Knowing your market

Creativity & Communication

The gin brand Hendrick’s engaged in a very clever bit of non-sense, when they suggested that their product be served not with lemon but with cucumber, which gained immediate salience. Being British, I failed to notice the genius of this move, which was that it also positioned the drink as sophisticatedly British in the United States; Americans find cucumber sandwiches a British peculiarity. To a Brit, of course, a cucumber is not seen as being particularly British - it is just something we make sandwiches with.

Behavioural principles

Behavioural ideas at play in this post

Short, plain-English explanations of the principles behind this post, with links to related books and examples in the archive.

Affect heuristic

We lean on how something feels when making a fast judgment.

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Present bias

Immediate costs and rewards loom larger than future ones.

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Salience

What stands out captures attention and shapes choice.

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Knowing your market

Behavioural ideas at play in this post

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