The value of value.

Value is a perception of the mind, and it differs from individuals to individuals.

But what is always true is that value drives our behaviour, defines our actions, sets our expectations.

A dollar, when slotted into one of these random toy machines, will give you a crack at winning a mystery capsule containing hopefully, a big prize.

You could get lucky and win a prize that exceeds the dollar value and feel like the luckiest person on earth for a while, having gained extra value for your buck. But most of the time, you’ll end up with a prize that’s worth much less in monetary terms. Even so, the perceived value of this “special prize”, because of the way it pops out like a winning lottery number, is much higher than a dollar because it made you feel you’ve actually “won” something.

A child will hold on to his prized capsule and treasure it. You can try using logic and reason to convince him otherwise, for example, by saying that the prize can actually be bought off a store for much less than a dollar, but it will not take away the joy of winning something special.

The same theory applies for the many soft toy “claw” catchers out there. This time round, effort and skills are involved in determining the value. Because you’ve used your skill to grab the soft toy successfully, the value of the soft toy – regardless of the fact that you had to dump in at least 10 dollar coins to win it at the 10th attempt, and despite being fully aware that the soft toy costs much less than 10 dollars – is priceless.

In marketing and advertising, real power comes from the ability to create or “invent” a perceived value for the service, product or message. To do so successfully you need to develop empathy, and apply it over the wants of the audience. Value drives everything.