TL;DR Your user doesn’t care about you, they care about the experience when they interact with your product or service. Empathy is key to acquiring and retaining customers.
Warning: Spoiler Alerts for Arthur Christmas ahead (it is recommended that you watch Arthur Christmas at least once before reading).
It’s that time of year again, and to get into the spirit I’m watching Christmas movies with my family…namely for my son (even though he’s not old enough to understand who Santa is yet).
I’ve watched Arthur Christmas numerous times (thank you Netflix), it’s one of those Christmas movies that I watch leading up to silly season (honestly my son is obsessed with watching Finding Nemo and Dory right now…I just wanted to watch something different for a change).
It’s modern-day take on Christmas, but from the Claus family business of being Santa, essentially the BAU (Business as usual) of Christmas. Santa is a symbol and a birth-rite (much like the Phantom or Batman — anyone can wear the suit if deemed worthy). Malcolm currently takes up the mantle of being Santa and is often referred to the guy in the suit. It’s his 70th mission, which traditionally means that it is his last. Unfortunately, he is much like the out of touch Board-level executives that have been at the top so long, he’s forgotten what it means to be Santa ~ he hasn’t interacted with a customer in decades. He’s by no means the antagonist, but he’s no hero. To quote Harvey Dent in Nolan’s The Dark Knight — You either become the hero or live long enough to be the villain (not as extreme as this case here but you see where I’m going…)
Malcolm has two sons, Steve and Arthur. Steve is the brains of the operation. He is the technical strategist, all signs point to him being the next Santa. I mean the guy is a techno-savvy wizard and the elves look to him for leadership and logistics. Steve represents the modern day CTO or your Technical co-founder in many respects. He leads his SWAT/Marine type teams of elves from the control room (echoing NASA, Seal-team style operations). Steve. Gets. Sh*t. Done.
Then you have Arthur, who is painted as the oddball/fish-out-of-water. He’s been transferred a few times from different departments and never really found his place in the whole ‘Operation Christmas’ scene. However, he’s the one that has invested in getting to know his customers…the children expecting to receive gifts from Santa. He is the one responding to letters, listening to customer questions (often having to sell the magic of Christmas in this modern day), and can often recall the unique details from the children’s letters. His love and enthusiasm for Christmas is unwavering, so much so that he often places misguided high-esteem in his father Malcolm (who is out of touch with his fan-base).
The plot is driven by the fact that one child has been missed during the whole ‘Operation Christmas’ (Oh the humanity!). We learn that Steve still thinks it is a success, based on his fancy-techno charts to justify not delivering this one gift (remind you of any Project managers or CTO’s…?). This is also confounded by the fact that current Santa (Malcolm) is oblivious of how little value he is adding that he decides to stay on another year, abolishing the aspirations of Steve who is ‘next-in-line’ to be Santa. In the midst of all this, Arthur is worrying that Christmas is ruined for this child who is unlikely to receive her gift from Santa. Tormented by this he seeks help from his grandfather (who was also Santa back in his day ~ old school sled and all — Not the Starship enterprise style S1 that you encounter at the beginning of the story). It is later revealed that he has his own selfish agenda to prove Malcolm and Steve that he can still be Santa (old-school style) and never really cared about getting the child her missing present.
The only person right now in the story who is putting themselves in the customer’s shoes is Arthur. He is backed up by Byrony, an elf who claims she can wrap any present with just three pieces of tape. Byrony represents the moral compass for Arthur and makes him realise that his father Malcolm is out-of-touch with what it means to be Santa. She is also the ‘rock-star/ninja developer’ — she can execute and deliver quality in a rapid manner (I mean did you see her wrapping skills on that bike while it is ridden by Arthur!?).
The story progresses to a point where all Claus’s reach the child’s house to deliver the would-be missed present. There is conflict regarding who should be the one putting the gift under the tree. Old habits die hard, Arthur insists that Malcolm puts the present under the tree (blinded by tradition), even though he has done all the hard work leading to this point. Steve realises he’s not so good with kids and insists he is happy in the control room giving orders and coming up all the fancy ideas. Malcolm realises how out of touch he is and insists on Arthur delivering the present.
In an ethereal moment of clarity, Arthur realises that it doesn’t matter which member of the Claus family claims the title of Santa. The child is never meant to see Santa, but having the gift delivered by the Claus’s that keeps the mystery…dare I say the legend of Santa alive, ergo Christmas Spirit is renewed not only for the child but also within the Claus family. The end, Merry days.
So what can we learn from this modern day Christmas tale?
- Empathy is key to customer retention and acquisition
- The customer cares about the experience when interacting with your product or service
- There is a basic expectation (that is usually high) that you are obligated to meet to maintain a relationship with your customer
- It’s not about you…it’s about how your customer perceives your the product or service (aka your brand)
If you enjoyed reading this as I had as much fun writing it claps are welcome (as well as feedback on this piece).
Do you have any other insights? If so I’d love to hear your responses.
