Kevin Allen, part of the team that created the Mastercard Priceless ads while at McCann Erickson points out that tapping into people’s hidden agenda will get them to “yes.” The Mastercard ads are certainly memorable. I never did get a Mastercard as a result but I do quote the ads often in jest as a justification for spending way too much money for certain things.
Kevin explains the techniques he uses to find and tap into people’s hidden agenda in this Harvard Business Review article titled “Win the Pitch: Tips from Mastercard’s “Priceless” Pitchman.”
There are no magic tricks or hypnotics to persuade people to do what you say. Rather, behind every decision the average person makes to buy something — whether a product or service, your argument or an idea — is an unspoken emotional motivation. I call this the hidden agenda. Tap this, connect to it — and you will have people saying yes.
