‘Reassuringly expensive’ was the slogan used by a drinks company some years ago to promote their ‘premium’ lager brand and, and by all accounts, it was a roaring success. Apparently, the reasoning behind this wonderful campaign was to churn out a roughly similar product to everyone else but, by charging more for it, induce people to assume they were getting something superior.

The guy who thought this up deserved to receive a far greater bonus than any of today’s bond traders. Of course, this ploy wasn’t going to last forever; eventually even the most sozzled of drinkers cottoned on, although, strangely, the price was never reduced.

In any case, you’d think that today, with the wealth of information at our disposal, this kind of thing wouldn’t work, but far from it. The words might not be in evidence but the principle certainly is and this case, of course, we refer to bike brands. Such is the insidious appeal of this style of advertising that even readers of roadcyclinguk.com have been charmed by the false sirens of premium branding.

For proof, just look at what happens when a brand is not perceived this way. Boardman Bikes, for example. One poor chap on the forum has decided that even though a certain bike is at least a thousand pounds cheaper than strict equivalents it’s still a ‘whopping’ price, but my deepest sympathies go to someone who would have one ‘tomorrow’ if it had a different, more prestigious manufacturer’s logo.

So it would seem that the ‘Reassuringly expensive’ campaign has had an indelible effect upon many of us, and even though a company can offer effectively the same product but a cheaper price we still cannot resist the imaginary kudos of the dearer item. Next time you’re thinking about buying something new, in this case a bike, read and listen to reviews offered by owners, because for all you know everything else might be the work of a lager-swilling ad man.