Our brains are older than the market
The literature speaks of folk-economic beliefs: intuitive beliefs about how the economy works that seem reasonable but often are not, given real-world conditions. So the problem is not ignorance, but intuition. For thousands of years, human beings lived in small communities, where exchanges were visible, resources were limited and one person’s gain could mean another’s loss. The fact, however, is that today’s market is different. Value can be created. Two people can both gain from the same exchange. An intermediary can make something more efficient without physically producing anything. Even a more expensive product can be the more economical choice. These are concepts that are relatively simple to explain, but far less simple to feel. And that is precisely what makes them interesting.Value must be legible
Imagine two products. The first costs 30 euros and lasts one year. The second costs 90 euros and lasts ten. From an economic point of view, the second would appear to be clearly better value. From a perceptual point of view, however, the comparison starts from a much simpler piece of information: 30 versus 90. Before any calculation comes into play, the brain has already built a story: one costs little, the other costs a lot. This means that one of the fundamental functions of a brand is to turn economic value into perceivable value. Legible value. This is what happens when Patagonia talks about how long a garment lasts instead of simply showing its price. When a luxury brand makes provenance, craftsmanship and savoir-faire visible. When a B2B software company translates an annual licence into hours of work saved. The product stays the same. What changes is the unit by which it is judged.Price, on its own, means nothing
One of the problems with our economic intuitions is that we treat price as a property of the object. This bottle is worth 8 euros. This bag is worth 2,000 euros. This advisory engagement is worth 20,000 euros. But price is the end point of an enormous amount of information. Availability, reputation, alternatives, risk, distribution, service, scarcity, expertise, guarantees, status, time. The brand organises this information before the number is encountered. This is why two companies can offer technically very similar services and command completely different prices without either of them necessarily “charging for the logo”. The logo is the least interesting part. The difference lies in the system of meanings that precedes the price. If that system is strong, the price is interpreted. If it does not exist, the price is simply compared. And being compared on price alone is almost always the worst strategic position.Why we need to know whether someone is making money
Then there is another deeply human intuition. We grasp value very well when we see someone physically produce something. A craftsman builds a table. A farmer grows a tomato. A tailor makes a jacket. Harder to grasp is the value produced by what sits in between. Distribution. Advisory. Software. Intermediation. Strategy. Intellectual property. Work becomes less visible, and therefore harder to value. This is one of the reasons why many companies make a seemingly small mistake in their communication: they describe what they do, when their audience needs to understand what changes thanks to what they do. “Strategic advisory.” “Proprietary platform.” “Advisory service.” These descriptions are accurate. But in economic terms they say very little. Reduced risk, faster decisions, protection of intangible assets, fewer inefficiencies, greater control: this is the value the brain can finally connect to what it is buying.This is where positioning begins
Positioning is often interpreted as the attempt to occupy a distinctive space in the consumer’s mind. That is true. But there is a prior level. Before convincing anyone that a brand is better than the others, you have to let them understand by what criterion they should judge it. Volvo spent decades making safety a dimension by which to judge a car. Luxury brands have built perceptual categories around craftsmanship, history, provenance and rarity: truths that would not exist if one looked only at the material function of the object. The strategic result is enormous. And so, when a brand manages to define the criterion for choice, it stops being judged by the criteria set by its competitors. And it starts to suggest what to pay attention to when choosing.The real task of a brand
Perhaps this is the point our economic intuitions help us see more clearly. People do not enter the market with a perfect ability to determine the value of what they encounter. They have to interpret it. A company may therefore have an excellent product, a more efficient process, superior technology or hard-to-replicate expertise and still be perceived as too expensive, too similar to the others or simply incomprehensible. The problem, in that case, lies in the gap between value produced and value understood. It is a strategic gap that can be narrowed. Indeed, every brand should try to narrow it. Because people will probably go on having flawed economic intuitions. It is not a brand’s job to correct them. A brand simply has to ensure that its value does not depend on the hope that its audience will work it out on its own.Domande frequenti
Why can a more expensive product be perceived as better value?
Because price is judged together with durability, risk, quality, service, reputation and the available alternatives. A 100-euro product can turn out to be economically better than a 30-euro one if it lasts longer, reduces subsequent costs or offers stronger guarantees. The problem arises when these elements remain invisible. In that case, the consumer mainly sees the difference in price. Making value legible therefore means providing the context needed to understand what is actually obtained in return for the expenditure.
How can a brand avoid competing on price alone?
It has to shift the comparison onto criteria that bring out what it does best. Durability, safety, specialisation, speed, risk reduction, quality of experience or proprietary expertise can become dimensions of choice that offer an alternative to the simple “how much does it cost?”. This is one of the tasks of positioning: Bliss works precisely on the gap between value produced and perceived value. It identifies which features of the offering can become distinctive criteria and translates them into messages, proof points and assets that make them understandable before the customer reaches the price.
Why do so many companies struggle to communicate the value of their services?
Because they tend to describe the work from their own point of view. “Consultancy”, “proprietary platform” or “premium service” explain what is being sold, but not necessarily what effect it has for the buyer.
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