A few weeks ago, I stumbled upon a booth at a crafts fair where a woman was selling Pocket Hugs.
Tiny little pillows of goodness. I was instantly enamored. I bought 50 of them, enough so I could give one to everyone I saw for the coming weeks.
I left them atop people’s cell phones when they weren’t looking. I shared them with friends with young kids who might need a pocket hug on their way to school. When I gave one to my house cleaner, Nancy, she started to cry.
Why is this itty bitty piece of fabric so enchanting? I think I know.
We are living in a time of such rapid change — social change, climate change, political change — that we feel unmoored. Even if the change is welcome, it’s coming fast (and the people resisting change most are screaming on the Internet about it 24/7).
It’s like a daily mugging of our nervous systems.
A hug is the opposite of this onslaught. It’s tender and personal and, when performed correctly, takes its time. A pocket hug takes the extra time of hand stitching so it becomes portable love.
So, this got me to thinking.
How can we incorporate this into our workplaces? Into the work we do for our clients?
I’m not advocating for hugging it out in conference rooms. I’m wondering how we can surprise and delight people with small things they didn’t expect or know they needed. Instead of building the biggest glitziest campaigns, what if we went full-blown analog, looking for the most human gestures we could do on behalf of our teammates or customers.
Here’s what I mean.
I’ve been the recipient of this kind of “corporate humanity” only a few times in my life. But you better believe I remember each occasion vividly.
The first was shortly after the company Task Rabbit launched. The notion of “runners” — people who would do a task you posted online — was a revelation at the time. One rainy, cold afternoon I was in my office in Palo Alto and tweeted the following:
I wish Task Rabbit had telepathic runners who knew when you needed chocolate and brought it to you.
Less than an hour later, there was a knock at my office door. When I opened it, a young man was standing there, beneath an umbrella, holding a box of truffles tied with a big red ribbon.
“Are you Kat Gordon?” he asked. I replied yes.
“Task Rabbit wishes you a great day,” he said as he handed me the chocolates.
Even typing this story today — likely 10 years later — makes me smile. Someone from Task Rabbit was watching mentions of their company and took the time to figure out my office address and give me a Publisher’s Clearing House moment. I’ve told that story from conference stages and to hundreds of people over the years. Talk about ROI.
The second example goes even farther back. My son Ben was 3 years old and in his Christmas stocking, Santa had given him a glass snow globe ornament with a penguin inside. He was obsessed with it.
When we were taking the tree down and packing away the ornaments, Ben was giving his favorite ornament a goodbye kiss for the year. It fell from his tiny hands and shattered on our coffee table. His tears could easily have refilled that snow globe.
Desperate, I called Restoration Hardware to see if they might still have this ornament in stock. I was in luck — the Portland, Oregon store had it! When I called to order it, I told the salesclerk our situation.
That sweet woman, when packing up our ornament, took a Sharpie pen and wrote in big letters on the side of the box: FROM THE NORTH POLE!
I still remember spotting her hand-written message on the side of the box on our front stoop as Ben and I pulled into the driveway, coming home from preschool.
“Santa sent you another penguin ornament!!!!”
Once again, I get emotional remembering this moment. Because someone cared enough to deviate from the script — from the expected marketing playbook — to see me. To really see me. It felt like a hug.
Until next time, remember that culture is the new creativity.
Great piece, Kat. Just great.
Love this. I bought a slew of "Air Hug" pins off of etsy during the Pandemic and shared them with friends, neighbors, and co-collaborator alike. Everyone needed air hugs at that time. If you would like one, Kat. Will mail one to you!