Murph: “Emily, will you marry me? I’m not giving you a ring because the concept of an engagement ring is a scam on the part of the DeBeers Corporation, but we can open a joint checking account?”
Emily: “Sorry, dude. I want that rock.”
– Source: Adam Ruins Everything
One of the most commonly overlooked often aspects of marketing and communication is essence. Think of essence as the non-physical qualities of an object.
The artist Banksy once partially destroyed one of his artworks with a shredder once it was sold at an auction for $1.4 million. What happened after he shredded this coveted work? It increased in value. Why? An object’s value transcends its material state.
NFTs are another example of value transcending the physical world. One can simply screenshot or screen record whatever image or graphic is being sold as an NFT. However, a screenshot or a screen recording is not the same as ownership. There are enough people that value the “idea” of ownership. Think about it, there’s not much of a concrete way to measure ownership. It’s an idea. An idea that some will pay thousands to millions of dollars for. A simple essence in one’s mind can be worth significant sums of financial value in the real word.
The idea of essence can also explain the importance of brands. Brand A’s product may not necessarily be better than Brand B’s. However, if Brand A can get its target audience to think about its product’s essence – and why that essence has value that exceeds the value of whatever Brand B can provide, then Brand A can become known as the more valuable and therefore be thought of as having the better product.
Keep this in mind when you want to promote something, whether it’s a product, service, a cause, or an idea. Whatever you’re trying to promote should certainly have utility in the real world, though you should often keep in mind its non-physical value. Why? Because the non-physical value has the potential to be worth much more than the physical value from the point of view of your audience.
