Price-anchoring offer

The pattern

This still is filed under Price-anchoring offer.

Define

A higher reference number is shown first so the real price reads as a concession, not as a starting bid.

Mechanism

People judge a price against the first number they see. The anchor must be a real comparison or it collapses.

Verdict

We have a credible reference the buyer will accept

Why it works

The price sits in the headline, which answers the first objection to home movies (they must be for the rich) before the reader has time to raise it. A small table then lists each camera and projector model with its price, and the copy argues that running costs stay close to ordinary still photography. A sketch of a couple filming at the foot shows the hobby as something an ordinary household does.

The big idea

Home movies are not only for the rich: the price is the headline, 850 piastres, and the table shows running costs close to ordinary photography.

The offer

Cine-Kodak 8 model 20 at 850 piastres, Kodascope 8 projector from 1,150, model 60 versions at 2,250 and 2,400; film 65 piastres a reel with developing included; at all known photo dealers.

The proof

The copy says the 8 mm film cuts the price of a reel by 60 percent, and a printed table gives the price of every model.

Lines from the ad

آلة سينى كوداك ٨ بمبلغ ٨٥٠ قرشا

The Cine-Kodak 8 camera for 850 piastres

تجعل لذة هواية التصوير السينماتوغرافى فى متناول الجميع

puts the pleasure of the home-movie hobby within everyone's reach

نظرة بسيطة على الجدول ادناه كافية لاقناعكم

A simple look at the table below is enough to convince you

Steal this when

When your category is assumed to be expensive and your real price is low enough to be the headline.

The emotion

Written to Desire. It makes the Say move.

The headline puts 850 piastres beside 'the pleasure of the home-movie hobby', and a table prices every camera, projector and reel, with developing included, so the want comes with its full cost.