When quality is hard to judge, price becomes a shortcut.
More quotesA €35 flight gets interrogated.
A €35 packet of crisps containing a flight feels like buried treasure.
The number stayed put; the shelf changed. Transavia briefly escaped the booking-site comparison and borrowed the delight of finding absurd value in a supermarket. That is sharper than chopping a fare into “less than your daily coffee”, the phrase every subscription now uses until coffee apparently costs £900 a month.
Reframing can be useful. Per-seat software pricing connects cost with the people receiving value. A maintenance contract compared with one avoided shutdown gives procurement a relevant consequence. A bundle can move attention from component prices to the job completed. But monthly payments can also hide the full cost, and tiny daily units can make a long commitment look harmless. Changing the denominator does not dissolve the bill.
The test is relevance. Does the new comparison match how the benefit is experienced, or merely make the numeral smaller? Can the customer still see the total, term and alternatives? A creative frame should reveal value that commodity comparisons obscure, not slip arithmetic past someone while they admire the novelty.
Marketers spend fortunes arguing that their price is fair inside a category designed to make every offer look identical. Sometimes the braver move is to build a different package, unit or buying moment. Put the value on a more truthful shelf. Just keep the receipt visible.