Status drives product 'cool' for Chinese respondents and usefulness for US and German ones
Gerard Tellis and colleagues surveyed 100 consumers in the US, Germany and China and found two kinds of product 'cool', one about status and one about use. The national contrast rests on a small sample, so the findings shared by all three countries are the firmer guide for global brands.
The Scientist · Science desk
What happened
- Respondents in all three countries recognised both kinds of cool, but US and German buyers more often bought for usefulness and Chinese buyers for social status.
- Chinese consumers were also more motivated to buy a product after other people personally called it cool.
- In every country, useful products were more likely to stay cool over time, while products riding trends and social attention lost their appeal faster.
- Consumers in the US, Germany and China all strongly linked an appealing visual design with coolness.
- Tellis wrote the study with Gratiana Pol of Hyperthesis and Eden Yin of Cambridge Judge Business School, and it appears in the Journal of International Marketing.
Why it matters
- constraint With roughly 33 people per country and no reported effect sizes, a brand can read the direction of the status-versus-usefulness gap from this study but not its size.
- decision Brands selling in China have a reason to budget for peer and influencer endorsement, since being called cool by other people moved Chinese respondents more.
- exposure Tellis warns that celebrity-led campaigns in achievement-oriented markets such as the US can make a product look shallow, and a pitch built only on function in China may miss buyers who care about status.
One hundred people is the whole denominator [2]. The phys.org account of the paper does not report how they were split by country, or give percentages or effect sizes. An even split would put about 33 respondents in each country [14].
The two categories are easy to picture. Personal cool comes from features that are useful, or advanced enough to inspire awe, such as an AI tool that removes a tedious task or a self-emptying robot vacuum [12]. Social cool comes from cultural relevance. The study says Labubu dolls sell out because Rihanna, Dua Lipa or a friend already has one, not because of what the dolls do [13].
The authors link the country pattern to a broader distinction between achievement-oriented cultures such as the US and Germany and ascription-oriented ones such as China [6]. Their own wording is hedged. Consumers in the achievement-oriented countries "seemed to prefer" products that reflect individual accomplishment or personal excitement [6]. The design limits how far that explanation can reach. Two countries sit on one side of the line and one on the other, so culture cannot be separated from any other difference between China and the two Western markets, such as income or how the word "cool" carries across languages.
The durability finding [8] is the one I would put most weight on. It held across all three countries, so it does not depend on comparing small national groups against each other. The thing this doesn't tell you is how "over time" was measured. If the survey was a single round, durability depends on what respondents remember fading. Recall is a weaker measure than tracking how people rate products as they age.
Tellis, a professor emeritus of marketing [1], uses a smartphone to illustrate the positioning choice. In the US, by his account, the advertisement may stress the camera and battery life, while in China the same company may highlight what buying the phone says about its owner [10]. I think the evidence supports a narrower instruction than picking a lever for each market. Build on function and visual design, which counted in every country surveyed [9], and test the status split in each market with samples well above 100 [2].
What to watch
- Per-country sample sizes and effect sizes from the Journal of International Marketing paper, which would show how wide the status-versus-usefulness gap actually is.
- A replication covering more countries, including more than one ascription-oriented culture, which could separate culture from other differences between China and the two Western markets.
- Tracking of how products are rated as they age, to test whether useful products really stay cool longer than buzz-driven ones.
Clarity's read
What the record supports and how the coverage leans. The claims behind it follow.
Reality
- Evidence35
- Adoption
- Insufficient
- Hype gap+30
- Incentives
- Insufficient
- Confidence40
Claim ledger
Ranked by verification strength, evidence, and original report placement.
- [1]
A new study from Gerard Tellis, professor emeritus of marketing, suggests consumers have two primary definitions of 'cool': one refers to what a product signals about the owner's status, the other to the product's utility.
- [2]
Tellis and co-authors surveyed 100 consumers across the United States, Germany and China.
- [3]
Tellis's co-authors are Gratiana Pol, CEO and co-founder of Hyperthesis, and Eden Yin, associate professor in marketing at the University of Cambridge Judge Business School.
- [4]
The study is published in the Journal of International Marketing (2026) under the title 'What Makes a Product Cool? Consumer Perceptions of Product Coolness Across Three Cultures'.
- [5]
Consumers in all three countries recognized both personal and social forms of coolness, but consumers in the US and Germany more frequently purchased products for their usefulness, while Chinese consumers were incentivized by items that conveyed social status.
- [6]
The researchers connect the differences to a cultural distinction: consumers in achievement-oriented cultures such as the US and Germany 'seemed to prefer' products that reflect individual accomplishment or inspire personal excitement, while those in ascription-oriented cultures such as China preferred products associated with social standing and group affiliation.
- [7]
Chinese consumers were more motivated to buy a product after others personally labeled it 'cool'.
- [8]
Across cultures, genuinely useful products were more likely to stay cool over time, while products driven mainly by trends and social attention lost their appeal more rapidly.
- [9]
Consumers in the United States, Germany and China all strongly associated an appealing visual design with coolness.
- [10]
According to Tellis, in the US a smartphone advertisement may emphasize the camera and battery life, while in China the same company may highlight what purchasing the phone says about the owner.
- [11]
According to Tellis, leaning too hard on celebrity buzz in an achievement-oriented market risks making products look shallow, and leaning too hard on function in a market that prizes status may miss opportunities to highlight what a product says about the buyer's social standing.
- [12]
The personal path to coolness: a product's features are useful to the consumer or advanced enough to inspire awe, for example an AI tool that eliminates a tedious task or a self-emptying robotic vacuum.
- [13]
The social path to coolness: a product signals cultural relevance and social cachet; the study explains that Labubu dolls sell out not because of what they do but because Rihanna, Dua Lipa or a friend already has one.
- [14]
If the 100 respondents were split evenly across the three countries, each country would contribute about 33 people.
Sources
1 independent publisher whose own reporting we read for this story.
- phys.orgWhat makes a product 'Cool'?
1 article · October 7, 2026
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