Lovers, Loofas & Losers

LFG. 1,000+ subscribers. Appreciate all of you joining me here for week 3 of Trust Fun. Seriously, it really does mean the world. Speaking of, here’s a fun fact: 90% of newsletters don’t make it past week 2, so this is a huge milestone. Disclaimer: I just made that up. Could be true, could not be true. Who cares. This is the internet. The wild west. If you’re here for facts, you picked the wrong newsletter.

But, if you didn’t pick the wrong newsletter & you’re okay with me making stuff up ??, please subscribe to Trust Fun with your email here. It’s goes a long way & helps me buy $6 almond milk lattes. Another disclaimer: I am not getting paid for this.

Once again, I had some serious writers blockage this week. Due to me being unemployed & currently collecting sevvy, I don’t have a ton of wildly insightful insights on how to crush it professionally (yet)… Albeit, in order to get the juices flowing & catalyze some varsity newsletter writing, I decided to go on a run in Central Park to clear my head.

I never run without music. Ever. But tonight, my AirPods decided to not work, & I was forced to make the hard decision… Run in silence in 50 degree, very windy conditions OR go back upstairs & make a batch of the holiday themed Pillsbury sugar cookies, jack-o-lantern edition. Yes these ones. They rule.

Obviously, a very tough call. But when you don’t want to get a sweat in, is when you gotta do it the most. So off I went into the Central Park abyss. Just me, a pair of short shorts, & some headphone-less silence.

And let me just say… Let’s normalize running without headphones. Seriously. I literally figured out everything. What to write about, what to cook for dinner, the patriots QB issues, if aliens are among us, etc... All solved. Talking to yourself out-loud rules, & there are not many socially acceptable places to do it without looking… well… crazy. But without music, you’re forced to think. It requires you talk through your messy thoughts, rationalize things & come to some answers. If you’re actively in the midst of solving a problem, go run outside without music. It might just help you get there. Let me know how it goes.

Long prologue today. Let’s get into the thicc of it.

The Beauty of Archetypes

I’ve been obsessed with brand archetypes ever since I learned what the hell they are… And since I’m trying to start a biz of my own, I’ve been think about them even more lately. Let me explain.

The CPG (consumer packaged goods) landscape is a lot like a Shakespearean play. Bet you didn’t see that one coming. But actually, it is. Whether you know it or not, every brand you’ve ever purchased from is a cast member within the world of consumerism, playing a specific & well thought-out role.

Most people do not think of brands in this way. Typically, brands are an afterthought of an entrepreneur’s business idea. “Okay so I’ve got this idea for a product. Step one done. So now, how am I going to position it?” For many founders (maybe most), it goes 1. Product & then 2. Brand. I am going to try and make the argument for why this is wrong & it should be reversed.

Let me give you the Sparknotes on what the hell brand archetypes are. In the 1940s, a wicked smart Swiss dude named Carl Jung said that we all have different personality types that are hardwired into us. He called these archetypes, aka, universal symbols that transcend all cultures, languages and times. Your archetype influences your behavior, desires, and values on a subconscious level.

Just like you probably learned in high school english class, archetypes are riddled all over the world of storytelling… Heroes, Villains, Lovers & Jesters are all needed for telling an epic story. Heroes to save the day, villains to create conflict, lovers to build up emotions, & jesters to make us laugh. The same concept exists within the brands you buy.

Some brands make us feel like a beast & heroic like Nike.

Some brands make us feel badass & dangerous like Liquid Death.

Some brands make us feel hot & sexy like Calvin Klein.

And some brands make us feel silly & laugh like Dr. Squatch.

That’s right. These MFers are tapping into our EMOTIONS. Why you might ask? Because when we are shopping, 9 out of 10 times we make IRRATIONAL + EMOTIONAL decisions. Yes. This is the truth. We, as humans, do not shop with our brains. We shop with our hearts.

Unless you’re an entrepreneur inventing something entirely new that’s never existed (hate to break it to you, you probably aren’t), you shouldn’t be spending your time & marketing dollars explaining why your loofa is 3% better than every other loofa. No one really gives a shit. But here’s what you can do…

Pick an archetype where you believe you can speak to the audience better than everyone else. 99 out of 100 times, your competitive advantage as a founder is in your voice, not your product.

Personally, I don’t purchase something because I see a really great advertisement for a loofa & I’m like “Damn, that’s an innovative loofa, let me get that right now.” In reality, I buy something when 1) I need it, or 2) I subconsciously want it. In both scenarios, my brain tries to remember what brands are selling loofas & I google them. For the sake of this theoretical need for a loofa, let’s say that in the last 90 days, I’ve seen 2 different loofa brands on Instagram…

Loofa brand A told me their loofa is 5% softer than other loofa brands.

Loofa brand B showed me a video of a bunch of dads in bath robes playing dodgeball with loofas.

I am ALWAYS remembering loofa brand B. I don’t remember facts, I remember feelings. And that completely made up & hypothetical video made me ROFL (roll on the floor laughing). You never forget a good ROFL.

And if you’re reading all this & saying “Actually no, brands don’t influence me, I make agnostic purchasing decisions.”

1) Shut up.

2) You’re probably wearing $128 pants from Lululemon & a $98 Peter Millar polo. Congrats, you just paid a $200 mark up for a magician brand & a hero brand.

Sorry to end there with some cyber bullying. My intentions are not to call you all losers for wearing Lululemon. Lululemon rocks. It’s a great brand. They normalized wearing pants that feel like sweatpants to work. Absolute magicians if you ask me. ??

Anyways, thanks for reading. Hope that you learned something today or I was able to distract you from doing some work.

See you next week.

PS. If you nerd out about this stuff the same way I do, this is a killer read.

PSS. Don’t worry Mom & Dad. I am NOT starting a loofa company. But… maybe I should? Who’s disrupted loofas? Hmmmm….