The Reason Why People Are Ignoring You (your product, service, or company)

Dear Legend,

Imagine this.

You step into an elevator. Four strangers are already inside.
The doors close… and all four slowly turn to face the back wall.

Do you stay facing the doors?
Or will you turn and face the back wall too?

Most people turn.
Not because it’s better. Not because it makes sense.
But because our brains are wired to do what others are doing.

We are wired to fit in.

It’s the same wiring that kept our ancestors alive in the tribe.
Stand out and you might get cast out. Cast out and you might get eaten.
This was survival 20,000 years ago.

But here’s the problem: in today’s world, the very instinct that once kept you alive is the one killing your chances.

(Watch this amazingly funny 2 min clip of how we are built to conform, not stick out.)

Different is better than better

Do you know what gets people promoted?

Or what products get bought and what services get chosen?

The ones that we remember. The ones that show up in our consciousness when we are looking for a quick solution.

Sameness is safe.
Different gets remembered.
Always, always, always…different is better than better.

The bottled water rebellion

Think of the bottled water aisle. Row after row of serene blue labels, mountain peaks, and “pure spring” promises.

Now picture Liquid Death — tallboy cans, skulls, satanic fonts, and a tagline that snarls Murder Your Thirst.

(Watch a 30 second ad about “Drinking on the job” by Liquid Death.)

They took the blandest commodity in the world and made it unforgettable. And they are valued at $1.4 billion dollars after 7 years and fighting against many water brands and large behemoths like Nestle.

But here’s the kicker: behind the dark humor is a real mission to kill plastic waste.

If founder Mike Cesario had led with, “We care about the environment,” you’d have tuned out before the end of the sentence.

Purpose is vital. But difference is the delivery system.

Your Difference Playbook:

• Study the noise
  Choose 3–5 competitors. Write down what they say, how they look, the images they use. These are the patterns you’ll need to break. (If you’re vying for promotion, who are your “competition” and what are they known for?)

• Find the gap
  What’s not being said? If they’re polished, go raw. If they’re blue and calm, go red and urgent. (What are your peers NOT doing? NOT saying? Any value they are NOT providing?)

• Test the edge
  Pick the visual, verbal, experiential expression that makes you slightly nervous. That’s usually where the gold is. (Your peers aren’t showing up on Slack and contributing? Maybe that’s where you provide value.)

• Check alignment
  Make sure it matches your purpose and values, and won’t alienate your core audience. Also make sure what you deliver still solves a need and a problem. (Don’t do anything that is not part of the company’s core values.)

• Deploy consistently
  Show up with your difference everywhere — social, emails, decks, calls. EVERYWHERE. (Embrace your difference and stand out!)

Just know that your brain wants you to stay in your lane and not do anything different, your job is to thwart that lizard brain and do something uncomfortable, so you become unforgettable.

Want more?

Check out my solo episode on the Legend Effect podcast: Web, Apple, Spotify.

One of the best research driven effects that highlights why we remember what’s different is the von Restorff Effect.

It was first identified by German psychiatrist Hedwig von Restorff in 1933, and it describes our brain’s tendency to remember the item that stands out from its surroundings.

In her classic experiment, participants were shown a list of items in which one had a different color or format; recall rates for the distinctive item were dramatically higher.

Neuroscience now connects this to how our attention system flags novelty and the brain’s salience network prioritizes unusual stimuli because, evolutionarily, differences could signal danger or opportunity.

In marketing, branding, and communication, this means the message, visual, or idea that breaks the pattern is far more likely to stick.

I will see you next Sunday!

Make your mark, live your legend 🤘🏽

Howie Chan

Creator of Legend Letters

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