🍒 How to get people to pay $43 for $2 hand soap...

Back in 1987, newbie founder Dennis Paphitis wasn’t trying to build a luxury brand. He was just a dude - a Melbourne hairdresser who thought most beauty products smelled like lies and old lady perfume (which…he’s not wrong).

So he did something about it:

1. He made his own line of soap.

2. He gave the formulas unforgettable names.

3. He put them in plain apothecary bottles.

4. And slapped some random quotes from philosophers on the labels.

The guy had basically no plan to market these. He didn’t know any celebrities. He wasn’t friends with any TikTokers with that “clean girl” aesthetic. He didn’t even know how to build a GTM plan.

What he did have was a good product with a good design, and a visual brand that whispered: if you know…you know.

And oddly enough, when he launched his product…it worked. People bought and bought and bought until it sold out and his baby brand (now affectionately known as “Aesop”) had no choice but to become a global billion dollar brand.

Today, Aesop sells $43 hand soap to people all over the world, and made $2.7 billion in revenue at its peak in 2022.

Which is absolutely bonkers because Aesop…sells freaking soap.

(Don’t ever think you can’t create a billion dollar business from simple products, because Aesop says you can.)

So how does a minimalist brand with no influencer strategy, no obvious status flex, and no product innovation end up becoming a global flex?

One word: “signaling.”

Once you understand how signaling works, you can bake the same success Aesop had into any product…whether you sell vitamins, skincare, or tactical socks.

Let’s break down what a “signal” is, and how they get built.

🧠 What Is Signaling? (And Why It Makes or Breaks Perceived Value)

Signaling is a simple concept:

A “signal” is basically the equivalent of buying something so that other people know what you’re about. You buy a product not just for what it does, but for what it says about you. This signal then gets displayed to others (and to yourself) as a badge of honor.

Brands everywhere are built to provide these “signals”:

A Patagonia jacket signals values.
A Rimowa suitcase signals taste.
A Stanley cup signals cultural fluency.
Aesop soap signals restraint + aesthetic IQ.

Your entire outfit, home, car, career, and/or lifestyle signals how you want to be read. And that’s the key:

People don’t buy products. They buy perception.

Your job as a marketer isn’t to over-describe your value to people in the hopes they’ll eventually just give up and be convinced. 😅 It’s to engineer how ownership feels—and what it silently communicates identity.

🧬 The 3 Types of Signals Every Brand Can Manufacture

Let’s make one thing clear here…to build a brand that signals, you don’t need to be expensive. You don’t need celebrity endorsements. And you definitely don’t need to fake being “aspirational.”

You need to build intentional signal layers…the psychological cues that help customers say:

• “This is who I am”

• “This is what I get”

• “This is what I stand for”

Here’s three signals you can easily implement into any brand:

1. 📣 The Identity Signal: “This says something about me.”

This is the most powerful (and most overlooked) type of signal because it actively aligns with the person your customer already is (Aesop is great at this one).

If you’re selling hand soap using an Identity Signal, you don’t need to do much of anything except for curate and incredibly strong message, and double/triple down on communicating that message consistently over time.

Your message could say basically anything. From…

To…

What your message is doesn’t matter, as long as you’re consistently communicating it everywhere.

TACTICS TO BUILD IT:

• Write copy that mirrors self-talk. Not “this product is great”—but “you’ve always been the person who...”

• Use customer UGC that shows identity, not features: bags in airports, bottles on vanities, planners on clean desks

• Make the product an extension of a belief (“This supports the version of me I already believe in.”)

🧠 Why it works: Humans crave consistency between self-image and behavior. If your product helps people reinforce who they are (or want to be), they cling to it.

2. 🧠 The Intelligence Signal: “Only smart people get it.”

This is the “if you know, you know” signal (this is the signal Apple often uses.)

Some brands signal taste not by being flashy, but by being subtle, quiet, and earned.
They whisper instead of shout…and that’s exactly what makes them powerful.

If you want to build an Intelligence Signal, go and study:

• Unbranded DTC goods with signature colors or shapes

• Niche wellness brands using deadpan humor and ingredient-led design

• High-end personal tech with no visible logo, but immediately recognizable form factor

TACTICS TO BUILD IT:

• Remove overt sales language. Assume the buyer is smart. Let them discover.

• Use distinctive design cues—colors, packaging, formats—that become recognizable only after ownership.

• Let your community spread the signal through insider language, rituals, or “club-like” behavior.

🧠 Why it works: This taps into “costly signaling” and identity-proving behavior. People want others to notice that they “get it,” without having to say it.

3. 🔁 The Context Signal: “I’ve seen this in cool places.”

This is the social validation Signal, and it’s incredibly powerful (Notion often signals this way.)

(NOTE: A lot of brands think they have this one nailed, but too often over-project their own importance, so be careful with this one. 😅 Even if the product is great, the company it keeps decides whether it feels legit.)

The brands that Context Signal correctly are usually the brands that grow just from being featured in the background of influencer videos, sitting on design blogs, or quietly sitting on the counters of “those” apartments.

If your product shows up in the right contexts, it becomes legible as a signal.

TACTICS TO BUILD IT:

• Show your product in aspirational use environments (clean kitchen counters, creative studios, cozy reading nooks).

• Partner with tastemakers who don’t do traditional promos—just use it in their real lives.

• Curate “as seen in the wild” roundups to re-contextualize your product in buyer-friendly ecosystems.

🧠 Why it works: People trust pattern recognition. If they repeatedly see your product in trusted, tasteful places, they assign status to it by association.

🔁 How Signaling Compounds Over Time

Here’s the beautiful part:

Once a product starts signaling successfully, it creates a feedback loop:

1. Smart buyers feel good for choosing it

2. Others notice and copy them

3. The product gains social capital

4. That capital drives more demand

5. The price can go up—because the perceived meaning goes up

That’s how you go from “soap” to $43 hand wash.

From “vitamin” to $90-a-month ritual.

From “protein coffee” to evidence of being a functional adult.

Not because the product changed.

But because the signal became valuable.

TLDR

You can’t make your brand aspirational by telling people it’s aspirational.

But you can make it aspirational by engineering signals that help people say something about themselves.

And if you want to charge more, convert faster, and stand out without screaming—
Signal-building is your most powerful lever.

This is what we build inside Tether Lab:
Brands that don’t just talk to customers…
They let customers talk through them.

If you want to learn how to build signals around your brand,→ Step Inside the Lab ← Walk away with a sharper brand, smarter signals, and more sales to show for it.

🦕 Sarah

🚨 Trend Alert: +10,000% YOY Surge – Sephora is the new self-soothing ritual.

Searches for “Sephora skincare products” just exploded on Pinterest.

Not “serums.”
Not “anti-aging.”
Not even “best skincare routines.”

Just... Sephora skincare products.

Let’s unpack what this means (and how to ride it):

📈 The Signal:

Pinterest searches for “Sephora skincare products” are up over 10,000% year-over-year, spiking across Gen Z and younger Millennials. The phrase itself isn’t about the category. It’s about the context.

People aren’t looking for skincare. They’re looking for a brand that feels like control in a bottle.

🧠 The Diagnosis:

This isn’t about skin. It’s about certainty.

What this trend is actually saying:
→ “I trust Sephora to curate what I can’t.”
→ “I’m not just buying products—I’m buying potential.”
→ “Skincare = control = calm.”

Call it prestige placebo. It’s working.

📌 How to capitalize on it:

🧴 Skincare & Beauty Brands

Borrow Sephora’s halo. Even if you’re not in their store, use the language your buyers are already searching:
→ “Sephora-style routine”
→ “Skincare like the pros stock”
→ “As seen in those Sephora hauls”

Bonus: Curate “starter stacks” that mimic the shelfie aesthetic—bundle, badge, repeat.

🛍️ DTC Wellness Brands

This is the moment to lean into aspirational systems.
Don’t sell products. Sell rituals with names like:
→ “The Reset Routine”
→ “Your 3-Step Calm Kit”
→ “Confidence in 5 Minutes or Less”

Use polished, touchable visuals. Yes, it should look like a $72 moisturizer—even if it’s $14.

🧠 Creative Strategists

Tap into visual legitimacy.
Consumers trust what feels put-together. That means elevated packaging, stackable kits, and UGC that looks like it belongs on a bathroom counter in a Get Ready With Me video.

Prompt idea:
→ “This is what $30 of control looks like.”

📸 UGC Creators

This is Sephora-core. Embrace it.
Try these formats:
→ “What I’d rebuy with $100 at Sephora”
→ “The products that feel expensive, but aren’t”
→ “POV: You just needed to feel in charge of something today.”

Every purchase is a vote for identity. Make the vote feel chic.

And if this whole thing makes you want to rearrange your skincare drawer and pretend it’ll solve your life… same.

Until next week,
🦖 DEX

P.S. Want to turn trends like this into scroll-stopping, psych-backed campaigns? Join Tether Lab. It’s $197 this week. Because knowing why people click is your new competetive edge.