What you want others not to have

Behavioral economics has a finding that makes marketing departments uncomfortable: a significant part of purchase decisions isn't motivated by what the product does, but by what it makes you feel in relation to others.

We don't buy the car. We buy the version of ourselves driving that car in front of someone specific. We don't choose the beer. We choose what it says about us at the table.

Jealousy is one of the most honest drivers of consumption. And one of the least named in brand strategy — because naming it in a brief is uncomfortable, even though everyone in the room knows it's there.

The value proposition that doesn't understand comparative desire doesn't understand why people really buy.