Turn Superstition into Marketing Gold

From Entrepreneur.com

By Jennifer Wang

Good Business in Lucky Numbers Lauren Block and Thomas Kramer are the Lippert professor of marketing and associate professor of marketing and international business, respectively, at Baruch College's Zicklin School of Business. They say businesses can take steps to mitigate losses on Friday the 13th, as well as capitalize on positive superstitions.

Home store Crate & Barrel, Kramer recalls, ran a "Lucky You" campaign last year on Friday the 13th. "They played off the superstition and got people to come out anyway." Because consumers are not always aware of the extent to which they rely on superstitions, this is perhaps one model that businesses can follow.

Superstitious Customers Pay More for Less

Superstition and business don't openly mix in Western cultures, but in Asia, particularly in China and Taiwan, the two are intertwined. According to research done by Block and Kramer, superstitions can influence the buying habits of Taiwanese people, especially where it concerns lucky or unlucky colors and numbers. "We found, very interestingly and somewhat counter-intuitively, that people are willing to over-pay to avoid an unlucky number," Block says, referring to a study in which Taiwanese consumers often paid more for a package of three tennis balls than four, because the number four is considered ill-omened. In Mandarin Chinese, the pronunciation of "four" is similar to that of "dead."


Kramer concludes that it's important for business owners to be aware of any superstitions held by their target market. "Then they can both capitalize on [this knowledge] as well as avoid mistakes."

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