlton is known for letting its staff spend money to fix a guest’s problem without asking a manager. The idea is that the person in front of the guest can act right away. Most businesses do the opposite. Every exception needs sign-off, so the moment passes, and the customer gets exactly what was asked for and nothing more.

You don’t need a luxury hotel’s budget to fix this. Joshie’s album was a few photos and some time. What it needed was permission.

Make room for it

–Tell your team, in plain words, that small unrequested extras are allowed and wanted.

–Give them a small amount they can spend or a few minutes they can take without asking.

–When it happens, ask the customer if you can share it, and tell it in their words.

This week, look back through your last month of customer messages for one moment where someone asked for something small. Ask what the Joshie version would have been. Next time, do that version.

These are other brands’ campaigns, not our work.

Be the obvious choice, not another copy.