MichaelAaron Flicker

We have to try harder.

When they were competing against Hertz, they admit their flaw.

And because of that, they become more likable, more believable.

Listerine has a great one.

The taste you hate twice a day, meaning it's so astringent, it must be working.

They're accepting the flaw that Listerine is hard to gargle for 30 seconds.

And in doing that, they're proving a mirror strength, which is that it must be very effective.

So did Listerine, Avis, Guinness beer know the pratfall effect?

Probably not.

In fact, the Avis ads came out seven years before the study that I'm talking about was ever run.

But the people who made the Avis had had that insight into humanity that they took advantage of.

So as investors, we can be looking at where brands do this, where they either through their product or their service meet a psychological need of consumers.

That's a great one to look for.

Nir Eyal in his book, Hooked, talks about any brand that meets a psychological need is going to be more successful than others.

Or in these examples where a brand is using a communication and marketing advertising that seems to get the human instinct in a way that others may not realize.

And that's a really great thing to look for as investors to think about what brands may be ahead of the curve.

I don't think it's a leading indicator, but I think it's a pretty good bet that if they're doing that and doing it well, they can be really successful.

You know, we're talking at such an interesting time.

We're recording the show right after Black Friday Cyber Monday.

I saw a Reuters report this morning that said $3 billion of Black Friday spending was influenced by AI assistants or AI agents, meaning you go to Amazon, you ask Rufus,