We notice things when patterns are broken, unexpected, and odd. As in the title of this post – it’s immediately a bit weird – we have to work to get the word patterns to see the word pattern.
Does your marketing work hard at breaking patterns, or do you blend into the categories wallpaper? We expect to see the swirl of soft-serve ice cream in the cone, not a new type of lightbulb.
Marketing is filled with the chance to do something daring, unconventional, and outside of what everyone else does.
Most brands are too scared, lazy, or unimaginative to try. They want to join with the other brands and blend into their category instead of standing out. Patterns represent a category’s blur.
When every new cereal comes in a box and screams low sugar, it is hard to notice your brand among the herd.
The Broken Pattern
The question marketers should be asking isn’t what could we do to get noticed that is meaningfully different?
The question is what can we do that is on strategy and breaks the expected pattern of communications?
When was the last time you disrupted your category by knowing the conventional pattern and shredding it into tiny bits?
- The silence when you expect sound.
- Black and white when you expect color.
- A scent when you don’t expect aroma.
- Shapes when they break the pattern of the category.
- Soft and quiet when you anticipate noise.
- Games when you expect seriousness.
- Textures when you expect flatness.
- Light when you expect darkness.
- Words when you expect paragraphs.
- Brochures that look like napkins.
- Websites that feel different because they aren’t burdened by so much copy, or they are gamelike when everyone is serious.
The next time you want to send an email to get someone’s attention, ask yourself, can you find a happy way to surprise them and change the pattern of expectation.
If you want to be noticed and breakthrough, first learn the patterns of your category. Then break them.
You can’t stand out from the competition when everyone looks alike.
You can set up a time to chat with me about your marketing challenges using my calendar. Email me jeffslater@themarketingsage.com Call me. 919 720 0995. The conversation is free, and we can explore if working together makes sense. Watch a short video about working with me.
Photo by Roseanna Smith on Unsplash
Here is an excellent book on breaking patterns called Unconscious Branding by Douglas Van Praet. You can read my review of his book. Doug worked on that great VW commercial with the little boy as Darth Vader and his dad controlling the car.
