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.

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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.

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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?

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