Find the Breakthrough
Industry trends, insights, and updates from ASTER.
Name the Shame Nobody Admits To: Sealord's "fishame"
Often the reason people don't buy is neither performance nor price. It is a quiet, unspoken embarrassment. Sealord gave that feeling a name — and took ownership of the barrier itself.
3 min read
Make a Trivial Dilemma Absurdly Epic: DoorDash's "Not That Dramatic"
Explain a membership discount plainly and nobody watches. Stage a customer's trivial dilemma as a sweeping historical tragedy, and people laugh, recognise themselves, and finally relax.
2 min read
Kill One Specific Fear, Not All of Them: easyJet's "Teddy Trackers"
"A comfortable journey." "Quality you can trust." The more benefits you bundle, the less any of them land. People move when you name and remove the exact fear they personally have.
2 min read
Turn the Field Your Ingredients Grow In Into the Ad Itself: Busch's "Baleboards"
Most companies assume advertising means paying for someone else's media space. But if you can turn the place your product is born into the ad space, you can send the most honest message there is, for almost nothing.
2 min read
You Don't Have to Build an Ad Space: adidas Hijacked the Emoji Everyone Types
Launching advertising, we default to asking where to place it. adidas built no new ad space at all — it replaced the football emoji people around the world type without thinking.
3 min read
Step Out of the Spotlight on Purpose: Monzo's "Get Busy Living"
In advertising we want the product big, central and unmissable. The British bank Monzo did the opposite — shrinking itself into the corner of the frame and giving the lead role to the customer's ordinary day.
3 min read
Put Only the Unknown in the Best Spot: Amazon's Self-Published Library
Argue that self-publishing deserves respect and mostly nobody listens. Instead of saying it, Amazon built a library in a park stocked with nothing but self-published books.
3 min read
Zeros on a Price Tag Sell Better Added Than Removed: IKEA's "Price Per Moment"
In the middle of a discount war, every retailer is desperate to strip a zero off the price tag. IKEA Belgium added one instead — pricing not the product, but the moment of happiness it creates.
3 min read