To add subtlety is to spend extra time, energy and money on an aspect of the project that (by definition) won’t be specifically recognized by most people.

Subtlety, while expensive to add, increases the chances that their simple answer will be Yes.

Subtlety is a signal of care. Care invested in the project—whatever form it takes.

Like brands, subtlety is expensive now, but cheap later.

Abstract for the paper Brand Teasing: How Brands Build Strong Relationships by Making Fun of Their Consumers🗞️, emphasis mine:

Popular brands like Wendy’s, Postmates, and RyanAir have gained notoriety by making fun of their consumers, but is this an effective strategy to build strong consumer relationships? Across 11 (seven pre-registered) studies, using lab data, field data, and a variety of analytical approaches, the current research demonstrates that teasing communication increases consumer engagement with and connection to the brand compared to merely funny or neutral communication. These effects occur because consumers anthropomorphize brands more when they use teasing communication. This leads to greater engagement with brand messages and greater self-brand connection (SBC). We also leverage the interpersonal teasing literature to distinguish between prosocial and antisocial teases and highlight an important boundary condition. Specifically, we demonstrate that while prosocial teasing evokes a positive human schema, antisocial teasing, although still anthropomorphic, activates a negative human schema, which reduces connection to the brand. As a result, antisocial teases lose their relational advantage over purely funny communication. This work contributes to the streams of research on brand humor, anthropomorphism, and consumer–brand relationships. It also provides actionable implications by demonstrating a novel antecedent to consumer–brand connection and the boundaries within which these positive effects are expected to occur.

Here’s a good recap from Today in Digital Marketing

Despite fears of skittishness, US consumers poured a record amount of cash into online retail on Black Friday.

Unsurprising

The election ended, holiday proximity realization set in, and emotional releases / coping mechanisms were ripe for the having.

I’m guessing the election impact caused this year’s holiday shopping to be a bit more like ye olden days (when it didn’t start in October).

The whole podcast linked to here is worth listening to, if only to hear a true infovore’s approach to information discovery and self-knowledge.

Tyler Cowen’s core principles of economics:

• Incentives matter
• There’s always an opportunity cost (aka no free lunch)