Guardian Marketing is now ”Man Bites Dog”. Outside of the imagery of a man biting a dog being absurdly entertaining, there is a reason for the rebrand. It starts with Laurel Portie’s book.
From the Foreword1 of Laurel’s book, Super Duper Profitable Ads:
From the first day, I was impressed with how she lived and did her business on her own terms. I also dug the fact that in her career, she wrote the sizzle lines to entice television viewers to stay up for the 11 o’clock news… “Man bites dog. Film at 11!”
“Man Bites Dog” is an aphorism in journalism that describes how infrequent events are more likely to make the headlines than ordinary, everyday events. The same phenomenon is also described by saying, "You never read about a plane that did not crash.”
“Plane crashes” gets attention because a plane crash is uncommon, unexpected, and terrifying - because something went wrong or did not function as expected.
“Man Bites Dog” or “Children face charges for leaving parents in car unattended” hit differently because 1)something went wrong and 2) the details are inverted. Here’s why I think that’s important…
When something functions as intended, it’s neither news nor noteworthy.
Plane does not crash, arrives on time as expected.
Dog does not act aggressive toward humans at the park
Parent does not leave child in car in the summer heat
Boring. Hardly worth paying attention to.
When something is unexpected, it becomes news and noteworthy.
Plane crashes
Dog attacks people
Children hospitalized after being left in car
You get it.
We say that something “works” when it produces the outcome we expect it to produce. When we get the outcome we expect, it becomes boring. An aircraft making a successful flight across the country was exciting - until it wasn’t. It was news and noteworthy - until the outcome became reliable, and then it wasn’t.
In other words, the more reliable the process in getting the desired outcome, the less interesting it is to our monkey mind. It’s not news. It’s not noteworthy. You don’t have to tell me about it because I already knew what the outcome would be. Yawn.
But…
If getting from point A to point B is important to you, you probably want to take the most reliable option. Most people don’t think twice about hopping on a cross-country flight - because they’ve proven to be reliable - boring. Planes are rarely in the news, there are very few headlines about them, and they’re not filling your social media feed - because it’s too reliable to be news or to be noteworthy.
Here’s the point.
If getting from point A to point B is important to you, it would make sense to take the most reliable path using the most reliable tools. Because they’re reliable, you’ll rarely see them in your newsfeed and your brain will tell you they’re boring. We’ve all heard some version of “the boring stuff works” - which is true - the fact that it works is what makes it boring.
→ Stuff that works is boring because it works.
→As new things start to work consistently, they become boring.
→ Boring stuff does not make for good headlines, clickbait, paid ads, or compelling promises.
Which means…
The exciting stuff all over your newsfeed is likely exciting because the outcome is unexpected - it has not proven to be reliable yet. It doesn’t matter whether it’s a positive surprise or a negative one, what’s important is that unreliable things are pushed front and center 24/7 - and since there is limited space on your screen, reliable things - things that work - are pushed to the back.
Sometimes we mistake awareness or attention for efficacy, thinking if it’s top of our “collective mind” (media) it must be more effective - when often the opposite is true. If getting from point A to point B is important to you, take the route that’s NOT all over the news. It’s the most reliable one.
Guardian Marketing has been rebranded to “Man Bites Dog” as a subtle reminder:
There are many ways to get from point A to point B. If the outcome is important to you, the most reliable means of achieving it already exist - and they are boring. They likely aren’t in the headlines or the ads - they’re too reliable to be exciting and get good front-end metrics.
If you want excitement, that’s okay too. Just acknowledge the tradeoff - the thrill of the exciting new thing at the expense of the reliability of the proven-to-be-reliable thing. Sometimes the novelty of a thing is worth it - that’s up to you to decide. When faced with a fork in the road think to yourself…
Man Bites Dog.
If getting to the destination is more important than getting a thrill from the ride, lean on the boring stuff.
If the thrill of the ride is more important than getting to the destination, follow what’s new and noteworthy.
There is no right or wrong answer, just a tradeoff to acknowledge. Following what is new and noteworthy and thinking it’s the most reliable path forward will lead to a disconnect between expectation and reality - and the feeling of powerlessness. Simply being cognizant of the path you’re choosing will give you the power back.
Live to learn. Give to earn.
Man Bites Dog
PS. There are three things you could consider doing right now. The first is checking out this invite to our celebration later this week. The second is introducing yourself in this new introduction thread. And the third is sharing this with YKP (Your Kinda People) - people who can appreciate doing the boring stuff because the outcome is extraordinary.