In an age when brands compete not just on products but also on experiences, be it a pop-up concert, a themed hotel stay, or a virtual reality encounter, what makes one of those moments feel deeply special to a consumer?
An extensive series of studies by Michel Tuan Pham, Kravis Professor of Business at Columbia Business School and Jennifer J. Sun, an assistant professor at Yonsei University in Korea, has found an answer.
Drawing on numerous consumer interviews to an AI analysis of millions of online reviews, Pham and Sun distill what consumers mean when they describe something as “special.”
The research arrives at a time when businesses across sectors are grappling with how to stand out in the experience economy. From retail and hospitality to live events and luxury services, companies are under pressure to go beyond customer satisfaction and spark emotional resonance with their audience. Until now, the psychology behind what makes an experience feel exceptional has remained murky and largely anecdotal.
Pham and Sun’s findings reveal that specialness isn’t necessarily about extravagance or luxury. Instead, it comes down to three consistent, actionable, and measurable qualities: uniqueness, meaningfulness, and authenticity.
How the Research Was Done
Pham and Sun approached the idea of specialness with a wide lens. They began with a grounded theory methodology, a technique commonly used in anthropology, to gather and analyze more than 400 open-ended consumer narratives about experiences that felt either genuinely special or unexpectedly disappointing. The goal was to identify recurring patterns across highly diverse situations and perspectives.
From there, the researchers moved into more structured methods. A series of surveys and field studies tested how widely these patterns held. In one study, they interviewed theatergoers immediately after attending a Broadway musical. In another, they compared experience photos posted on Instagram tagged with #special and #good, asking viewers to assess the emotional qualities of the images without any other context. Viewers could reliably distinguish “special” moments by subtle cues in the photos that suggested a uniqueness, meaningfulness, and authenticity of the photographed experience.
To validate their findings at scale, the researchers turned to natural language processing and large language models to analyze 3 million Yelp reviews. These reviews spanned restaurants, amusement parks, souvenir shops, and even churches and were evaluated for semantic markers tied to uniqueness, meaningfulness, and authenticity. Across all platforms and methods, the same three psychological pillars emerged as central to what makes an experience feel special.
This multi-method approach allowed Pham and Sun to see both the nuance and the consistency in how people actually perceive specialness.
What the Researchers Found
Pham and Sun’s analysis revealed that when consumers describe an experience as “special,” they almost always point to one or more of three underlying psychological drivers: uniqueness, meaningfulness, and authenticity.
The first, uniqueness, might seem intuitive. But the research uncovered that most special experiences were actually not objectively rare. Instead, they felt distinctive to the individual because they were novel to them, emotionally surprising, or impossible to recreate. A first horseback ride or a dinner that later gained significance because it marked a final moment with a loved one could be just as unique as a bucket-list vacation. Other contributors to perceived uniqueness included personalization, exclusivity, and the fleeting quality of the experience—what is known as ephemerality.
Meaningfulness, the second pillar, reflects how personally significant an experience feels beyond straightforward enjoyment. One of the most common forms was relational meaningfulness, where the presence of family or close friends deepened the experience’s impact. Other patterns included symbolic meaningfulness, such as proposing on a childhood rooftop; self-affirming meaningfulness, like attending one’s first Pride parade; and transformational meaningfulness, where a person walked away feeling fundamentally changed.
The third driver, authenticity, was less often expressed directly but showed up consistently in how people described their most memorable moments. Authentic experiences felt emotionally real and true to the person having them. This might involve standing close to something culturally important, like a museum exhibit honoring a personal hero. It could also take the form of genuine human warmth.
These three pillars consistently emerged across the hundreds of experiences Pham and Sun analyzed. Often, it was not just one factor but a combination—something new, shared with someone meaningful, and emotionally genuine—that made an experience stand out as truly special.
Why the Research Matters
For marketers, product designers, and experience creators, Pham and Sun’s findings offer a blueprint for crafting moments that resonate on a deeper level. Rather than chasing spectacle or status alone, brands might do better to consider how offerings feel personally significant, novel, and genuine to the people they serve.
Pham emphasizes that specialness isn’t about extravagance but about resonance. Whether it’s a family trip to an amusement park or an unexpectedly warm welcome at a small inn, what matters is how the experience lands emotionally.
As businesses increasingly aim to compete in the experience economy, this research provides a psychological compass for companies to create moments that linger in memory, but also in meaning.
