This Is Marketing: You Cant Be Seen Until You Learn to See

Tension can change patterns
If you’re going to market a pattern interrupt, it will require you to provide
the kind of tension that can only be released by being willing to change an
ingrained pattern.
Tension is the force on a stretched rubber band. Pull it at one end and it
creates tension at every point.
Why do some people hesitate to ask a question during a class, but will
happily answer the professor if they’re called on?
Volunteering is a problem for them, because it requires agency and
responsibility. But when the teacher applies focused social tension in the
form of publicly calling on a student, that student has no problem
answering. The tension was sufficient to overcome his or her inertia.
We create tension when we ask someone to contribute to the bake sale or
join our book club. We’re using one force (in this case, social engagement)
to overcome another force (the status quo).
For an example, let’s consider Slack, the fast-growing productivity
software designed for teams at work. Very few people have a pattern of
changing the way they work all day. No one wakes up in the morning
hoping that they’ll need to learn a new software program and deal with the
hassle for weeks as they shift from a trusted platform to a new one.
And yet Slack is the fastest-growing product of its kind. How?
Because after capturing the energy and affection of some neophiliacs, the
ratchet kicked in. Using Slack is better when your coworkers use it. So,

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existing users have a powerful selfish reason to tell the others, and in fact,
every day they don’t is painful for them.
And what about the pattern interrupt for the new user? Where’s the
tension?
Simple: a colleague says, “You’re missing out.”
Every day you’re not on Slack, people at work are talking about you
behind your back, working on projects without you, having conversations
you’re excluded from.
You can release that tension, right now, simply by signing in . . .
Slack began by doing a pattern match, offering new software to people
who like new software. A new way of doing work for people looking for a
new way of doing work.
But then came the leap.
They gave this group a tool to create a pattern interrupt. Peer to peer.
One worker saying to another, “We’re going to try this new tool.” That
single horizontal transmission built a multi-billion-dollar software
company.
It’s not accidental. It’s built into the software itself.
What pattern are you interrupting?