The Weekly COVID Update: 98% Comedy, 2% Cabbage
The crowd cheers. A cabbage arcs across the street and crunches onto Mike Wood’s spiked helmet. The crowd cheers again and laughs. Mike stands triumphant and smiling, his helmet newly cabbaged. He appeals for an appropriate donation for the show. (No nickels or dimes, please. Fives are good, tens are better.)
Years earlier, Mike had a problem. He was an OK juggler and pretty funny, but many one-man bands can dance their way over that bar (or under if their specialty is limbo). He needed a way to quickly grab the attention of passersby and to stand out from other street performers. Enter catapult and cabbage. They made him distinct from other street performers, caught the attention of crowds, and gave his comedy a chance to shine. His act is 98% jokes and crowd interaction, 2% cabbage. And that 2% has earned him a living as a street performer.
We’ve sketched out the climax of Mike’s act below.
Like Mike, many of us try to find a way to stand out, both personally and professionally. In marketing there is a constant drive to highlight distinctive features of a brand or product - most famously in Rosser Reeve’s Unique Selling Proposition. Distinctiveness brings differentiation, and differentiation brings attention, loyalty, and healthy margins.
It’s simple, right? Maximize difference to reap profits! Not so fast. For new products and people, being too distinct can be every bit as bad as being too similar.
According to research published in the Journal of Marketing Research, new products that are dramatically different from what came before can befuddle novice consumers and experts alike. Experts in particular can’t match the new features to their existing knowledge and will miss product benefits that don’t fit their expectations.
Just like brands seek to stand out from competitors, we are driven to carve out distinctive identities in our personal lives. We want to be distinct from our peers, to forge our own independent identity. Brands are eager to capitalize on the drive for personal identity as well. Be different! Be you! We’ll get you there.
Everyone wants to have a distinct identity, but everyone also has an opposing drive to fit in. These drives for differentiation and assimilation are the focus of Marilynn Brewer’s Optimal Distinctiveness Theory, which asserts that people seek both differentiation and assimilation, ultimately landing at a happy medium of optimal distinctiveness in order to satisfy both needs.
If you were once a teenager you can probably relate to the seesaw of trying to fit in and trying to stand out. And the endless angst from both sides. Hopefully by now you’ve found your own point of optimal distinctiveness. Perhaps you went a bit too far with that spiked collar before finding your way back to a boldly painted door on your home and a stylish custom facemask when out in public.
In these times it’s harder to satisfy our need to be different and our need to fit in. Our social circles have dramatically shrunk, often depriving us of the relationships and activities that shape who we are. Some of us are lucky enough to have discovered new social-distance friendly activities (and their sourdough starters are still thriving), while others are still searching for equilibrium.
Whether your long weekend involves solitude or togetherness (apart, of course), cabbage or custom facemasks, we hope that (with or without Mike) it’s 98% fun and laughs.