Why Luxury Brands Depend on "Controlled Dissatisfaction"
Luxury thrives not on fulfilment but on desire as brands use controlled dissatisfaction to keep customers endlessly aspiring and engaged.
In the 1920s, Ford’s Model T was the most satisfying product on the market—durable, cheap, and built to last. But that very satisfaction became Ford’s Achilles’ heel.
As Michael McCollough, Ph.D. McCollough (Professor of Marketing at the University of Idaho) explains in Insatiability: A Conceptual Framework…, General Motors couldn’t beat Ford on reliability or price, so it beat it by creating dissatisfaction.
GM introduced styling, features, and annual model changes that made drivers feel their reliable Model T was no longer enough.
The result was seismic: GM’s market share grew from 16% in 1924 to 43% by 1927, while Ford’s plunged from 60% to 10%. The lesson? In competitive markets, the key to growth is not satisfaction; it’s managed discontent.
This is the essence of luxury strategy today. Luxury brands thrive not by fulfilling needs, but by fuelling desire, and that means keeping customers just dissatisfied enough to keep coming back.
