The Belonging Purchase

We don't buy the thing. We buy what it says.

Fortnite players spent $9 billion on skins between 2018 and 2020. Epic Games confirms: "Cosmetic items grant no competitive advantage."

Nine. Billion. Dollars.

For outfits that don't help you win.

I used to think this was irrational. Then I paid extra for priority boarding last month. Not to arrive earlier... we all land at the same time. Just to stand in a different line.

The skin doesn't make you better. The boarding doesn't make you faster.

But they both whisper the same thing: you belong here.

That Rolex waitlist? Same story. United's overhead bin anxiety? Same purchase. We're not buying features. We're buying membership.

Your customers aren't different.

They're not comparing specs. They're asking a simpler question—

Am I the kind of person who has this?

So maybe stop selling what it does.

Start selling who has it.