"We'd be £11m richer."

Take a look at this ad.

It's jam-packed with behavioural science principles designed to persuade Londoners to use the product.

Let's break it down.

"10 minutes free daily."

We're drawn to free things. The difference between a chocolate that costs 1 cent and 0 cents is dramatic. The free version increases purchase intention by 69% (*Ariely, 2008).

"£11 million richer by now"

Rory Sutherland said, "The meaning and significance attached to something is in direct proportion to the expense with which it is communicated."

Sharing that Forest has sacrificed £11 million to deliver their offer will make potential buyers value the offer more—that's costly signalling.

"51,889,782 free minutes"

Ads with specific numbers are deemed 10% more accurate and believable (Schindler and Yalch 2006).

"Forest's goal is to make zero emission travel affordable."

Luxury fashion brands who agree to donate to charity on your behalf if you buy generate more sales (Strahilevitz, 1998). It's due to the Noble Edge Effect.

When companies demonstrate genuine social responsibility, consumers reward them with increased respect, which in turn leads to greater profits.

"Here's 100 free mins"

The bike beneath the ad isn't available for use. When users try to scan the code, they'll see this.

We love variable rewards like this.

Shen (2015) found that participants were 62% more likely to complete a task if the rewards they received were variable and unpredictable.

Surprises like this from Forest will make potential customers more likely to sign up.

---

It's a cracking ad, and it's given me an idea.

In a few weeks, I'll watch 300 TV ads from the past twenty years, review each one, and determine how many use behavioural science principles like this.

That'll be a future episode of Nudge, out on December 2nd.

To make sure you don't miss it, subscribe to Nudge wherever you get your pods.

Cheers,

Phill

*Yep, I'm aware that Ariely's a risky researcher to cite these days. Watch this to learn why. But this experiment hasn't been questioned, and the findings are backed by dozens of other studies.

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