Daughter and Daddy Holiday Weekend in New York City (Part 1)

January 31st, 2008 | 02:03 pm

So after meeting Heisman winner, Tim Tebow, the day before he won the award in the JFK baggage claim area, we proceeded to our hotel near Rockefeller Center for an early check-in. We then walked down 49th Street to see the sights at Rockefeller Center and get some Two Boots Pizza in the basement of the building. After a few pictures outside, the cold air was just too much for us… so we wandered over to the American Girl place. We had planned to spend quite some time there as I"d booked reservations for Afternoon Tea and the American Girl musical as well.

The Tea was an exercise in “experience choreography.” By that, I mean they did what few businesses do (but really smart and successful ones do)… which is to say, “they thought of everything.” And they made the experience, not necessarily the product or service, the thing that mattered most. The staff had mini-highchair “clip-on” chairs that hooked to each table and were custom-made just for their dolls. Her doll got it"s own mini-teacup and mini-plate, while the American Girl founder"s story was spelled-out right on the back of the menu (apparently she had a very memorable experience 50 years ago with just her mother taking her to New York to see a show and eat at a fancy restaurant – it became the inspiration behind the American Girl Place).

One of the most brilliant ideas was the 50 or so question-slips in a miniature box in the middle of each table. Clearly this was meant to keep conversation moving along and elicit some startling answers. When answering why she picked her particular doll, which doesn"t really look like her at all (Julianna has blond hair and brilliant blue eyes; Molly, her doll, has brown hair, brown eyes and glasses), she said she picked her because she saved her father from going into the War (WWII) and was therefore a hero. Then I became not one of the only six guys in the room, but the only one with tears in his eyes. It was an answer I hadn"t expected at all. My daughter knows that I consider her my hero or guardian angel from 9/11 (she was born only 12 days before it and but for my wife"s prohibition on my travel in her final trimester, I would have been with a dozen colleagues in an important meeting in the first tower on that fateful day). I was a bit shocked to receive this insight into my six-year old"s worldview at the American Girl Afternoon Tea. But if it weren"t for those question-slips, it might not have happened for some time, if at all.

Lastly, to fully appreciate the experience in its totality, I"ll mention what happened in the restrooms (there are plenty more things they do right, but I"m not teaching an MBA course here… just musing a bit). In the restroom, they had a patent-pending “doll hanger” to suspend your doll by as you went to the toilet. When I realized what it was and mumbled under my breathe that, “they"ve thought of everything here,” my daughter commented, “they must really love dolls here, Daddy.” THAT they must, dear. That they must.

I guess it begs the question: does your business think things out to the nth degree like American Girl? If not, it can be a HUGE differentiator. A doll"s a doll in my opinion, but no other dollmakers that I"m aware of offer quite this kind of experience. Perhaps that"s why they contribute such a significant amount to Mattel"s bottom-line each year.