Expense Boosts Value

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This quote summarises one of the most overlooked marketing lessons.

This idea (that expense boosts value) is known as costly signalling.

I did a silly, and simple, experiment² to prove it.

I showed 200 random Brits an ad for my podcast.

50% saw only the ad.

50% saw the ad superimposed onto a billboard.

The billboard signaled expense, and it made Brits 61% more likely to listen.

But advertisers can push this further.

Rather than just creating a billboard, they can sink more expense into the billboard with novel designs.

That novelty will showcase a higher expense, and boost value even more.

1. Netflix

How should Netflix advertise 1,000 new shows?

They could state it in a simple building-side billboard.

Or they could list as many shows as possible on a giant sprawling mural.

2. Dracula

At a 2021 NYE party, I saw an ad for a new BBC show.

The billboard had dozens of knives stabbed into the poster.

A light lit the knives at night, casting a Dracula-shaped shadow across the ad.

3. Specsavers

"Should have gone to Specsavers" is the humorous slogan for this well-known optician.

Their ads play on the idea that those with dodgy eyesight need a checkup

But, rather than simply stating their slogan, they use costly, mistake-ridden billboards to emphasise their slogan.

We value billboards more when we see the expense taken to create them.

Netflix, Dracula and Specsavers applied this brilliantly.

Do you know of any others who do the same?

Hit reply to let me know what you thought of this one — Phill​