Pivot a Bit with Status Seekers

When your shoppers feel that their status is inferior to others, they’ll respond by seeking to raise their social standing. To profit from that, pivot a bit rather than meet it directly.
     Researchers at Boston College, Boston University, and London Business School asked women about purchasing a jewelry charm celebrating physical fitness. Prior to making the selection, some of the women were asked to imagine they were doing well in a professional development course, some were asked to imagine that they were doing poorly, and the rest were asked to imagine they were doing poorly plus that most of their classmates were in poor physical shape.
     Those imagining they were doing poorly in the course expressed more interest in the charm than did those imagining they were doing well. And the instructions to imagine that classmates were in poor physical shape increased interest even further. Believing you are doing relatively poorly in one domain pivots your motivation into showing off achievement in another domain.
     The phenomenon was also implied in a survey of car bumper stickers. The same researchers examined automobiles parked in the visitor lot of the Severiano Ballesteros golf course in the swank Swiss resort town of Crans-Montana. The researchers predicted that the bumper stickers on the less expensive makes, such as Chevrolet and Citroën, would refer to themes other than golf more often than would those on the premium makes, such as BMW and Mercedes. This is indeed what was found. Among the other themes were travel destinations and extreme sports. The alternatives were seen on 84% of the less expensive makes while on only 35% of the premium makes.
     The most direct way to respond to being behind is to move ahead. Work to prevail in the professional development course. Devote funds over time to buying, or maybe renting, a luxurious car to pull into the golf course visitor lot.
     Yet the advantage of the pivot holds for marketers when meeting this approach, too. Repairs to the consumer’s self-concept last longer if the connection between the compensatory consumption and the threatened domain is only hinted at. In HEC Paris studies, people made to feel their intelligence was questioned were then asked to evaluate products associated with intellectual skills. When the products were presented with a slogan like “Magazine for the intelligent reader,” the consumer ended up fretting more than when the item was presented without the slogan.

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