The 6 Essential Ingredients of a Remarkable Gift

This is post was originally published October 26, 2011 on the now-defunct Warms blog. I thought it was worth re-sharing for this time of year.

Warms [was] a platform that bridges the surprise and substance delivered by physical gift products with the emotion and versatility offered by digital videos and e-gifts. In doing so we [paid] very close attention to the reveal because it is through a layered unveiling that we can deliver a richer and more memorable gift experience. It’s perhaps not as obvious or easy as it sounds.

Greeting card companies, florists, e-card senders, and even chocolatiers all fall short. They may make nice/funny/tasty/beautiful products but they deliver shallow, one-dimensional experiences. A remarkable gift encompasses way more than just the object – and of course remarkability is always judged by the receiver.

Here are the six essential ingredients of a great gift…

1. Anticipation – The reason kids love Christmas and you love summer vacation or a hot concert has more to do with the lead up than the event itself. There’s pleasure derived from the hope and expectation of something great but not-yet-defined. Apple has pretty much perfected the harnessing of anticipation, letting its fans work themselves into a frenzy of speculation around new product launches. Although for simple gift-giving it’s not always appropriate or possible to tip off the receiver that something’s coming, it’s a dazzling tool to use when you can.
2. Mystery – Closely related to the point above, Mystery employs the very powerful human trait of curiosity. As LOST co-creator J.J. Abrams explained in his TED Talk The Mystery Box, mystery is the catalyst of imagination. It represents infinite possibilities and potential. As charming as flowers can be they deliver no mystery; you know immediately what they are and you know that they’ll perish.
3. Surprise – Surprise is the gap between expectations and reality. It’s the currency of good joke-tellers and it’s the “aha!” attention-getting moment savvy marketers strive for. From Oprah’s “You get a car!” to Halloween’s “Boo!” surprise is often a visceral reaction. For gifts the trick is to deliver something simultaneously unexpected and positive. A birthday card may be positive but it is hardly unexpected. Find something that seems out of context.
4. Emotion – When it comes to delivering emotion it’s the old-fashioned ways that win out: in-person, by phone, or with a hand-written note. The giver’s personality must come through and the message must itself be personal. Modern tools like email, e-cards, and wall posts are all terrible substitutes. Video will never replace a face-to-face message but it may prove to be the next best thing.
5. Reward – The reality is that as sweet as the gesture of a gift may be, getting some financial benefit out of it makes it even sweeter. We like when cash falls out of a card, when Valentines includes a delicious dinner, or when a gift basket includes our favorite coffee. We like even more when we can choose our own reward, as is the case with gift codes or registry redemptions.
6. Authenticity – The last essential gift ingredient is simply that the gift be genuine. Tangibility means a lot here. But even more than that the most important thing to remember with gifts is to show you care and to put a little thought into both what and how you give.