Normal begets normal. Marketers of big brands push consumers through marketing to conform to one type. One flavor. You can think of this a lot like what happens with the idea that public school is the only way to create a normal adult out of your child. That is market pressures on the part of local and state and federal governments who want to be able to track and predict long-range labor availability and other social metrics that contribute to and support the government economically. Teacher’s unions want to have predictable content that must be taught every year to a given age of child, so they can minimize the work necessary for teachers to teach and make it easier to measure their performance as well. Social media is another place you see normal begetting normal. In school and in VA certification courses, advertising executive retreats, and social media seminars, you hear over and over that images of people make the best ads. You hear that putting ads or images out on social media of inanimate objects will not perform. Everyone follows this advice because we all feel more comfortable when looking to an authority figure to make decisions for us. If someone with three letters after their name says it must be true, then that is what I must do. That is how I will reach the majority of the market, make the most sales, and ultimately increase my worth as a worker or business owner. Right?
Actually, no.
The best ads are weird. The best schools are weird. The best of anything is weird.
Weird is what attracts notice. Weird is what we all secretly want, even if it is something as simple as peanut butter on our bananas in the quiet and privacy of our own homes. If you think about it, really think, it is the weirdness in life that attracts the most attention. For better or worse, because there is a lot of bad weird out there, ‘weird’ attracts notice and enables choice.
‘Normal’ education means a public school for my child, but the ‘weird’ choice of homeschooling has made my kids into amazing, faithful, thoughtful, considerate, brave, and crazy-smart adults.
‘Normal’ social media ads mean images of moms and kids playing with the product being sold, but the images that do the best are the ‘weird’ ones. Beautiful mashups of animals and plants and other things you would not look twice at, but with something ‘weird’ or different about them. That slight off-ness of the image makes the image utterly compelling. Whether it evokes humor or is just beautiful, the ‘weirdness’ is what sets it apart and allows it to spread far and wide carrying the brand impression of the company on a comparative shoestring.
We are told all our lives that weird is bad and we need to strive for normal. Fit in or be left out. But in a sea of normal there is no uniqueness, no joy, and eventually no choice.
The market of anything from education to advertising dies a slow, gasping, death as it circles the drain of normalcy unless given the ability to incorporate some weird every so often. In a sea of gray, a splash of red catches everyone’s attention.
So, normal begets normal, until weird peeks out and takes over.
What does that mean for you? It means that if you want your product to stand out, or be an absolute success, you need to embrace a little bit of weird to stand out in the sea of normal.