Blend in before you Stand Out!

Hey there Smarty 👋

Are you geared up to catch the latest and greatest in quick shorts?

And just a quick heads-up! If you stumbled upon us through a friend, make sure to subscribe here! That way, you’ll never miss out on the trending shorts.

🚀 The “Reverse Differentiation” Strategy: How Blending In First Can Make You Stand Out More

In a crowded market, most brands try to differentiate themselves from day one. They go all-in on bold messaging, radical design choices, or unconventional strategies to grab attention. But the smartest brands? They don’t stand out immediately—they first blend in, then break expectations.

Instead of forcing uniqueness too early, they let customers feel comfortable before introducing an unexpected twist. This makes the differentiation feel natural, effortless, and far more powerful.

The Psychology of Reverse Differentiation

Customers don’t always respond well to things that feel too unfamiliar. The brain is wired to seek patterns and predictability—which is why brands that go too extreme in their messaging can actually repel potential buyers.

1️⃣ Familiarity Builds Trust Before You Break the Pattern: If a product looks and feels entirely different from the category norm, customers may hesitate because they don’t have a reference point. However, if it mirrors an existing expectation first, they feel comfortable enough to engage.

2️⃣ Subtle Disruptions Capture More Attention Than Loud Differences: When everything about a brand screams “Look at me, I’m different!”, it can feel forced. Instead, brands that blend into expectations at first but then break a key element create a more powerful effect.

3️⃣ Controlled Contrast Makes the Unique Element Stand Out More: A brand that is entirely different in every way makes it hard for customers to pinpoint what actually matters. However, if most of it feels familiar but one detail is radically different, it draws immediate focus.

Example: Liquid Death packaged water like an energy drink. The product itself wasn’t different, but the branding was—and that contrast made it iconic.

How to Apply Reverse Differentiation to Your Brand

Start by Aligning with Category Norms: At the start, let your brand match customer expectations. Whether it’s the price, packaging, or website layout, give people something they already recognize and trust.

Introduce an Unexpected Disruption: Once customers feel comfortable, break one key expectation in a way that challenges assumptions but feels deliberate. It could be an extreme stance, a radical design shift, or a provocative message.

Make the Difference Impossible to Ignore: Your unique angle should feel so distinct that customers immediately recognize it as yours. It should be the first thing people talk about when they mention your brand.

 Blending in first makes standing out later feel effortless. The smartest brands don’t scream for attention—they set the stage, then steal the show.

Together with Poplar

How Kettle & Fire leveraged direct mail to win back customers

Email and digital ad performance aren’t what they used to be, and brands are looking for new, efficient ways to reengage their customers and drive repeat purchases.

That’s why Kettle & Fire turned to direct mail with Poplar to reach valuable customers who simply weren’t engaging with their email campaigns.

Using Poplar’s easy Klaviyo integration, Kettle & Fire targeted lapsed customers who didn’t open their emails with a 1:1 mailer that fit into their existing Klaviyo workflows. Not only did this immediately boost the response rates of that group by 1.4%+, it drove over 15x ROI.

Don’t take our word for it, hear it from them directly:  “We use Poplar for our win-back campaigns, and they’ve consistently shown a super high ROAS with personalized messaging and content.”

Want to see how direct mail can drive more conversions for your brand?

Book a free demo today!

📢 YouTube & LinkedIn Boost AI Ad Targeting & Monetization

YouTube is enhancing ad monetization with AI-driven human reviews, while LinkedIn is expanding Predictive Audiences for better ad targeting. Both platforms are making AI-powered updates to maximize ad revenue and performance.

The Breakdown:

• Automated Human Review for Ad Suitability & More Ad Approvals – YouTube will now automatically review videos flagged as "Limited or No Ads", eliminating the need for creators to request manual reviews. Videos will continue to be rated Green (fully monetized), Yellow (limited ads), or Red (no ads), but with better accuracy, allowing more content to get approved for ads.
• More Ads, More Revenue – YouTube is inserting more mid-roll ads into videos, including older content, to maximize ad revenue for both the platform and creators.
• AI-Driven Precision for Smarter Targeting – Predictive Audiences analyzes engagement data and expands reach based on user behavior, similar to Meta’s Advantage+. Early adopters saw a 21% drop in cost-per-lead, proving that AI-driven targeting outperforms manual selection.
• Better Audience Refinement with New Features – B2B marketers can now target company lists for better exclusions and profiling, while enhanced retargeting lets them integrate first-party data for improved accuracy. 

YouTube creators get faster ad approvals and higher earnings, while LinkedIn advertisers get better AI-powered audience expansion and lower ad costs. AI is reshaping ad monetization and targeting—making it smarter and more profitable.

🚀 Quick Hits

❓ Struggling to Find the Right UGC Creators? Insense takes the guesswork out of influencer sourcing with a global marketplace of 68K+ vetted creators. Brands like Solawave & Ivy Beauty use it to get content in just 14 days. Book a free strategy call & get $200 for your first campaign!

🔍 A study from the Tow Center for Digital Journalism shows that AI search tools frequently cite incorrect sources or fabricate references, with major AI engines like xAI’s Grok chatbot providing unreliable information in over 60% of queries.

🗝️ Google Ads is expanding the negative keyword limit for Performance Max campaigns from 100 to 10,000, enhancing advertiser control over ad placements. This update, rolling out in the coming weeks, precedes further enhancements including support for negative keyword lists later this year.

🤖 Despite the rise of AI chatbots like ChatGPT, Google Search remains dominant, handling 373 times more searches than ChatGPT. Google continues to see growth, with a 21.64% increase in searches from 2023 to 2024, maintaining a 93.57% market share compared to ChatGPT's 0.25%.

🚜 Google announced an update to Google Tag Manager (GTM) set for April 10, enhancing its integration with Google Ads for better tracking accuracy including prioritized Google tag loading and simplified access to features like Enhanced Conversions and Cross-domain tracking.

That’s a wrap for today! Tell us your thoughts about today's content as we line up more Shorts! And don’t hesitate to share this with someone who’d adore it. 🥰