Embracing Imperfections in Marketing: How to Embrace Flaws Using the Pratfall Effect

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Here’s something difficult for a marketer to admit.

Sometimes, marketing is incredibly glib.

It’s so intensely focused on highlighting positives that marketing often comes across as superficial. Advertising campaigns, slogans, and product launches all use the same rhetoric.

They talk about how great the thing is.

Gillette is the best a man can get. Coca-Cola Opens Happiness. And KFC is Finger Lickin’ Good.

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I’m not surprised.

If you want to persuade someone to buy something, you’ll probably talk about how great it is.

If you wanted to hook your roommate up with a work colleague, you wouldn’t tell them that they put tuna in the office microwave. No, you’d focus on the positives.

It’s conventional wisdom.

But is it right?

See, I think all of us, deep down, know that we’re not solely drawn to positive things.

No. Sometimes, we prefer imperfections.

Embracing imperfections in marketing is about buyer psychology.

If you told McDonald’s to change their slogan from I’m lovin’ it, to, I’ve only got $4 so this will have to do — you’d get kicked out of the boardroom.

But this is a problem. It’s marketing that’s based on gut instinct, not evidence.

It's marketing based on opinion, not fact.

It's marketing based on experience, not science.

See if we focused on understanding the psychology behind our buyers, we might not laugh at this suggestion for a new McDonald's slogan. We might embrace it.

Perfection isn’t perfect.

Adam Grant shared a study of world-class sculptors in his book Hidden Potential.

It turns out that world-class sculptors weren’t world-class students. They showed little talent as they studied and definitely weren’t perfect. Their pieces contained lots of faults.

66% of the world’s best sculptors graduated high school with Bs and Cs.

A similar pattern emerged when comparing America's most influential architects.

The great architects had rarely been great students: they typically finished college with a B or C average.

Adam Grant writes how, in their quest for flawless results, research suggests that perfectionists tend to get three things wrong.

1. They obsess about details that don't matter.
2. They avoid unfamiliar situations that might lead to failure.
3. They berate themselves for making mistakes.

There’s something powerful in embracing flaws. Acknowledging that perfection is impossible and instead showcasing the imperfections that make you, you.

And the same is true for marketers. Those who embrace their flaws tend to create better ads.

The Pratfall Effect

This is known in psychology as the pratfall effect.

The pratfall effect was documented back in 1966 by the Havard psychologist Elliot Aronson. His studies revealed that people saw intelligent quiz contestants as more likable when they spilled coffee down themselves. In other words, competent people are preferred if they’re a little clumsy.

In Aronson’s words, “the pratfall effect made the quiz contestant appear more appealing, increasing his approachability and making him seem more human”.

Jo Sylvester conducted a followup study at Swansea University. Her team found that when job candidates revealed a weakness they were considered more likable, and thus were far more likely to be offered the job.

The Pratfall Effect in Practice

Consumer psychologist Adam Ferrier, a previous guest on Nudge, proved this by asking a representative sample of 626 people a question about cookies.

The participants were shown two cookies that were identical apart from one small difference. One cookie had a rough edge, while the other was perfectly smooth.

But, I’m never convinced until I’ve tested these principles myself. So, I created two Reddit ads to promote my podcast, Nudge.

A Pratfall Effect Marketing Experiment

The first ad was traditional textbook marketing stuff, highlighting all the positives about listening to my show. It was titled “5 reasons why you should listen to Nudge.”

The second highlighted my flaws. Titled “5 reasons why you SHOULDN’T listen to Nudge.”

I’ll be honest. I didn’t expect the pratfall effect ad to work. It was too literal. I was literally telling people not to listen to my show AND giving them reasons why.

Sure, the reasons I gave weren’t too damning and it was all written in a jokey manner, but I still didn’t think it would beat the control.

I spent around $110 in total. Over 300,000 people saw the ad. And I couldn't believe the results.

It was 4x more effective.

The click-through rate on the control was 0.09%, but the click rate for the pratfall ad was 0.47%. I got a 391% uplift telling people not to listen to my show. Over 500 new listeners tuned in to the show from that one ad. And to date, it’s my most successful test on Reddit.

And yet, this is something that I doubt I’d ever use in a business setting. Your boss wouldn’t dare let you try something that says not to buy the product. It’s so rare to see companies embracing imperfections in marketing, or showcasing weaknesses, because it seems too risky.

But it pays to be different.

It pays to apply science to marketing.

And it pays to embrace your flaws.