Early-Stage Startup Marketing Should Be Polarizing (with 10 ad examples)

Donald Trump aside (for the love of sanity), is there a better way to polarize a member of the human race than by asking whether they prefer dogs or cats?

Probably not.

But if you find they like neither dogs nor cats. Then run away as fast as you can.

But if you find they're on your side? That this someone is in fact a dog or cat person. Then consider yourself on friendly ground.

After all, the simple preference for a bark or meow can be the difference between the disarming feelings of shared values. Or suddenly feeling like you're two worlds apart.

When it comes to early-stage startup marketing, this question of "dog or cat" is an easy way to think about polarization.

Because unlike those big brands of the world playing it safe, tricking us into believing we don't need to turn up the heat. The lukewarm alternative of general messaging for general audiences isn't an effective customer acquisition strategy for startups.

Imagine it like this.

When big brands practice customer acquisition, they benefit from casting a giant net. Sheer size allows them to steer clear of dangerous waters (polarizing marketing messaging). The masses of fish their marketing can catch makes the inferior quality of their net (general messaging) or the seas in which it's cast (general audience) far less important.

Size is the great equalizer.

Startups must find a way to make more out of a small net. This happens in early-stage marketing: For example, we want to narrow our reach to engage a smaller, underserved audience through unique differentiators.

For product differentiators, think features. For mission differentiators, think values.

When you position these differentiators against perceptions plaguing your product, you can begin polarizing your prospects successfully.

Let's get on with it.

If you remember one thing

If you remember one thing from this article, remember this:

The starting point for all marketing is addressing the perceptions that already exist in people's mind. Jack Trout and Al Ries, the Godfathers of positioning were right about this.

I call this "The Don't Let Mother Write Your Marketing Principle."

This principle is important. Because failure to comply with this fundamental marketing principle, can lead to death by detachment.

"The Don't Let Mother Write Your Marketing Principle" can be defined as the tendency for companies to ignore perception around a given product because of a natural product bias.

I have memories sitting on brand marketing teams in corporate America, where marketing leaders are in denial about this perception principle. Some, unaware of its existence completely.

The result is marketing that rewrites reality: ignoring what can be a century's worth of consumer beliefs and behaviors.

Here's a story to beware.

The Don't Let Mother Write Your Marketing Principle

"We're with you."

That's the banking slogan behind what Australian advertising veteran, David Sampson, called "possibly the worst campaign I ever did."

"Every time we ran that ad it just generated such hate," said Sampson.

With a safe message like that, how could a bank ad that didn't intend to polarize actually be polarizing?

That's simple. Sampson, a talented ad man, most likely under pressure from his traditionally risk-averse banking client, broke "The Never Let Your Mother Write Your Marketing" principle.

They failed to separate fantasy from reality.

Only when pigs fly will society believe that big bank corporations care about the little man. That's why "We're with you" was doomed to fail.

Yet that doesn't stop millions and millions of other marketers in the marketing universe from launching their own "We're with you" ads.

It's not only a crime against marketing itself. It's selfish marketing. These marketers care more about what they think of their product than the people buying it.

"It's a dirty, rotten, stinking shame," said Mister Anonymous in the struggling sales department.

The 128 year-old bank marketing like a startup

Bankwest Ad: "Just Enough Bank" by Bear Meets Eagle On Fire.

If you didn't know Bankwest was founded in 1897, you'd think this was a startup marketing strategy.

Unlike Sampson's "Possibly the worst campaign I ever did," they understand the dangers of ignoring perception. In a Deloitte poll, only 21% of Australians felt banks had their best interests at heart.

That alone, justifies why running another "We're with you" banking campaign would be a disastrous idea.

Luckily, Bankwest did not.

But to catch you up on this positioning example. Bankwest decided to close every physical branch last year. It was a decision to strategically position as Australia's go-to digital bank.

They did what a smart startup marketer would do. They doubled-down against that industry's standard marketing tradition: creating a new polarizing positioning called, "Just Enough Bank."

This polarizing creative concept dramatizes what prospects already know about themselves:

1. Nobody wants to spend time at a bank.

2. Nobody wants to sacrifice any bit of their life to banking.

In Bankwest's ad, they're uncomfortably honest about what people would rather do if a bank gave them their time back.

For example, having "38% more time dwelling on that terrible thing you said to your coworker at the party."

Hot damn.

However, if this edgy-startup-like-marketing-message turns off traditionally-minded banking consumers. That's okay. Bankwest is not a major bank who needs to please a big, broad audience.

They're a small bank competing for a small share. Just as if they were a startup coming into an established space, all they need from this campaign is to reach prospects shopping for a digital bank, or unhappy ones looking to leave their old bank.

Now, that you're hopefully getting this whole polarization thing. Let's look at a few polarizing ads from actual startups.

10 polarizing ads from fast growing startups.

1. Heura

As a plant-based meat startup communicating in a country that's culturally Catholic, this is a statement by Heura.

But we say bless their heart to meat-free heaven and back, this is a beautiful thing, Sister!

(Too much.)

But in the case of Heura, their polarizing marketing messaging is demanded by the ultra-progressive audience they're trying to reach.

Normally, it'd be easy for founders to be nervous about an ad like this. After all, traditionalists will take offense to a nun being used to sell a plant-based Good Friday burger.

But that's not the audience they want. In fact, if they weren't upsetting a more conservative audience base, that'd be concerning.

Playing it safe would actually mean that their marketing was failing to push the cultural hot buttons that a progressive, plant-based audience desires.

2. Riley

Such a powerful ad by Riley. This question really shouldn't be polarizing.

But as the corporate workplace fails to modernize and meet the basic needs of its women in the 21st century, this is a polarizing ad calling out the establishment's incompetence.

What makes Riley's ad so effective is how their question demonstrates immediate proof of concept. Everyone (in their right mind) agrees to the absurdity of any workplace who'd ask their employees to bring in their own toilet paper.

After all, it's a basic human need. Why should workplaces ask women to bring in their own tampons?

Riley's comparative framing helps the audience say "Yeah... this doesn't make sense, Boss."

Keep reading for 10 polarizing ad examples.

3. Oura

Oura's polarizing "Give us the finger" ad is an example of The You Talkin' To Me Principle.

This principle is inspired by a 1978 Hollywood film "Taxi Driver" (Robert DeNiro).

You take a famous pop culture one-liner and reframe it in a way that's relevant to the product. Since the audience already has associated feelings and memories with the one-liner, you're marketing message is hacking memorability.

For Oura, a smart ring that tracks health and wellness data for 50+. What their ad is really saying is 'give us your finger... so we can help you live healthier.'

The purpose of using this polarizing innuendo isn't to only get attention. That'd be meaninglessly marketing. No, Oura is trying to reframe the way aging advertised and thought about in today's market.

'Give us your finger' is an act of embracing aging, not escaping into the eternal pursuit of lost youth.

4. Whiny Baby

Yes, they are.

If you haven't heard of Whiny Baby, they're a made-for Gen Z wine brand. They were just acquired by California wine giant, Gallo.

This question, "Are We Trolling The Wine Industry?!?!," was shared by founder, Jessica Druey, across social media in a PR-savvy move.

A notable San Francisco wine critic had written an article about how Whiny Baby, in all its unconventional look and feel, seemed to be "trolling the wine industry."

Positioning against the lack of accessibility coming from traditional wine, this 3rd party critique was the perfect marketing message for Whiny Baby to double-down on.

Druey's response was, "Yes, you're absolutely right."

She went on video to say just how Whiny Baby was trolling traditional wine. Everything from what the brand stands for. Like being fun and accessible. Without taking themselves so seriously (aka... traditional wine).

This is PR-savvy polarization from a brand shattering 13,000 years of wine tradition.

5. Bloom and Wild

It's true. The best startup slogans serve as more than a catchphrase. They act as a strategic filter for every decision a business will make.

There's no better example of this principle than Care Wildly from Bloom & Wild (EU's #1 online flower shop).

It was the marketing motivation behind their polarizing Valentine's Day campaign where they vowed to sell no red roses. As they shared with customers in a letter, the cliché of buying for roses went against their "Thoughtful Marketing" values.

From a startup COMMS & marketing perspective, Care Wildly does what every future market leader is expected to do.

The message moves against traditional product norms, applying what we call "The Rebel With a Cause Principle."

It states that:

"The success of every startup marketing program, lies in its ability to position against the status quo of a traditional product category."

6. Taimi

"Being hot isn’t all about looks – it’s about how you love," says Taimi.

As a dating app for LGBTQ+, for Taimi to be a leader in this progressive market they must lead with their voice.

This an example of The Elephant In The Room principle.

It states that those who want to lead a progressive category must lead by advancing the conversation on hot or traditionally taboo topics.

Taimi is doing just that by calling out the toxic culture overtaking modern dating apps.

What makes this ad polarize so powerfully is its conscious decision to lean into the stereotypical "hot model" image. Instead of being on the nose with an image of kindness, this juxtaposition makes this hit.

7. Light Phone

Light Phone is trying to steal business from Apple. Think of them as the 'smart phone alternative.' In fact, one Light Phone marketing ad even positioned the brand as the 'dumb phone.'

Their belief is that technology has gone beyond helpful. It's now taking over people's lives.

Light Phone's go-big-or-go-home marketing strategy is centered upon calling out the biggest player in the smart phone movement: Tim Cook, the CEO of Apple himself.

These polarizing ads succeed at not only calling out a beloved brand. But calling out a global population of people of whose identity is intertwined with smart phones and the Apple brand.

Light Phone is a startup to study. You can check out their brand-defining homepage in my article - Great Hompages: 20 Startup Brand Examples.

8. Otta

"Otta," now "Welcome to the Jungle," is the recruitment company of "transparency."

Roll your eyes if you've heard that one before.

But you've never seen a traditional recruitment agency run an ad like this. That's because most "transparent" head hunters are still "not transparent" in the way they share salaries.

Otta knew this. And by calling this out (The Elephant In The Room Principle), positioned their startup recruiting agency as the status quo alternative.

The original post by then founder, Sam Franklin, went viral on LinkedIn. The perfect medium for an ad like this: where broken-hearted job seekers have no time for hidden, non-transparent salary practices.

Otta's ad succeeds because it knows exactly which hot button its audience wanted them to press.

9. Hertility

Hertility is a startup women's health company focusing on at-home hormone & fertility testing.

When it comes to ovary health, most of us, who're in the right mind, understand that there's many misguided stigmas within the masses that hurt women.

"For centuries, as women, we’ve been told ‘you’re overreacting,’" as Hertility puts it.

To create a polarizing position against this maddening bullshit, Hertility coined the phrase, "You're not ovary-acting."

It's an extraordinary play on words. The one-liner uses a bit of that You Talkin' To Me Principle where you take a well-established line in culture, turn it on its head, and reframe it in a way that's relevant to the product.

This is just bold, status-quo shattering advertising.

10. Surreal

There's an old wise tale that John Harvey Kellogg created Kellogg's corn flakes as part of a remedy to stop masturbation.

As Seventh-Day Adventist, the idea was that bland foods without sugar suppressed indulgences.

Including... masturbation.

Is this really true? Nobody knows. But the legend lives on because it's more compelling that talking about the boring nothingness that's corn flakes.

So, Surreal made a polarizing ad about it.

Good for them.

BONUS: Stupid For Startups Favorite - DASH Water

There's no reason for a sparkling water to make this ad. None. But they did. And DASH Water is better off.

If you're not familiar, the brand makes fruit-infused sparkling waters with 'no sugar, sweeteners, or calories. But phenomenal flavor.'

Here's the ad breakdown via Cliffs Notes:

"The spot follows the gloriously uncompromising life of a woman at the heart of a seven-person polycule. The ad is a vibrant, tongue-in-cheek celebration of living life without limits, embodying DASH’s playful ethos and the joyful spirit of embracing more, not less."

Seven-person polycule.... sure... Hell, it's the 21st century, ain't it?

OOH VERSION

Congratulations.

In a world of squirrel-like attention span, you've made it to the end.

Thanks for reading.

Don't hate my Stupid For Startup content?

Connect with me personally on — My LinkedIn.