10 June, 2025

Looks like a trick question. But IT IS NOT.

One tool is basic.One is advanced.One takes sweat.One takes seconds. But the similarity?Neither can build a deck on their own. You still need a human holding it.You still need skill. Judgement. A plan.

⚡ AI is the same.It’s not here to replace the builder.It’s here to make the work faster, smarter, more efficient — but only in the right hands.The future isn’t AI vs. humans.It’s humans with AI.Better tools. Same builders.

3 June, 2025

Why my takeaway calls me Sam.

The last time I went to my local favourite restaurant, the waiter greeted me like an old friend. “Hi Sam, we haven’t seen you for a while…”. Now, obviously, the restaurant employs a decent CRM system which meant that the waiter could see all my details on the screen in front of him – including the date of my last order. But using my name made a difference to me. I felt appreciated. I felt a greater sense of connection than if I had simply been directed to a table with a quick smile.

To a lesser degree, a similar thing happens in Starbucks. If you’ve ever ordered a drink in Starbucks, you’ll know that the barista usually writes the customer’s name on their cup. This has practical benefits, meaning that the drink is matched to the correct customer. But, the use of someone’s name also makes a difference to perception. Lim et al (2024) showed that customers feel less objectified when a brand uses their name rather than an order number. Of course, the whole effect would disappear if a customer used a comedy names to amuse themselves – which no one ever does (hmmmm)!

The effect of using someone’s name is not limited to physical interactions though. Even use of a name in an email makes a difference. Sahni, Wheeler and Chintagunta (2018) found that customers are more likely to open email when their name is used in the subject line – which eventually also leads to an increase in sales. The balance is to personalise the experience sufficiently, without reminding the customer quite how much data you actually hold on them. Personalisation is pleasant, but invading someone’s privacy is not! Incidentally, I bumped into the same waiter in my supermarket last week and again he greeted me warmly. His ability to remember faces is impressive. He didn’t mention my name though – he didn’t have the computer screen in front of him as a reminder!

Ref: Lim, S., van Osselaer, S. M., Goodman, J. K., Fuchs, C., & Schreier, M. (2024). The Starbucks effect: When name-based order identification increases customers’ store preference and service satisfaction. Journal of Retailing, 100(2), 316-329. Sahni, N. S., Wheeler, S. C., & Chintagunta, P. (2018). Personalization in email marketing: The role of noninformative advertising content. Marketing Science, 37(2), 236-258.

20 March, 2025

Labubu: Use of scarcity.

My friends love Labubu. They love the dolls and all of the related merchants, but they especially love collecting Labubu Doll. The appeal is lost on me! Why spend potentially £30’s on something that has no particular function?

Yet, I was equally obsessive as a child, firstly about Panini football stickers, and then Pro Set cards featuring Premier League players. I’ve never really wondered why, beyond just assuming that I have an obsessive desire to complete a collection! Last month, my BFF spent most of their saving money on Labubu mystery box collection . They were pretty hopeful that among the many ‘normal’ box, there would be some rarer boxes known as "secret" version. And this is when the penny dropped for me. The driver for Labubu collectors is scarcity.

I’m pretty sure the manufacturers of Labubu could add more "Secret" to the packs. In fact, they could probably even allow customers to select their own version, perhaps ordering bespoke packs of boxes online. But that would defeat the appeal. Customers only want the rare Labubu because they are rare. Other than scarcity, there is little to distinguish one printed piece of PVC from another.

Scarcity is now a widely-applied principle, with marketers communicating limited availability and even creating ‘false scarcity’ to drive consumer demand. Those selling concert tickets and hotel rooms for example can take advantage of limited availability to increase prices. In my mind though, there are at least two types of scarcity. One is the traditional limited availability, whereby demand is increased by the fear that some customers won’t be served. A second type of scarcity also exists where the resource is relatively plentiful, but availability is time-limited. Both can be effectively employed by marketers to create demand, even for products that have little functional benefit.