EXCEPT for masochists who accept any hardship as invigorating, pain as a brand promise is what marketers call a “hard sell.” Still, it can be done. And there are products and services that succeed with it.
Religion recommends discomfort and pain as salvific forms of mortification. Fasting, abstinence, loss of loved ones, and long pilgrimages to sacred sites are perceived as a way of purifying the soul.
But even in our material world, pain can be promoted as a desirable avenue towards a greater goal, the necessary bridge to a desired state.
Diets promote deprivation of the pleasure of eating unhealthy foods. (Please avoid sugar.) What about those punishing exercise programs like training for half-marathons? Gyms that stay open at night offer aches and discomfort as selling points, with the slogan “no pain, no gain.” Pain can be an indicator of success: the greater the agony, the higher the chances of success.
Pain then becomes the proof of effectiveness for a regimen of workouts like running on a treadmill, lifting weights, doing bending exercises, even running in hot weather. Without pain or at least some heavy panting, the effort is seen as simply not enough to move the needle.
Management consultants too sell pain. For a company to be considered healthy, a painful process of cost-cutting (lessen your benefits), headcount reduction (your head, not mine) is often prescribed. This necessary discomfort is seen as the way back to recovery and ultimate glory.
Fraternities promote an initiation process which entails pain, and now and then even hospitalization and death, as a rite of passage to join an exclusive club. The pain is seen as a way of proving one’s worthiness to be called “Brod.” Without such suffering as a barrier to entry anybody can become a member, so the more painful the rite, the more exclusive the fraternity. (Just bend over, please.)
Cosmetics and healthcare products highlight rejection as the incentive to consider the products being promoted. Ostracism and ridicule are highlighted as pain points that can be overcome. Bad breath, body odor, a pitted face, or excess body weight are social ills that need to be removed. This way of selling pain features a “before” and “after” split screen of pain and pleasure.
The father who spanks a child to give him a lesson he won’t easily forget explains his action as just as painful to him as to the child taking the beating. (This hurts me more than it hurts you.) Of course, it is difficult for a child to accept this assertion.
Pain is promoted as a necessary means to achieve a desired goal. The suffering is not a marketable product by itself. Still, one only needs to understand the penchant for tattoos. The self-inflicted pain in inscribing “skin art” does not seem to be compensated for by any benefit. Maybe tattoo artists have discovered a way to sell pain without any benefit in sight, especially when the markings are hidden by underwear.
Occasionally, the government may embark on an austerity program to cut down on the budget deficit. The hardships and deprivations of the present are linked to a better fiscal status in the future — eat the tariffs.
Government programs rely on the PR value of any message they want to communicate. A belt-tightening effort relies more on perception than the actual impact of any cost reduction. This can entail less trips abroad (certainly not attending concerts), more modest cars for public officials, and dispensing with motorcycle escorts and their noisy warnings.
A message of pain and suffering is garbled by taking along family members and volunteer lawyers on a trip to the Hague. The travel expense is explained away as a small cost borne by the family and not charged to the government. Unwittingly this message of “no cost from the public purse” seems to admit that someone else is picking up the tabs. Maybe, the cost is somehow defrayed by payments to fictitious people with unusual names.
The challenge with selling pain is that it doesn’t have too many buyers, especially when those selling it don’t seem to use the product they are endorsing. Also, the expected benefit always comes with a non-refundable cost… including failure to receive the brand promise.
Tony Samson is chairman and CEO of TOUCH xda
