When you break a pattern, you notice. So, it grabs your attention when I ask you not to read this blog post.
When we are told not to do something, guess what happens?
Don’t open that letter, don’t listen to the voicemail, and don’t go to this restaurant.
It sparks our curiosity because it breaks a pattern. We are used to being told to act and do stuff. Buy this and click here.
Expectations are the rules of a category.
It is how everyone else behaves – herd behavior.
Brands tend to move together to offer similar formats, pricing, and platforms. Most brands make the same assumptions about their audience. They go wide and broad – not narrow and niche.
Wine in glass bottles, beef jerky with pictures of cowboys, and healthy foods with green packaging cues. Pink for girls’ toys, blue for boys. These are expectations of categories – and great brands break away from those expectations.
When Ikea redefined a furniture store, they started selling furniture you must assemble. No one did this 30 years ago. They broke the rules intentionally.
We notice the unexpected. Aren’t you curious when I say don’t read this blog?
Netflix’s Kaleidoscope
Have you heard about the new series on Netflix called Kaleidoscope?
It is a bank heist similar to many others they stream. But, it has one crucial difference. Every viewer sees the first seven episodes in a different order, and the finale is seen last by each viewer.
When I stumbled upon it, I recognized the genius of the idea. It is THE ONLY show I know that broke this pattern of serving up episodes to everyone in the same order.
Word of mouth on this series will be epic. It is already the most-viewed show on Netflix this week.
It just launched last week, but I guarantee you’ll hear people talking about it – not because of the content, but because they broke a rule about series.
As a bank heist – it wasn’t that good; I figured out what would happen. So I’d rate it as average viewing.
But as a pattern-smashing series – I loved it. Different. Disruptive. Pattern-breaking.
Three Observations on Breaking Patterns:
- Study the category first. Understand the rules everyone follows. Find out why they follow those rules from industry insiders. How is bottled water sold? Challenge the format of how your product is sold, like Liquid Death with water in cans.
- Explore how to stand out by breaking, disrupting, or ignoring the rules. How could you be so distinctive and unexpected that you get noticed and have a different story? If every coffee shop talks about its organic sourcing and sustainability, how can you tell a different but authentic story? The coffee shop is disguised to help developmentally disabled adults like Bitty & Beaus or the gun-toting, right-wing Black Rifle.
- Create small tests to see if your idea works at retail or online. Is the difference means to the audience you want to serve? Do you add a new and fresh dimension to how to market products in the category? I once tested new packaging, but instead of focus groups, I put two different product designs into a 100-store chain. We measured sell-through in a classic A/B test. One was a bag in the box, a standup pouch—two different formats. The category challenging structure won – by almost two to one.
So please, don’t share this post or comment on it. I would hate to see it go viral and get much attention.
What patterns are you breaking with your brand?
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 Alonso Reyes on Unsplash
