David Ogilvy invented a trick in 1952

The art of inseparably marrying a product name with a product to manufacture consumer loyalty

The trick was so damn effective, it birthed a billion dollar industry called 'branding.'

A 2-min thread on the 8 best insights from his book:

Sentence Framing

Pay attention to how you frame your sentences.

Make them forget about the negative thing by reiterating something which might be optimistic.

We have a more substantial bias for things that sound positive.

Eg: 10% chance of loss vs 90% chance of profit

Loss Aversion Theory

If we get a negative psychological impact from losing something, it is about twice as strong as the positive impact of gaining the same thing.

Eg: Gaining $99 would make us happy

Losing $99 would make us 2x unhappy

Goal Gradient Hypothesis

Humans are hungry for instant gratification.

People speed up their behaviour when the reward is near.

So, reward people for the progress they make.

Eg: Don't aim to read 48 books in a year; make a goal of reading one chapter daily.

Mental Anchoring

It's the phenomenon where our decisions are heavily based on the first piece of information we receive, regardless of whether it is relevant.

Make the first piece of information powerful.

Example:

Defaulting:

People tend to stay with the default settings.

Eg:

Case 1: When people had to opt out of being organ donors: very few people opted out

Case 2: When people had to opt in: very few people opted in.

Simply changing the default made a drastic difference.

Scarcity:

Companies make limited edition products to drive sales even though they can make the same product in abundance.

Scarcity creates an urgency to buy the product.

Example: Limited Edition Coke

Pain of Paying

Thinking about money can make you experience a kind of physical pain that stops you from spending.

eg: Removing the currency dollar in the menu increased the average spending by 12%

Ikea Effect

(He didn’t call it this but this is what most marketers refer to it as)

When you sell something where the person has to assemble the item, we put higher value to the things we help create.

Eg: Subway Sandwhich is where the customer creates their sub themselves.

Summary:

1. Loss Aversion Theory
2. Sentence Framing
3. Goal Gradient Hypotheses
4. Mental Anchoring
5. Defaulting
6. Scarcity
7. Pain of Paying
8. Ikea Effect

And don’t forget:

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