Out of the top 5 highest-grossing R-rated movies in history…
The Deadpool ones hold the #1, #4, and #5 spots.
How did they pull it off…
…if what they did – on paper – looks “wrong” compared to usual superhero movies:
- Deadpool keeps breaking the fourth wall (while others normally want you immersed in the story and its world…)
- The “hero” is obnoxious, vulgar, immature and self-absorbed (harder to root for than the noble & cool heroes like Superman…)
- Deadpool’s even ugly and grotesque (instead of the usual handsome fellas that Spidey, Batman and Supes are…)
And while taking the “wrong” approach certainly isn’t the only factor in such glaring success of the movies…
I believe it played a large part in it.
Exactly because its creator – Rob Liefeld – applied the same principle of doing things as they “shouldn’t” be done to the comics decades earlier:
- The character Cable literally has two left feet drawn…
- The interior windows of his houses would have round windows, but the exterior would have square windows…
- The characters would often have long legs and super tiny feet…
- And his artwork was just generally out of proportion…
He had writers quit on him because almost everything he did wasn’t logical and/or made sense…
An industry veteran even went so far as to say that:
“He cannot draw. He can’t write. He has nothing to offer.”
And yet…
His editor wouldn’t dare change A THING.
His stuff was just bringing in so much money…
…he couldn’t argue with any of it.
(Even if he was DYING to!)
Now, if you look at any of my things:
- My plain-text emails…
- My book with an ugly beige cover…
- My Web 1.0-esque website…
It’s all just one giant Rob Liefeld mess.
Some people like it…
…and some people don’t.
But much more crucial than someone’s affinity… is if it got their attention.
And when you run with this “ugly-first” philosophy in everything you do?
It stands out.
Our eyes are suckers for contrast:
- For the ugly dark blue Fiat Multipla in a parking lot full of white Teslas…
- For the orange in a row of apples…
- For the stick in the mud…
- For the nun in a brothel…
And yet…
A good chunk of this industry still chooses to engage in “marketing incest” – i.e., copying what the others are doing just 1.34% “differently”.
When I was getting into marketing?
I thought its purpose was to get you to stand out…
NOT blend in with the crowd.
(And that crowd is some 3000-5000 large in the supplement industry…)
Whatever.
You can lead a horse to water…
(Heck! You can try dunking his head into the drinking trough repeatedly and send him emails about the “ugly-first” philosophy a few times a month consistently…)
…but you can’t make him drink it.
If you want to discover more about this “ugly-first” philosophy of mine – at least when it comes to email – Blind Spot #4 in my book is the place.
[Part of this email’s content has been removed from this Email Echoes version of it.]
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