Hats, Stockings and The Lipstick Effect

I recently spent £48 last week on a hat and felt massive insurmountable guilt for the days that followed when I thought about it. How dare I? With the economy as it is, and us spending £60 a week on gas and electricity. I felt that money should have been spent on the kids. Obviously. Which meant I was also a terrible dad.

This lunchtime we spent £80 in Matalan on two pairs on children’s winter shoes, a skirt, and four stockings to put presents in. Didn’t bat an eyelid.

My better half mentioned about converting the garage into a bedroom and how everyone else is getting their kitchen done though, and my blood froze.

These are examples of two of the major psychological forces in our markets right now, prosocial spending and the lipstick effect.

The lipstick effect is essentially that when times get tough, people are more likely to spend on a small treat for themselves (like idk a lipstick?) because it gasses them up a bit, but are unlikely to buy a piano, refit their kitchen or suggest having high risk pregnancy sex, because those are big commitments and the world is literally on fire right now.

Humans are big fans of small treats which give disproportionate boosts in positive effects. Evidence says this is true of gifts for others too.

A healthy slab of people get more pleasure from giving than receiving, I am one. This prosocial spending really comes into effect in this time of year, when many get pleasure from giving even small gifts away.

I find it fascinating that so much social media marketing this time of year focuses on the item and price, rather than the feelings and experience of giving gifts. It feels natural to have an influencer campaign where content creators gift things to one another across profiles and even platforms. Why not even across mediums? Imagine Casey Neistat giving Jimmy Kimmel a gift via Post Malone, from YouTube to a moment on a big screen at a live gig, through to Posty handing it to Jimmy while they’re out for breadsticks at Olive Garden on his show?

If there’s a big brand tip I have for anyone reading this today, it’s that you should be doubling down on how much you give away rather than how much you try to sell, as it’s undoubtable the gifting will pay off more so in the longer run. It doesn’t have to be charitable stuff, goods, services, etc, either. The most precious thing we have is time. Imagine a brand offering to help send staff to help a busy family or elderly widow put up their Christmas decorations? How about offering to open your doors and take in some interns to help for a month in the runup to the holidays?

Simple little things that mean a lot more to those receiving than to those giving. Which is kind of the point of the season, non?