What the marketing man can learn from malaria

This article from the New York Times - on the World Health Organisation's policy u-turn on its method of distributing mosquito nets - initially reads as specialist information. Important, undeniably, but ultimately the concern of a minority group of politicans and aid workers. Yet, hidden behind Dr Arata Kochi's decision to begin to distribute the nets for free is an interesting truth about human behaviour.

As the article explains, the specific economic, medical and social conditions in east Africa are conducive to a shift in approach. A high concentration of nets creates added value by providing protection even to those without them, and, rather perversely, free nets are actually cheaper to produce and distribute. The tactic currently being phased out is known as social marketing. Branded nets are sold by local traders at a nominal, loss-making price unwritten by donor contributions. This rather strange arrangement is based on the idea that an item is perceived to have greater value if it comes with a price tag, than if the item is free. Thus the local population would invest greater care (and by extension, faith) in the nets if they were forced to pay. The boost to the local economy is a further happy consequence.

For the reasons outlined above, Dr Kochi's rejection of social marketing is not a rejection of the psychology behind it. A recent study by Dr Antonio Rangel (described here) discovered that drinkers derived greater enjoyment from the same wine more if they believed it was more expensive. The human mind's sober deduction of value not only overrides, but actually manipulates its own sensory perception. These findings may not be important if they were confined to casual drinkers - after all, how many of us can really tell the difference with any certainty between a shiraz and a cabernet? However, the same process occurred with the refined palettes of the Stanford University wine club.

Rangel has two interlinked evolutionary explanations: humans adapt quickly to what they perceive to be correct to enhance their chances of survival, and price is a more quantitative, reassuring guide than the tastebuds; also, the expensive wine comes with social cachet, the creation, at least, of the illusion of success and the opportunity to intimidate rivals. Yet the value of the study - and its implications on marketing everything from luxury property to mosquito nets are enormous - is that the brain is doing more than creating an illusion to fool others, it is fooling itself just as much.