Hey 👋 The Crew here.
We don’t want to make you anxious, but it turns out that 2025 is less than 14 weeks away.
Yes, time flies.
But on the upside—that’s more than ten issues of this very newsletter until we step into the new year. Not all is bad.
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Early adopters at NVIDIA and U-Haul are about to reveal AI tricks even your competitors haven’t heard of…
And on October 24, they’re getting together in San Francisco to share their insights live at the AI for Marketers Summit.
You won’t pick up revenue-boosting strategies like these just anywhere.
These are pros at NVIDIA, U-Haul, Cisco, and Headspace—and they’re using AI to crush their marketing goals.
Here’s what you can expect by attending this summit:
- The latest AI trends and techniques that are actually working.
- A chance to chat with industry leaders who have been there, done that.
- Real examples of how AI is helping businesses grow long-term.
You’ll also get to ask questions, make new high networth connections, and leave with ideas you can try out right away.
Curious to know more about what’s in store? You can grab their brochure here.
And if you’re thinking of going, they’re offering a sweet deal for Stacked Marketer readers…
Get 30% off tickets when you use the code STACKED30 at checkout.
Blemishing Effect
Have you ever wondered why we love “flawed characters” in fiction?
Or why you trust a 4.85-star restaurant more than a 5-star restaurant?
It’s because we love imperfection.
In 2012, two Stanford professors presented a pair of hiking boots to two groups:
- The first group only saw the boots’ upsides.
- The second group saw mostly positive things and a minor downside—or “blemish.”
Which group was more interested in buying the boots? The second group—by a whopping 20%.
This is called “The Blemishing Effect,” and it happens when a minor imperfection makes a product more appealing to customers.
Before we continue, an important note: The same Stanford research suggests product blemishes can boost desirability and sales in distracted consumers—and reduce appeal in focused ones.
So make sure you use the Blemishing Effect in snappy, attention-grabbing ads.
Now let’s see how this works in practice, and how it can help you sell.
Three ways you can leverage the Blemishing Effect
1) Acknowledge imperfections
Trying to be perfect is so last season.
Brands have recognized that internet-savvy consumers always look for downsides before looking at positive traits of anything they shop online—from groceries to accommodation.
Be a step ahead. You can highlight your own imperfections before someone else does.
Try to focus on efficiency instead of presenting your brand as something ideal like Buckley cough sirup did with this ad:
2) Own up to your mistakes
Admitting your flaws makes your brand feel more real.
Because everyone makes mistakes. Including us!
For example, we once made a mistake in Stacked Marketer, and our readers promptly pointed it out.
Now, The Crew could have turned into Three Wise Monkeys and ignored their messages, but that’s not how we do things.
Instead, we acknowledged that we messed up right in the next issue.
Truthfully, we never expected to receive positive public feedback for rectifying the mistake:
Thanks Hannah!
And by the way, answering negative reviews or feedback has a similar effect:
We’d trust this guy!
The point is, authenticity can charm distracted customers into respecting you more. Because nothing says “trustworthy” like honesty, right?
3) Turn negative feedback into humor
If you can’t change your imperfections, poke fun at yourself.
This doesn’t only make you relatable—it also helps you turn imperfections into lovable quirks, which can then even make customers want your brand more than before.
Don’t believe us? Well, there are a lot of brands that did just that.
You know how people always complain that Duolingo’s notifications and ads are too intrusive? Guess what. They didn’t reduce the notification frequency.
They did a promotion campaign in which they made fun of that criticism. And five years later, they haven’t stopped flooding us with notifications and reminders. Oh, Duo, you silly owl.
Of course, Duolingo is just one example.
Last year, Pringles did something similar by mocking its own package design.
Fun fact: This promotion aired during Super Bowl. That’s a lot of cash spent on a blemish.
EMAIL MARKETING: Planning email campaigns? Moosend’s guide offers 24+ ChatGPT prompts for catchy subject lines, unique email content, and more. It might be the boost you need to get ideas rolling again. Download it now for free.*
INFLUENCER MARKETING: Want to crush BFCM? Do what successful brands do—start now. minisocial’s micro-influencer UGC campaigns make it easier and more affordable. They provide fully-licensed content and handle most of the heavy lifting. Start a free brief now.*
YOUTUBE: …launches Communities. If you’re a creator, you can now chat directly with the audience on your channel. But only if you’re a part of a select group—since the feature is yet to expand to worldwide users early next year.
GOOGLE: New AI goodies! Google has announced a few useful AI-powered features—including making multilingual campaigns, customizing Demand Gen campaigns, generating AI images with your branding and style, and more. Nice.
MARKETING: Millennials are the most comfortable in cyberspace—with 47% saying they feel “most themselves online.” Zoomers are close behind with 45%, then Gen X with 35%. And while boomers prefer the “real world,” the number of those who enjoy being online increased by 6%.
*This is a sponsored post.
ICYMI, last time we looked at the Authority Bias.
The “imperfect” Crew
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