Discover how The Economist used the illusory superiority bias to boost subscriptions by 95% through psychology-led, smart, standout messaging. 

The Economist’s 1988 ‘White out of Red’ campaign has achieved iconic status amongst marketers. Distinctive brand messaging sat at the heart of this 14-year campaign, driving an unprecedented increase in magazine subscriptions. 

But, the story of this campaign’s success lies deeper than the words used in their attention-grabbing one-liners.

Enter the illusory superiority bias. 

A powerful psychological phenomenon, the illusory superiority bias played a pivotal role in encouraging new readers to subscribe.

Explore how this bias works in action with Cognition’s Creative Director, Olly Forrester,  and how The Economist leveraged this to their commercial advantage.

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