Familiarity breeds contentment, not contempt. The 'Mere Exposure Effect' shows that repeated exposure to a stimulus makes us feel more positive towards it. This explains why consistent campaigns outperform those that frequently change creative. The performance gap between effective, consistent campaigns and inconsistent ones widens dramatically over time, creating a compounding advantage.
Social proof is more powerful when consumers believe they've discovered a trend themselves. Aperol’s distinctive color and glassware make it highly visible in a bar, creating the illusion of popularity. Similarly, J2O's slightly-too-large bottle forced pubs to serve it alongside the glass, turning a private choice into a public statement and fueling its growth.
The 'Pratfall Effect' suggests showing a flaw can make a person or brand more appealing. However, this has a major caveat: it only works from a position of strength. A competent brand like Guinness can highlight its slow pour time as a virtue. An incompetent brand admitting a flaw simply confirms its incompetence, making the situation worse.
The Von Restorff effect states that distinctive items are more memorable. Liquid Death analyzed the water category's conventions (alpine scenes, plastic bottles, serene branding) and broke them all with heavy metal imagery in a can. For a small brand with a minimal budget, this calculated violation of norms created massive distinctiveness and supercharged its impact.
Perfection is often perceived as 'too good to be true', leading consumers to suspect that negative reviews have been removed. A Northwestern University study of 100,000 reviews found a tipping point, typically between 4.2 and 4.8 stars for FMCG products, after which purchase likelihood begins to decline. An imperfect score is more believable.
Consumers determine a fair price relatively, not absolutely, by comparing a product to others in its category. By launching in a tall, thin 250ml can instead of a standard 330ml can, Red Bull prevented a direct price comparison with cheaper sodas like Coke. This change in the 'mental comparison set' allowed it to establish a new, premium price point.
Using specific, non-round numbers in claims makes them seem more accurate and credible. Consumers subconsciously associate precision with expertise, whereas round numbers can feel like casual estimations. This effect was demonstrated in a study where a deodorant claim of '47% reduction' was rated as more credible than '50% reduction'.
When faced with the complex task of judging a product's quality, consumers often substitute a simpler question: how much effort went into making it? By highlighting the 5,127 prototypes, James Dyson masterfully signals immense effort. This 'labor illusion' imbues the final product with a perception of higher quality and justifies its premium price, even though the effort itself is irrelevant to performance.