What would you say the price of a Ziggy paperweight would be?
One dollar?
Two dollars...?
Priceless?
...Perhaps. And just looking at that bright, innocent smile silently encouraging me to have a lovely day, I'd be inclined to agree with you.
It just so happens that it was found in a thrift store, bought for two bucks. It was then placed on ebay and sold for a whopping fifty dollars.
Five. Zero.
How? Well, two guys set out to test a theory they had. Could a sufficiently awesome backstory raise the value of a product – even an objectively low value one – such that people would be willing to pay exponentially more for it?
Yes. Yes they can. And did.
And chronicled the whole thing on this website: www.significantobjects.com
Here's the particular story I'm referring to: Ziggy Heart
Ziggy was the first article I read on the website, and I was instantly hooked. I mean, I know the actual history of it (found in a thrift store for 2 bucks) and even I feel like I would want to buy it after reading that backstory. There are tons of great articles just like that, with items that sold similarly well. (Here's an article on two homies figurines that sold for 41 bucks...I think they're normally 25 cents.)
The overall result of their grand experiment? They turned around 200 items they found in thrift stores, each bought for an average of $1.25, into over 8000 dollars!
I've seen posts on here about the value of a good story to your brand, but this really drives the point home for me. I thought you guys might be able to apply this and get a kick out of some of the stories...I know I certainly did.
I guess that's just one more important life lesson we can say we learned from history's least offensive comic strip.
Thanks, Ziggy!
One dollar?
Two dollars...?
Priceless?
...Perhaps. And just looking at that bright, innocent smile silently encouraging me to have a lovely day, I'd be inclined to agree with you.
It just so happens that it was found in a thrift store, bought for two bucks. It was then placed on ebay and sold for a whopping fifty dollars.
Five. Zero.
How? Well, two guys set out to test a theory they had. Could a sufficiently awesome backstory raise the value of a product – even an objectively low value one – such that people would be willing to pay exponentially more for it?
Yes. Yes they can. And did.
And chronicled the whole thing on this website: www.significantobjects.com
Here's the particular story I'm referring to: Ziggy Heart
Ziggy was the first article I read on the website, and I was instantly hooked. I mean, I know the actual history of it (found in a thrift store for 2 bucks) and even I feel like I would want to buy it after reading that backstory. There are tons of great articles just like that, with items that sold similarly well. (Here's an article on two homies figurines that sold for 41 bucks...I think they're normally 25 cents.)
The overall result of their grand experiment? They turned around 200 items they found in thrift stores, each bought for an average of $1.25, into over 8000 dollars!
I've seen posts on here about the value of a good story to your brand, but this really drives the point home for me. I thought you guys might be able to apply this and get a kick out of some of the stories...I know I certainly did.
I guess that's just one more important life lesson we can say we learned from history's least offensive comic strip.
Thanks, Ziggy!
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