Be more like Batman.

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I bet you weren’t expecting that as a writing tip, but bear with me, it’ll all make sense soon. People often assume that to spend millions of dollars dressing up like a bat and having a bat signal and driving a batmobile and flying a batwing that Batman must really love bats. It’s an understandable assumption but some of you might be shocked to learn that it couldn’t be farther from the truth. Bruce Wayne actually had a deathly fear of bats since he was child, and becoming Batman was his way of owning his biggest weakness and turning it into a strength. Something that a lot of brands tend to avoid, but could do with investigating a little further.

Playing off the negative has led to some incredibly memorable campaigns, but it’s becoming less and less of an avenue as marketers increasingly chase after positivity and smiles and warmth. Sometimes that makes sense, but as we all know, life isn’t all roses. And nobody and nothing is perfect. (Especially companies and products.)

‘Being more like Batman’ isn’t just about playing the negative, but more so owning your perceived weaknesses. Exposing your Achille’s heel to such a degree that you actually end up completely disarming it as a weakness, and if done well, re-position it as a strength. I don’t know if there’s an opposite to Achille’s heel as my knowledge of Greek mythology is rudimentary at best, but let’s call it Spiro’s knee. You could find your Spiro’s knee.

Anyway, a great example of this is Eminem’s final verse in 8 Mile.

Instead of exaggerating and dramatising and posturing as one would expect in a rap battle, he owns every personal diss that his opponent might be preparing to throw at him and in the process re-frames them all as badges of authenticity. His opponent, paralysed in the face of encountering a classic Spiro’s knee, is basically left with no ammunition and forfeits. (No, let’s just scrap Spiro’s knee, it’s just making things confusing. I promise no more Spiro’s knee. Sorry.)

Another great (and very funny) example is metal band, Veil of Maya, who took a clip from a YouTuber tearing their style apart and went as far as putting his very words in a song and then turning them into a crushing breakdown. Hard to think of a better way to turn the tables than that.

One of the earliest, and most iconic, examples of a brand doing this was Avis' with ‘We try harder.’ While most brands are looking to fabricate reasons to project themselves as being ‘the best’, they owned the fact that they were second-best and spun it into a compelling argument as to why that makes them worth trying.

It’s endearing, isn’t it? Seeing a brand show a hint of honesty and vulnerability suddenly makes them feel more human. So, if you’re a budget hotel, don’t pretend like you’re the Hilton.

Stella’s infamous ‘Reassuringly expensive’ work was a great way to remind people exactly why things cost what they do.

Conversely, Newcastle Brown Ale’s lower price point was validated by the fact that there’s ‘no bollocks’ to pay for.

And who could forget KFC’s brilliant move to own their own fuck up by, of all things, running out of chicken…

If you’re a cough medicine that tastes like shit, which is every cough medicine, but you really work - then just be that.

Almost every tourism campaign in the world, especially for more unexpected locations, revolves around a city or country trying to position itself as ‘bigger and more exciting than you think’. But that’s not what makes the place special. Lean into the truth. If you’re a city that’s barely a city where it’s easy to get around and get reservations and you don’t have to stand in lines, then embrace it. Be the place where people can get away from it all.

If you’re an art gallery full of really weird, controversial, confronting stuff and you end up getting a bunch of 1-star reviews as a result - then wear them proudly.

And if you can’t afford real celebrities, then find a way to make it work in your favour.

Even one of the greatest ads of all time is a result of this line of thinking. Guinness, one of the most loved beers in the world, had one knock on it. It takes a long time to pour. It was the only thing people used to complain about. So they turned it into ‘good things come to those who wait’.

I challenge any of you to look at these ads and not feel at least a little bit better about the brand, product and/or service. Much like what we’re experiencing now with AI, when we see something attempting to appear unnaturally perfect we tend not to trust it. We get that uncanny valley feeling. It’s no different with brands.

And while there will be fears of ‘not wanting to alienate people’, the truth is that you are never going to win everyone over. If you’re honest about your product, then the only people you’re going to alienate are the people who were never going to buy it to begin with. But, you will become more endearing to those who might. Be more focused on making the sale you might than losing the sale you were never going to get. Because as I always say, ‘If you try to please everybody, you’ll excite nobody.’

Marmite has been successfully running its ‘love it or hate it’ positioning for decades now.

So, the next time you’re looking at a brand or product, maybe even your own, and there’s a perceived weakness that you’re always trying to sweep under the rug - maybe air it out a little bit. See if there’s a way to twist it to your advantage.

Because if you can, then you might just find yourself suddenly feeling invincible.

(I’m going to occasionally turn ads back on as this newsletter is now costing thousands (yes, thousands) to run. And rather than paywall it, I’ll run ads. Because it’s about ads. So it makes sense to have ads. Every click helps keep DTSA free. Cheers.)

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