The cringe to iconic pipeline

Hey Climbers, today —

• Is there a pipeline between cringe and iconic?

• And an inspiring poster campaign uses a clever creative technique

THOUGHT OF THE WEEK
The Cringe To Iconic Pipeline

I was watching the olympic breakdancing yesterday when Australian breaker RayGun exploded onto my screen. Her routine was… not what you’d expect from a competition level athlete.

In the hours following, it was fascinating to watch the public discourse online turn from “oh my god, that was so embarrassing and cringe” to “wow, she’s an Australian icon”.

I have a theory that there’s a well-travelled pipeline between cringe and iconic. We are fascinated by cringe. Our hearts are warmed by cringe. We love cringe.

But crucially, I think for something to make its way down the pipeline it has to be a certain brand of cringe: earnest and authentic. And there are soooo many examples of this throughout pop culture.

I am, of course, no social scientist and definitely no expert, so I’m just sharing my opinion here, but I think it goes something like this:

When something is authentic & cringe, it becomes the underdog. The underdog is ironically supported by the early adopters. The early adopters tip it into the mainstream, and the mainstream pedestals it as iconic.

**quick note - have you noticed how most of Australia’s “iconic people” are white? RayGun makes for an easy person for Australia to “get behind” in this way because she’s white and Australia is a racist country!!!

A few other examples of things that have (IMO) moved through this pipeline:

• The movie “The Room”

• Crocs

• New Balance

• Rebecca Black

• Justin Bieber

• Twilight

It also links back to my theory that in branding & personal branding, your superpower is your worst quality. Crocs’ super power is that they’re ugly. The Room’s superpower was that it made no sense.

All this to say that if you’re cringe, lean into it wholeheartedly. And don’t try hide your worst quality from the world because it could be the thing that clicks your audience connection into place.

What do you think? Do you agree? Disagree? Do you have any examples of things that have moved through this pipeline? I’m curious. Hit reply!

PSA
Ready to become an iconic creator?

This week I’m looking for 3 creators with over 1k+ followers who want to be leaders instead of followers, stand out instead of fit in and build a magnetic brand on socials in 90 days. Apply below.

I’m also offering one hour, 1:1 personal branding audits atm.

CREATIVE INSPO OF THE WEEK
This clever UK poster campaign

These posters by Masala Podcast tackle cultural taboos facing South Asian women in the UK.

I really love the headline format they chose, which uses a clever creative technique:

Start with a provocative statement that leads you to believe the posters are saying one thing, then flip it on its head in the second part of the copy.

This gives the poster tension, invites us to read on past the first sentence, and lets us “close the loop” as the viewer.

For example, they could have just chosen to make the copy: (excuse my shitty canva mockup lol)

This copy makes the same point but it’s not nearly as attention grabbing because there’s no tension in it.

Great comedy uses this technique all the time, and you can do it in your content too: like this creator did here

Ok, that’s all for now

Until next time

Keep climbin’

Erica x