Image from Lovemarks: Saatchi & Saatchi Designers’ Edition. Original tattoo by Adam Craft (Illicit), design by Kane McPherson and Lorenz Perry.
I had a wonderful experience recently. I was invited to a wedding. With my kids in the prime marriage zone you might not think this surprising, but this invitation was something out of the ordinary. The form of the invitation was a visitor’s pass to a conference aka The Wedding. As an effort by the couple to get past some of the formality of wedding celebrations, it was smart, but something else entirely took it into another emotional dimension for me. The once-upon-a-time dimension.
The invitation came from Suzan and Piet Hein, who first met on the occasion of one of my presentations in Amsterdam three years ago (in fact, it was on 7 April 2006 and they even recall that the presentation was about sisomo and Lovemarks!). It turns out they were both journalists and had been sent by their magazines to interview me. First Suzan, then Piet. While they were waiting for me to turn up they started talking and, by the time the interviews were done, had agreed to meet again. This time for a date. The story then transforms into a fairy tale. They fell madly in love and three years later here we are – with a wedding. I like to think of it as a true Lovemarks wedding. Emotional, authentic, surprising. All hallmarks of the Attraction Economy.
Who wouldn’t respond to this couple and their beautiful Lovemarks story? By inviting me to share in it, they have let me feel part of their joy with extraordinary generosity. As they said, the chance of my being able to attend was a “long shot”, and unfortunately I’ll be in New Zealand on their big day, but I will certainly be thinking of them and talking about this unexpected experience. Of course, that’s exactly where great stories come from – personal experience spiced with the unexpected and infused with emotion. You can make anyone feel anything. You can entice and intrigue them, invite and entertain, and make them feel at the heart of something important. Well, Suzan and Piet, you have certainly done all that and more for me, a virtual stranger. I can only imagine the love from your friends and family. Be happy.
So if you are in Amsterdam on 16 May and see a very happy couple draped in conference passes, blow them a kiss and give them a wave from me.
