Picture this: you’re just days, weeks or months away from an exciting new release of a product you already own, albeit an older version (think smartphones, computers or cars). As the pending release looms closer, you notice that your once-favored gadget seems to falter. And then fail. And then fail again. It’s as if the spotlight on the new release bounced off your own product and highlighted all its flaws. What once seemed sleek and impressive now appears clunky and imprecise. It feels slower and older than in the past. Maybe you realize you’re simply bored with it. The release of the next generation reveals the problems you’ve become accustomed to all along. 

The Upgrade Downside

There is no sorcery afoot in this scenario, it’s simply a part of a fascinating phenomenon I call the Ricochet Effect of brands. It describes the way in which successful brands can be so effective at marketing in the minds of their devotees, that competitors’ products actually perform worse for users. To get the deep dive on this effect, I have laid out the intel in a previous blog post. But for this case, know that the newer model of your treasured product makes the version you own feel that much older, more impractical, and even undesirable. The upgrade downside is what happens when we notice ineptitudes in the things that we own, when we have a newer model to compare it to. Perceived value and function of an item can actually drop in the light of another brand or another model’s success. But, when considering the newer product, the opposite effect occurs. 

The Upsides

That’s right. Perceived value of the next generation of smartphone, car, computer, software, shoe, or any other innovative design, can increase dramatically in comparison to its older counterparts. But, in truth, it’s not just perception. Products actually do have the capacity to work better than the others if we believe they do. In my years of marketing research, I discovered the spectacular power of what I call BRANDcebo, or the placebo effect of brands. It is a complex amalgamation of psychological and business practices that come together to create a measurable mental and physiological response towards brands that have achieved their goal of capturing our desire.

The Effects

With the Upgrade Downside, what you are experiencing is BRANDcebo. A form of the placebo effect in which the new item seems to work much better than the old one, before it is even in your hands. Rarely is this effect seen more keenly than with the infamous iPhone upgrades. For Apple aficionados, with each new phone that comes out, we realize how much better we could have it and we want one, despite the steep price. We know the phones are similar and work much the same, but we are willing to pay up to get the latest and greatest technology. We can visualize better pictures, longer battery life, sharper displays. Once the phone is in our hands, we notice it, we experience a rush of the new. And as time goes on, the feeling fades, pumping up excitement towards the next inevitable innovation. 

The Positives

Luckily, there can be positive aspects to the ricochet effect and its corresponding Upgrade Downside. With the excitement of a new release, customers are primed to believe that a newer, upgraded version is better than what they have. You can actually harness the position of your brand in relation to its competitors to create a similar effect. How? We capture this powerful success of priming consumer behavior with new releases! Whether its software updates, hardware upgrades, new product launches, or even content uploads — you can offer a new, fresh factor for your customers. Something as simple as launching your best-selling item in a new color or posting a hot topic on social media can keep an excitement for your brand alive. 

The Results

The results speak for themselves when we think about how we itch to purchase the newest generations of our favorite products. Brands perform better when they stay relevant. This is key to the BRANDcebo model: first priming, then expectation, and finally, desire. If your company sets the precedent that it is on top of the times, capturing the cutting-edge, it primes your customers to see your brand as an industry leader. This thought process sets a powerful expectation that the brands that strike a chord with them will offer the best results on the market. And with BRANDcebo, they really do work better. Inevitably, that peak performance is a wild spark. Setting an unquenchable fire for more. That’s desire. They simply can’t get enough. 

But this is just one simple side effect of a much greater, far more powerful consumer experience. To learn more and upgrade your marketing priming strategy, check my book here.