I was walking behind a colleague on the stairs yesterday. She was perfectly dressed, very stylish, but not too styled, well made up and with a hair cut that made me want to ask her who cut her hair? Whilst I was walking behind her, I noticed that there was a sticking plaster hanging off the back of her ankle. Obviously a result of summer shoe syndrome, but also a lovely reminder that she was human, that she also got blisters and her shoes also rubbed. It reminded me of "To the Lighthouse" by Virgina Woolf, which is in some ways all about the impossibility of perfection in life and in human relationships.
"Dear, dear, Mrs Ramsay said to herself, how did they produce this
incongruous daughter? this tomboy Minta, with a hole in her stocking?
How did she exist in that portentous atmosphere where the maid was
always removing in a dust-pan the sand that the parrot had scattered,
and conversation was almost entirely reduced to the exploits--interesting
perhaps, but limited after all--of that bird?"
So what has that got to do with brands? Well, I think sometimes a little bit of imperfection is a good thing. It makes a brand more human and therefore more personable. There is of course the classic Avis Campaign "We try harder" but other examples include brands like Bradford & Bingley, who still haven't quite worked out what to do with their bowler hat, but which makes them somehow lovable, Sainsburys who messed up their distribution.
Other examples (definitely better ones) are welcome.