Campaign

Rory I trust you are well acquainted with the discipline known as social marketing? If not please read alan andreason or gerard hastings- would welcome your views

Hi Rory, Do you think that this is an example of consumers copying each other and/or following social norms? i.e. Is it a case of simply snapping up a product as that's "just what you're meant to do" when something's free, and less about re-evaluating its value before deciding that its 'freeness' makes it a preferred choice? For example, Earls notes the informal rules followed by men at the urinals (always leave a urinal between yourself and the next man where possible and always stand at least 1 metre away if queuing!) whilst leaving a tip between 10-15% in a restuarant/cafe that you may never visit again is simply the done thing. Could we just be picking the "Free" product as that's what we're meant to do? It's one of those unspoken laws - if it's free take it. In some cases it may not even matter what it is - think of all the junk you can collect at industry events! This, of course, doesn't always work in the long term, as the countless free newspaper stands that we ignore on the way to work proves, but the Lindt example involves a pricing change and thus offers something new and of interest... Simon http://gregorsspot.blogspot.com/

I agree that you may take the free Kiss just to "do the expected thing". Having said which, the previous part of the experiment had both kinds of chocolate on offer at a vast discount - and you say that snapping up bargains is a herd behaviour too. Nothing else quite explains the post-christmas sales, where surely the sheer grief involved outweighs any cash savings for many of the bargain hunters involved. One poster to the economics blog suggested that there was a fundamental difference between a gift and a bargain. It might seem churlish or rude to turn down a gift, for instance, whereas too eagerly taking up a bargain may be mildly embarrassing. Moreover cheap things may arouse more suspicion than free things. But interesting stuff, nonetheless.

I knew of Andreason but not Hastings. I'll go and have a dekko.

Michael J. Mauboussin's More Than You Know discusses the principle of reciprocity. In commercial terms, it means if someone gives you something for free (say, a clothier offers you a soft drink while you are taking a look at his ware, before you have spent anything), you make it a point to reciprocate his gesture, usually by making a purchase. That's another angle. It is also discussed in Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion by Robert B. Cialdini. Pabitra A. Chatterjee directindia.blogspot.com PS: Do drop in sometime.