Demand Curve - Growth Newsletter #203

The Growth Newsletter #203

Be candid with your flaws

Pretend you're perfect in all ways, and nobody will trust you.

Let's dive into being perfectly candid about your flaws.

– Neal

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Be candid with your flaws

Insight by Demand Curve.

It’s human nature.

Very few people (and companies) are willing to:

• Admit their flaws
• Turn people away
• Upset people

It’s part of why being extremely candid with your flaws can be so powerful.

Because others aren’t.

Be willing to insult yourself

It’s incredibly bold to insult your product on a quality many consider important.

Like this classic VW ad calling their cars ugly:

Or this one calling their cars slow:

I love the old VW because they were brave enough to draw a line in the sand:

“We focus on reliability and practicality. We’ll let all the other brands fight over the fastest, the prettiest, and the most advanced.”

Side note: Today, nearly all car companies sell all kinds of cars. Lamborghini sells an SUV. Volkswagen sells luxury models. Hyundai sells trucks. I suspect this is why their advertisements are all so boring and similar now.

Being candid with your flaws works for a few reasons:

• It builds trust. If you’re willing to be candid about your product’s flaws, people trust you’re telling them the truth about its strengths.
  
  
• It tells you who it’s for. We all want a product that’s tailored to our specific needs. Yet most companies try to be all things to all people.
  
  
• A flaw is also a strength. There are always trade-offs. When you make something better at one thing, it gets worse at others.
  • If your car is pretty, it’s expensive.
  • If your (gas) car is fast, it uses a lot of gas.
  • If your car has room for 7, it can be filled with noisy kids.

This Atoms ad tackles these trade-offs head-on:

Be willing to alienate people

This old SAAB ad takes #2 (telling you who it’s for) to the next level:

Instead of directly insulting their own car, SAAB insulted people who buy their competitor’s fancier, more expensive cars (a pretty small pool of people, mind you).

The beauty here is that it implicitly admits that the SAAB is nobody’s dream car—a result of its flaws.

That’s a pretty brave thing to admit.

SAAB didn’t even try to compete with the Ferraris and Corvettes of the world.

Instead, they put their car in its own category:

A practical and affordable car that’s also sporty.

Be willing to turn people away

Do what nearly all other brands are not willing to do:

• Admit your flaws.
• Turn people away
• Upset people who aren’t your target customer

It'll attract the right people to you.

By the way, I’ve been curating and analyzing some of the world’s best ads on my LinkedIn. I’m now starting to use that to fill up our Ad Vault.

The goal is to make it a comprehensive, searchable, filterable resource for the best ads in the world—with quick explanations of the tactics they’re using.

It’s a work in progress, so keep checking back as we fill it up.

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Something fun

A "benefit of a benefit." Presented in a comical and relatable way.

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Thanks, everyone!

Neal O'Grady

Justin Setzer

Nick Costelloe