Success Advice

Turning Your Stumble into Success: The “Flawportunity” Formula

When circumstances seem pitted against you, you can either laugh or cry

Published

56 seconds ago

Dec 16, 2024

Justin Bookey

Image Credit: Midjourney

When circumstances seem pitted against you, you can either laugh or cry. Here’s how I learned that laughing can really pay off.

Finding Gold in the Garbage

I was shooting a global tech giant’s launch video to introduce a new, cutting-edge wireless router. The router had a cool design, sleek packaging, and the client’s product developer even looked stylish and had an engaging voice. We had all the elements to make a catchy video. Or so we thought.

One thing we hadn’t accounted for was the router’s super-long, tongue-twisting, technical name. During the video shoot, the product guy kept stumbling over the name of his device. He got more and more frustrated as he bungled the name, slapped his forehead, then laughed at his own futility.

He finally, painfully, enunciated the full name of router, and gamely pushed through the rest of his dialogue. I groaned to myself at how awkward the final video would look.

Over the next few days, I nervously edited what was designed to be a straightforward, two-minute video. There was a lot of money invested in this launch. My stomach sank as I reviewed what was a professional but, to be honest, boring promo piece.

Needing a laugh, I watched the outtakes of the guy struggling mightily with the name. Now THIS was fun to watch. And then it hit me. It would probably be fun for others to watch, too.

I quickly cut together a series of his frustrated, then tortured, takes on the router name. His good-natured laughter at his struggles gave a lightness to it. At the end, a link to the full product video read, “Watch Martin get it right.” This extra little 20-second video was not part of the client project, but I figured we owed it to them.

Their client loved it (whew) and gave us the green light to promote it via social media. It earned great exposure overnight on major tech industry news sites, generating much greater traffic then we could ever promise with the original video.

I fondly remember that little production, and how leaning into the humor and relatability of the situation created some magic. Since then, I always appreciate seeing a company’s creative self-deprecation turn a sour situation sweet.

Here’s one of my favorite examples, from the restaurant industry:

A FCK-ing Creative Response

In 2017, KFC tried to innovate with its delivery logistics in the UK and found a new vendor. Sadly, the partnership flailed. By early 2018, most of the KFCs were running out of chicken, and customers were angry. The chain had to close 900 restaurants – a majority of its locations across the UK. On one day alone, 53,000 social media posts mentioned KFC running out of chicken, using #KFCCrisis hashtags and others.

KFC’s response? It tossed the usual executive press release and declined to play the blame game. Instead, it embraced the failure with a serving of bold humor.

KFC ran a full-page print ad in widely-viewed newspapers, to reach a broad swath of its customers. The ad simply showed an empty KFC chicken bucket, with a big “FCK” printed on it instead of “KFC”. Under the image it read: “We’re sorry. A chicken restaurant without any chicken. It’s not ideal. It’s been a hell of a week, but we’re making progress, and every day more and more fresh chicken is being delivered to our restaurants.”

The upshot: KFC’s funny and humble response generated more than 700 press and broadcast mentions, delivering a total audience of roughly 800 million globally. 200 million-plus social media users were also exposed to the indelible “FCK” image.

In a three-month span, the single print ad had leapt across media boundaries to earn a reach surpassing one billion. Besides increased brand exposure, consumer sentiment toward KFC actually rose following KFC’s gutsy response, per consumer insights provider YouGov.

If there’s a bottom line here, it’s that some market conditions you might consider a dead end may actually help you stand out and advance.

The “Flawportunity” Formula

There’s a method to the messaging if you want to get it right.

STEP 1: Identify a clear, critical weakness that might also be useful in telling your story – this is your flawportunity. (I’ve seen this term used in fictional character development and I find it also fits in the business world.)

You flawportunity should be:

Well-known enough that hiding it is pointless
Difficult/impossible to fix quickly (otherwise, just fix it!)
Not connected to safety, ethics, or core functionality
Relatable – or even better, amusing – to your audience
Ideally, tied to something unique about your brand

STEP 2: Reframe the weakness.

Turn your criticism into:

A mark of authenticity (“Yes, we’re expensive because we use real ingredients.”)
A badge of honor (“It is difficult. That’s what makes us special.”)
A shared joke (“Our board game is addictive. Sorry about your late nights.”)
A powerful differentiator (“We’re probably not for everyone. Cool.”)

STEP 3: Amplification.

Don’t dance around your flaws; showcase them creatively:

Use specific numbers (“Our rooms are 25% smaller and 50% cheaper”)
Create memorable visuals (a giant one-star review billboard)
Develop catchphrases (“Slow coffee for slow mornings”)
Give critics a platform to vent, commiserate, and laugh – but control the narrative

Measuring Impact

Here are some useful metrics to track for your bold move:

Sentiment shift in social mentions
Sales patterns during/after campaign
Media coverage tone
Customer feedback themes
Employee morale
Community engagement levels

Boldness, with Boundaries

Of course, with any bold move, you must navigate risk. Here are some campaign guidelines to help you avoid potential PR minefields:

Authenticity is non-negotiable
Humor must punch up, never down
Keep core brand values intact
Draw clear lines of decorum you won’t cross
Maintain quality while embracing flaws
Carefully monitor all channels of potential feedback, and engage quickly and consistently
Be ready to pull back if: criticism evolves from product to ethics, employees grow uncomfortable with messaging, or consumer sentiment or media coverage turns increasingly negative

As you can see, the best response to criticism isn’t always defense; it can be creative ownership that turns critics into community. You’re not trashing your core value proposition, you’re simply showing the human, humorous side of your brand. When done right, your biggest weakness highlights your authentic strength.

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Justin Bookey

Justin Bookey is the best-selling author of Ping Pong Leadership, a former lawyer, an award-winning marketing strategist, and global ping pong player. He has learned different leadership cultures while studying in India and teaching in Japan, and has played table tennis on seven continents.

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Success Advice

How to Alter Your Business Approach With Technological Advancements

Keeping up with technological trends has become a challenge for almost every business owner.

Published

2 weeks ago

Dec 4, 2024

Addicted2Success Editor

Image Credit: Midjourney

Technology’s evolution has impacted everything, and business is no exception. Keeping up with technological trends has become a challenge for almost every business owner. Entrepreneurs unable to do so are being wiped out of the market.

There is no doubt that AI (Artificial Intelligence) and ML (Machine Learning) have taken over the business world. These technological advancements are impacting decision-making, success percentages, and other entrepreneurial aspects.

Adapting to these developments is integral to business success. Let’s explore how you can accomplish these milestones.

Embed the strength of AI and ML.

AI has modified business operations in major ways. For instance, companies have employed bots for customer support. These bots go through an effective learning process via Machine Learning before being able to answer like humans.

According to CyberGhost (CG) bots can also perform detailed data analytics and make business moves with high success percentages.

ML is used more for the analysis of data chunks and generating successful predictions. This simply means that business owners do not have to worry about large-scale financial losses.

In terms of deployment and usage, a reputed company like Netflix employs machine learning for decision-making.

Blockchain is increasing the count of business opportunities

Tampering of financial transactions is quite common and causes severe monetary damage to customers. With the rise of digital payments, this risk has increased.

Blockchain is used to elevate your experience for monetary transfers. It combats penetrating events to extract confidential customer information.

Most business sectors are using block chain but finance and supply chain management sections have a higher count. These two corporate sections have several monetary deposits and withdrawals taking place.

In terms of percentage, approximately 72% and 5% of finance and supply chain firms have implemented block chain successfully.

Dedicate Yourself to Continuous Learning and Individual Development

You invest in learning some of the very important skills, including digital marketing, financial management, and how to gain customers as an entrepreneur.

You need to set up your knowledge base about doing business on Coursera and Udemy with the basics that are necessary for the business, building further by networking with experts through webinars.

Besides, Agile methodology will introduce elasticity to your company: this review and feedback system with further correction regularly will allow for enhancing efficiency and promptly reacting to the market.

Developing key skills to achieve goals

Running a business successfully is not only about having niche/domain knowledge. Business owners need to have communication / soft skills as well in addition to niche information.

Here are some key technical/domain-related areas that business owners should have a strong grip on.

Data Storage on Cloud: These days, companies do not store their data on physical servers. Therefore business owners should know how data is stored/edited/removed/updated via AWS, Azure, Google Cloud, and other platforms.

Data Analysis/Interpretation Qualities: These days, data is as precious as gold. Business owners with data analysis abilities make correct predictions. As a result, their ventures grow in volume.

Development/Coding Knowledge

Programming knowledge gives business owners an edge whether the application is developed in-house or outsourced. It assists in getting updates deployed and handling application underperformance without getting professional support every time.

Hacking proof framework

There is no benefit of having an advanced automated system if can be penetrated. Successful business owners have above-average knowledge of cyber security and hacking attempts. They are able to choose top-notch anti-hacking software without much of an ambiguity.

Communication Abilities/Soft Skills

Here are some key communication qualities that business owners should have:

Communication/Conversation: Business owners should use to-the-point sentences in both written and oral communication.

Issue Resolution Abilities: Business owners should be able to drill down to problems and solve them. This is done successfully only if an entrepreneur has in-depth business domain knowledge.

Agile Implementations

It is mandatory for business owners to have knowledge of iterative/agile models. With such a competitive environment, it is impossible for business owners to succeed without adopting an agile framework.

Create a productive well-crafted Business Strategy

A productive business venture starts with a clear vision. The first factor making a business successful is the idea behind it. It helps with endless growth and combating competition successfully. Katherine Philips once mentioned that business goals are inevitable if goals are set concretely.

Goals should be based on smart achievements instead of complexity. Focus on the value that each one of them adds.
Business objectives should not be vague. Key indicators should be constructed to measure the success/failure of each milestone.
Be realistic when setting goals. Do not aim at impossible milestones since they can be demotivating.
Milestones/goals need to be time-bound. Set a completion deadline for each one of them.
Business goals should not be alien. Owners can think out of the box but not be obsolete / unrelated.

Create a productive well-crafted Business Strategy

Business owners cannot succeed without having a network. Some tips help in this case. Attend conferences and professional gatherings to connect with other entrepreneurs.
Here are some other related points business owners should pay attention to.

Attend meetings and conferences to stay updated with trends and meet business owners who already have well-set ventures. This helps in enhancing the learning curve of new / growing entrepreneurs.
Being a part of business communities/groups is very productive. When one shares opinions and discusses decision-making tactics, it helps in preventing errors and enhancing success rate.
Even the most experienced business owners have mentors as learning never stops. Take part in mentorship programs so there is an assurance that you are following the correct roadmap.

Conclusion

There is absolutely no doubt that business dimensions have evolved with technological advancements. Successful entrepreneurs have grabbed these changes in due course of time and continue to evolve. On the other hand, people following old paths and conventional steps fade out of competition. In a nutshell, keep an eye on the processes and practices you follow as these factors decide success rate.