Rory Sutherland

And I think it's a really insightful thought experiment.

So the idea is you and your best friend are lying on a beach somewhere and it's hot and you're very thirsty.

And about a quarter of a mile down the beach, there's a place that sells ice cold beer.

And your friend says to you, and he asked people to imagine this,

Your friend says to you, I'm off to blank to buy a beer.

Tell me what the maximum amount you're happy to pay for a beer is.

And if the price, they quote, falls below that threshold, OK, I will buy the beer.

And if not, I won't.

And he asked people to imagine what the threshold would be of what they'd pay for a beer on a hot day when they were parched on a beach for a cold beer.

the beer is going to be consumed back where they're sitting.

So the ambiance or, you know, the clientele of the establishment selling the beer is irrelevant because you're not going to consume it there.

And the interesting thing is, in one situation, he says there is a boutique hotel selling chilled beer.

And in the other situation, he says there's a shack selling cold beer.

And your readiness to pay changes partly in accordance to what you imagine to be the overheads of the establishment selling the good.

Even though the utility of the beer, as distinct from how good the transaction feels, the actual utility of the cold beer is identical in both cases.

I think that's Richard Thaler, and I think it's extraordinarily interesting because I think we can make...

Car salesmen will know this.

You know, make the transaction feel good.

Make them feel good when they drive out of the place.

Exactly.