17 Apr 09 Satisfying a Desire

“Consumers spend time and money satisfying a desire for authenticity”
Joseph Pine@TED, 2004

In his presentation at TED, Joesph Pine used coffee to illustrate what consumers want.  Coffee starts life as a bean:

Commodity: (Coffee Beans) Command a meagre $0.02 per cup
Product:(Bag of beans on Supermarket shelf after roasting / refinement / instantisation) $0.15 per cup
Service: (Coffee made for you at a kiosk) $0.50 per cup
Experience: (Buying a cup of coffee so you can satisfy a desire for an authentic experience) $4.00 per cup

I see this as the same reason we choose to visit the movie theatre or shop at Borders.  Both supply commodity products, but they have been packaged into an experience that you can’t get anywhere else.  You might have also noticed how you tropical island holiday ads always feature idyllic white sand beaches and clear blue skies, with a happy couple or family playing on the beach…this could be you. (Ofcourse, being a tropical island, it does tend to rain every so often.)

Another example from my recent Facebook Social Ad Experiments is in selling books.  Another commodity, but a particular genre, author or title delivers emotional value to the fan.  She doesn’t buy a book, she buys the experience that it delivers, and that is exactly how I write my ads, not selling books, but selling the immersive experience that she will have once the book is in her hands.  This works because people using Facebook are not looking to make a purchase.  They are in what I like to call ‘Escapism Mode’ where they seek opportunities to ‘take the red pill’ and go further down the rabbit hole.

Tags: Buyer Behaviour