A Marketing Lesson from Mr. Olympia [Pic]

“People are much less interested in what you are trying to show them than in what you are trying to hide.”
- Nassim Taleb

Yesterday I was doom scrolling and watched a video by a fine fellow Canadian Lad by the name of Chris Bumstead.

He’s a 6x Mr. Olympia champion and all around solid (literally) dude.

Chris also has a speech impediment.

So instead of saying “Shhh” it sounds like he’s saying “Thhhh”...

For most people, this would be something that they’d probably consider a flaw… and try to hide or fix.

But not Mr. Olympia.

He embraces it.

Even promotes it.

For example…

He’s a partner in the gym apparel company GymShark.

And they did a run of teeshirts with the words “GYMTHARK” across the front… pointing at Chris’s inability to pronounce “GYMSHARK”:

Then, last night, on my doom scrolling marathon…

I noticed a video of his promoting a food delivery company (that I think he’s a partner in…)

The name of the meal was the “THAVAGE BOWL”… pointing at Chris’s inability to pronounce “SAVAGE BOWL”:

There’s an important marketing lesson here:

Embrace your flaws.

When you try and hide your imperfections, you end up hiding your “human-ness”

And your “human-ness” is what allows your customers and your prospects to connect with you.

What part of your story humanizes you?

Instead of only showing the “end-result” of your customers desired outcome, don't forget to also show you… the real you, flaws and all.

For example…

When I launched my online basketball training company, I was honest about being a super un-athletic kid growing up and getting teased for it. And how hard that was for me.

I shared how that drove me to figure out how to jump higher and run faster, which lead me to go on to become the leading scorer in the country in my senior year of high school, throwing down multiple dunks every game.

Show the part of your story where you lost it all. Or were down and out.

Show the part where you didn’t know if you’d overcome the challenge you were facing. And then you did.

Because these are the parts that allow your audience to connect with you.

People love to buy from people who are flawed, like them.

Genuine humility goes a long way.

That’s it for today.

- Adam