Recently, I’ve been drawn to taglines. And, to be honest, most suck. Brands want them but don’t put in the time or thinking they deserve to make them the persuasive, brand-building tool they can be. Instead, most taglines are like placeholder text or a tickbox exercise. Or, in other words, evidence that a tagline’s potential is grossly misunderstood.
I’ve looked at Stella’s “Reassuringly expensive” before. And it’s arguably one of the best taglines ever.
But I originally wrote that article almost two years ago, and revisiting it now, I think there’s more going on. So, let’s use this 2000 Stella ad to dig deeper. Here’s the ad:
Who made it?
Copywriters: Mick Mahoney & Andy Amadeo | Art Directors: Mick Mahoney & Andy Amadeo | Photographer: Jenny Van Sommers | Creative Director: Charles Inge | Agency: Lowe Lintas | Client: Whitbread Beer Company | Year: 2000
Part 1: Tagline Analysis
What should a tagline do?
Before we can analyse a tagline, it’s probably wise to put ourselves on the same page.
To me, a tagline is a token of a brand’s (distinctive) personality. It’s an asset. And it should epitomise a brand’s identity, values (or promises), and, if suitable, USP. That’s a long-winded way of saying a tagline is like a lens through which to view the world.
Every brand-customer touch point should pass through this lens and reinforce the brand’s identity, values, promises and/or USP. So, when the time is right, the brand comes to mind with less effort. (They know you. What you stand for. What makes you different. And so their resistance to choosing you whittles away.)
Now, in practice bringing all these factors together into a few words is difficult – and that’s why most suck. I think Stella Artois’ “Reassuringly expensive” is one of very few that does. And their advertising (whilst the tagline ran, at least) is packed with creative examples of how to reinforce it.
However, unlike others, this tagline also challenges you. Let me explain…
Going against the grain
One of the simplest ways to get attention is to break a pattern. Y’know, to go left when everyone else goes right. To zig when others zag. Or… to focus on what makes you expensive rather than cheap.
You see, it takes time for a market to connect a brand to its tagline. Adidas could have said, “Just Do It”. Burger King could have said, “I’m lovin’ it”. Without consistency, none of these stick like they do.
So, to shorten this sticking curve, Stella chose to challenge the market and stand for something nobody else did: expensiveness.
When you see the tagline and advertising, you double-take it – “Huh, what? Hold on a second…”. And, as a result, you spend time with the line. And the longer you do, the better it sticks.
(I think their alleged 600% ROI from when this tagline ran proves this too)
Negative to positive
A lot of great ads (and copywriting) take negatives and turn them into positives. And there are many ways to do this. One of the more effective, however, is reframing – i.e. changing the perception so it doesn’t look so bad (or even so it looks good).
Now, if we step back and look at cost as more of a ‘concept’, we’ll see there are lots of inherent paradoxes. And paradoxes are opportunities for clever reframing magic.
For example…
Pain of payment vs enjoyment amplification
Paying a lot of money for something is painful. We don’t like to do it. And it adds friction to the purchasing process.
But at the same time, the high cost of an experience or item can also increase our enjoyment of it. Why? Because we think the high cost must justify the pending enjoyment (e.g. luxury holidays or fancy restaurants).
Side note: this works laterally too. ‘Health drinks’ often taste worse than they need to because we believe that’s the ‘price’ for better health and thus think they work better.
Scarcity vs discounts
A well-known psychological bias is that the less available something is, the more we want it. So when something is expensive, like a luxury holiday or a top-of-the-range iPhone, we put more value into them and chase them for their exclusivity.
On the flip side, discounts, which make something less exclusive, build our hunger for a product.
IKEA Effect
The IKEA Effect suggests we assign more value to things we partially create ourselves, even if the cost of time, money or effort is actually higher than buying something pre-made.
But “Reassuringly expensive” utilises what’s possibly the most common price paradox of all…
The Expectation Theory
So, whilst, on the one hand, being expensive can be detrimental to sales, it can be beneficial too. This time, thanks to The Expectation Theory.
How many times have you heard the adage “You get what you pay for”? Well, that’s inherently this bias. Put differently, this bias suggests that our expectations of a product influence our experience of it.
So, when you or I drink Stella, and we know it’s expensive (thus making it ‘better’), we unconsciously look for signs that confirm this view – and actively ignore those that don’t! So, not only is the tagline helping make Stella more desirable, but it also keeps drinkers sold.
Persuading our old brain
The most effective sales persuasion talks to our old brain. In fact, you could argue that for sales persuasion to work, you HAVE TO speak to the old brain. This is our primitive brain, and because it’s rather reliable (humans still exist!), it dominates our decision-making.
In 1943 and again in 1954, Maslow put our ‘unchanging desires’ into a hierarchy for us to better understand:
So, for an ad or tagline to work, it needs to tap into these primitive desires. Sometimes, it’ll be explicit. Other times, it’ll be more distant. And whilst on the surface it might not look like “Reassuringly expensive” taps into them, it does. Here’s how:
Belonging
Luxury brands work best when everyone knows they’re luxury. That’s their main sales fuel. Stella’s tagline, positioning it as luxury, works like every other luxury brand does. We assume that if we spend more on luxury goods, others will perceive us better. That we’ll jump the social rankings. That we’ll fit into the “tribe” and that others will want us in theirs.
Self-esteem
Similarly, buying Stella feeds our self-esteem. If we’re drinking expensive drinks, we feel more accomplished. We assume we’ll gain greater recognition by signalling our willingness to spend more, which, in turn, earns us more social respect.
Risk reducer
Alongside tapping into unchanging desires, for persuasion to work, you also have to reduce the risk between where they are ‘now’ and where they ‘could be’. From what I can see, “Reassuringly expensive” does this in two ways: The Pratfall Effect and its language use.
The Pratfall Effect
With most transactions in life, we expect a trade. This for that. That for this.
Unknown trades scare us. And often, they put us off completing the transaction. In fact, we’ll often pay a premium to remove them!
So, because Stella is upfront that the cost is the cost, not only does their confidence fuel our desire for them, we feel better knowing what they’re getting out of the transaction: more money than usual.
Despite being expensive, we actually feel less pain when we buy it.
Language
Can you imagine if, instead of “Reassuringly expensive”, they said, “Expensive and worth it”? Inherently, their meanings are the same. But their feelings are not. And as we know, when it comes to buying, feelings matter.
One seems very direct, transactional and emotionless. The other is the opposite.
“Reassuringly expensive” feels more comforting, further reducing our risk perception. So, by understating their reassurance, Stella invites us to define it ourselves. And consequently, makes them seem more desirable.
If you get the “feel” wrong, however, this happens:
The fall flat trap
Leaning into expensiveness is a risk. It’s bold, which is why many brands don’t do it.
It takes a lot of work because, one, the world must know you’re luxurious. And two, they must feel it when they buy/consume your products.
So, for Stella’s tagline to live up to its potential, the luxurious feel must be present (and consistent) across every touch point. From product design to tone of voice, everything must be congruent so Stella remains credible and their luxuriousness is believed.
If they don’t, these claims and biases fall flat, and Stella will become more of a repellant than a magnet.
Fortunately, Stella shared some brilliant advertising over the lifetime of this tagline, and they reinforce their luxury feel very well.
Let’s dissect today’s ad and see how.
Part 2: Ad Breakdown
Around 18 years after the tagline hit the market, this ad went live.
We just said how all ads must always reinforce the “luxury feel” to prevent the reassuringly fancy claims from falling flat. Well, “feelings” are usually an accumulation of smaller, less obvious details. Most of which our conscious mind doesn’t pick up on. “Oh, those proportions exude wealth and prestige…” or “That kerning makes me want to trust you!”.
But, fortunately, our subconscious does.
So, I’m going to try to share some of these smaller details so we can better understand how they work on us.
Understatement
A lot of luxury brands understate. They understate their claims, their appearance and their effort. Because if they look like they’re trying too hard, they look inauthentic (and fake). In other words, their price might not be so reassuring after all.
So, instead, they understate and trust you to fill in the gaps. They don’t need to shout or persuade you*; their quality and reputation speak for themselves. And in deducing “this brand must be luxurious”, you believe it.
As we dissect the ad’s art, you’ll see a lot of understatement.
*They do. They just can be seen doing it overtly.
Colour
First, let’s look at the colour choices. They’re cool tones. Nothing attention-grabbing. In fact, it’s quite the opposite: the bottle cap is actually hard to see, especially if you’re flicking through pages.
White and silver are often associated with luxuriousness. White is the colour of Stella and silver, the Gretsch guitar. Very apt and intentionally selected. Can you imagine if a Les Paul was used instead?
Minimalism
The understatement also leaks into the ad’s minimalistic approach. There are only two items: a Gretsch guitar and a bottle cap.
Now, I really like how they only show the bottle cap. It would have been easy to put the open bottle next to the guitar. But in doing so, they’d overstate what they were trying to say (you understand what they mean without it, right?). This requires less thought from you, making the message less sticky and them less sure of what they’re communicating.
Value through association
Now, as a bit of a guitarist myself, the choice of guitar seems interesting. And not just through its colour choice.
Gretsch has some expensive models and some less expensive models, like a lot of brands. I also think they’re less recognisable than Fender or Gibson, which many know to be costly. So why this guitar?
There are two reasons. And both feed into the crux of the ad: the guitar’s perceived value.
First, because Gretsch’s are less familiar, they seem more exclusive. Like guitars that only exist in wealthy circles. Something we common folk wouldn’t know anything about.
Second, notice the guitar’s F-holes. They draw attention (they’re the only thing that isn’t white or silver). And they’re also associated with violins and cellos, an intentional link to classical music and aristocracy, reinforcing the perceived value. Of course, there’s nothing explicitly saying this guitar has to be expensive because of its F-holes. But it does make it look more valuable. And that’s all that matters.
Side note: Did you know F-holes are actually more of a hindrance in electric guitars? Now, most are painted on because, at loud volumes, they invite more feedback – not the constructive sort, either!
The crux
Okay, what’s actually going on? What can you see? Well, the guitar has been sacrificed to open a beer. And as we now know, it’s not just any ol’ guitar. It’s one we think is particularly expensive.
Because this is shown to us (and not told), it works a bit like a story. Although, I don’t think the goal is to tell a story – it’s to maximise the perceived value of the guitar. And because you have to figure out the meaning (i.e., you’re not looking at a price tag on the guitar), I think it amplifies the value further.
So, in short, by sacrificing the expensive guitar, the ad signals just how valuable (and hence delicious) a bottle of Stella is.
How to get more
That’s all, folks. We had some understatements, some psychological biases and, of course, some thinking. It’s a great ad, reinforced by a great tagline – I’m sure you’d agree.
In fact, the ads from this campaign also won awards (Cannes Grand Prix winner). And as a treat to those already subscribed to my newsletter, I shared the ads with them. If you want all the insights and extra ads with the next breakdown, sign up for my newsletter now. It’s free. And worth it. Let me reassure you…
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