Sellsius real estate marketing blog

Plato: … It’s hard to make friends with these guys.
Jim: I don’t want to make friends. (from Rebel Without A Cause 1955)

The rebel image worked for James Dean, Marlon Brando, Steve McQueen and many others. Being the outsider has always been “in”. There is something appealing about the “bad boy”, the perpetual underdog.

Being the underdog has its advantages. For one thing, there are no expectations of you, other than the fact that you’re expected to lose. There’s little to explain if you fail. Sympathy and understanding await you, along with “you’ll get ‘em next time” hugs and kisses. There are many beers freely poured to hold your tears. (It’s like being Betaproof.) Maybe it’s just an American thing to root for the underdog, a sensibility acquired during our country’s birth by revolution. A nation opposed to Kings and King’s rules, not afraid to pick a fight with a bully—from the Boston Tea Party and Bunker Hill to the ragtag colonists, frostbitten at the Forge, kicking the Hessians’ butts at Trenton on a Christmas morn. It’s the stuff of legends.

And the come-from-behind victory is always the sweetest, and longest lived. Witness the great sports’ heroes— Bobby Thompson’s “Shot Heard Round the World”, the “Miracle Mets”, the 1980 “Miracle on Ice”, and Broadway Joe, to name a few. Americans love of the underdog goes hand-in-hand with our love of the longshot. It’s all part of the Lotto-Trifecta-I’m-all-in-Rocky Balboa-American Idol Dream. This is just the way we Americans roll.

So what’s this ramble got to do with real estate? Not too sure, but maybe the underdog, bad boy image can work for a real estate start-up. Redfin Productions is staging the performance and Glenn Kelman is fantastic in the lead role. We can’t say whether it’s a calculated marketing strategy, but it doesn’t hurt. When you witness Kelman taking his lumps from Allan “The Realtor” Dalton and still standing, you can’t help but say “thatta boy Glenn.” Redfin may end up kissing the canvas, but then again, Glenn Kelman could be the next Cinderella Man.

This post was inspired by Marlow Harris’ post, Thank you, Mr. Kelman and the upcoming Academy Awards.

Related Post:

Seeing Redfin, As A Buyer.

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