Every original Curio property shared three things: remarkable character, a destination in itself, world-class food. The people most likely to seek that out were the curious ones.
So we went looking for curiosity itself, and found it: DRD4-7R, the gene researchers call the Curious Gene, present in roughly 20 percent of people. The other 80 percent were still candidates to discover Curio. They just needed the right invitation.
Out of that knowledge came a rally cry: The Customer Is Why. Not a tagline, but a behavior shift and a belief system.
We led a keynote at Kohl’s to set the tone and name the real work ahead: resilience had gotten Kohl’s this far, but resilience alone would not be enough. The organization needed to build its courage muscle to lead change instead of just enduring it.
Belief needed proof, so Courageous built a system to carry the rally cry into daily life. Why Stories opened every leadership meeting. Rituals like meeting cadence and the monthly book club made the customer a habit, not a slogan. Bigger moments, CustomerCon, the Hall of Customer, rally cry swag, gave people something to see, touch, and believe in. Every touchpoint moved the organization from awareness to belief to action.
“For years we tried to be a better version of what people already expected from a casino. Funner gave us permission to stop playing that game. It wasn’t a campaign we launched and moved past. It’s how we show up with every guest, every day, ten years later.”
