The last few days I’ve observed some interesting behavior.  Well, it’s interesting to me…maybe I’m late to the game.  Our cell phones have become our most prizes and sacred possession.  As the industry evolved from feature phones to smartphones, our cell phones have become the center piece of lives.  Our contacts, connections, tools, notes, messages (text, email, etc.) and access to the world (via apps like Facebook) all fit in the palm of our hands.  People would rather give you their house keys than their cell phone.

A few weeks ago I was in Las Vegas, waiting in line to ride the roller coaster at New York New York.  I observed a very interesting exchange between a married couple.  The wife wanted to use her husband’s iPhone.  He was obviously hesitant.  She was a bit inebriated (I’m being nice) and expressed to him that he need not worry, because she wasn’t going to read his emails, she just wanted to make a call.  Think about that.  They are MARRIED and he doesn’t want to share his phone.  Say what?  You gave her a ring, signed up for life together, but you won’t share your phone?

The past few days, I’ve observed similar behavior, even between myself and other people.  A friend was showing me something on her phone, but the angle was poor.  I went to grab the phone and adjust the angle.  You would have thought that I was some random crazy person, because the speed and ferociousness used to pull the phone away from my fingers was legendary.  She apologized…explained it was a gut reaction and then ever so slowly handed over the phone.  While I was holding the phone and looking at the screen, it was clear she was extremely uncomfortable with the situation.  Keep in mind, we’ve known each other for about 6 years.

Crazy.  But, I guess I shouldn’t be surprised.  Information is valuable.  And the information contained in our cell phones is unique, specific to the owner and sometimes irreplaceable.  For me though, I’d like to be in a relationship with someone where I don’t even need to password protect phone and would trust them (and vice versa) to use it ad hoc. I can dream.

Value is not price. Value is something very personal. Each of us sees things very differently. There are those of us who look at a diamond and simply say, “well, a diamond is a diamond.” Then there are others who believe in paying the so-called blue box tax that comes with a Tiffany diamond. Simply put, they value a Tiffany branded diamond more than any other diamond from any other jewelry store.

We see the concept of value every time we observe an eBay auction. Auctions are one of the purest forms for determining value. Someone is selling something and all potential buyers have a price in mind. Often we spend more than the “retail value” for the item. Why? Why, would we spend more than what the retail value of an item is? Simple. We value it more. Perhaps the item holds “sentimental value.” Or perhaps the buyer finds value in getting the item before anyone else could.

One of the most interesting things I’ve seen in a while was Radiohead’s approach for distributing their album, In Rainbows. They made the album available for digital download and allowed consumers to pick a price they wanted to pay for it.  Think about that. You could pay $0.00 for the album. You could pay $100.00 for the album. You, the consumer was allowed to determine the value. The pessimistic person might argue, who would pay anything more than $0.00 for the album. Well, based on real data, most consumers actually paid the normal retail price. At first, I was surprised. But, when you consider Radiohead’s strong following, it makes sense. Their fans…their consumers wanted to engage in a true mutual exchange. They didn’t want to take advantage of the band. Why? Well I think it’s because the band continually put out great music. Most Radiohead fans will tell you, there’s never been a bad album. The band has always delivered the goods. Perhaps, because the band had always provided value, the fans wanted to pay a fair price.

I imagine if Southwest and Delta let customers name their price for flights, most consumers would take advantage of Delta because of how many times Delta took advantage of them. I’d also imagine the opposite would be true of Southwest.

What would happen if you made your product or service available to consumers via a “name the price” model? Would your consumers pay retail? Would they pay more? Would they take advantage? If the majority of consumers elected to pay $0.00, what would it say about your brand or product?