Find the Breakthrough
Industry trends, insights, and updates from ASTER.
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
Turn Fans Into Paid Advertising: The "Walking Billboard Job"
With no ad budget we tend to give up on the move entirely. But if you can mobilise passionate fans or staff as paid advertising, reach is buildable on very little.
2 min read
Put the Meaning in the Name Itself: WPBL's Trailblazer Naming
A new company or service has no track record and no history. Which is exactly why the way you name it can give it meaning from day one.
2 min read
Ride Your Own Popularity: Amazon's "It's on Prime"
To make a new service known, we build new advertising. But if you can ride something people are already obsessed with inside your own house, you borrow the heat without paying for reach.
3 min read
Translate a Feature Into a Belief: Polymarket's "Questions Are Everything"
Describing a service, we default to listing features. Fast, cheap, convenient. But feature descriptions drown among competitors saying the same thing. Polymarket translated a plain mechanic one level up, into a belief.
3 min read
"Machida Station Leads to the Aquarium." — The Enoshima Aquarium Station Takeover and the "Rewrite the Meaning of an Everyday Place" Template
You can attract customers without building a new tourist spot. The Enoshima Aquarium took over a distant commuter station—Machida—with one line, "Machida Station leads to the aquarium," and revealed its rarely-seen backyard. It flipped distance into an asset. Here is why it worked, and how a suburban or regional business can copy it.
3 min read
Don't Post an Ad—"Wrap" the Place Where Customers Already Gather. Home Pitch and the "Turn a Place You Already Have into an Experience" Template
At events we reach for a new ad surface. Destination BC did the opposite: it wrapped an ordinary soccer pitch in 360-degree LED scenery of the province, so fans immersed in it while they played. People doubt an ad but not the scenery around an experience. Here is why it worked, and how a business with a physical site can copy it.
3 min read
Deliberately "Drain the Color" from the World's Most Famous Logo — Metallica's Blood-Donation Ad and the "Rewrite an Asset You Already Have" Template
"We don't have enough blood"—said with numbers, it moves no one. The UK's blood service made no new visual; it drained the color from famous red logos and Metallica's, turning the missing color into a metaphor for shortage. Here is why it worked, and how a small business can rewrite an asset it already owns.
3 min read