Why can we recite movie quotes verbatim, but not the first amendment, or our company’s mission statement? How come the Daily Show is the primary source for news? Name an online trading company. I bet 8 out of 10 people will say E*Trade because they know the E*Trade baby and laughed, then went to YouTube to watch it again. And even more people probably heard the baby on the plane mention a Stop Loss Trade and went to Wikipedia to find out that that is.
What if E*Trade went the pretentious route and made commercials featuring urban hipsters complaining about their broker while eating sushi or drinking lattes out of tiny cups. Most people just find those f*cking hipsters unbearable and pray a bus hops the curb and plows through the “bistro” where they are kvetching about all their expendable income problems.
Delivering a sticky message is a conundrum that has existed forever. Advertisers have successfully used humor for many years. Why has the training and education universe been so resistant to the power of laughter?
Most corporate trainers and instructional designers operate in a very serious box built around them by a hypersensitive corporate culture. There is fear hinges on the belief that anything that makes you laugh is probably rooted in one of the corporate taboos like race, religion, politics, sports teams from Texas, gender, the VP of Finances toupee’
I’m not suggesting we fill our training products with zingers, but we should all consider the power of “bringing the funny,” be it a graphic, voice-over or text. Not so we can flex our comedic muscles, but to engage the learner and anchor your message to the emotional response of laughter.
I recently learned how to tune an edge on a snowboard by watching a YouTube video of a guy who used the term “buck nutty” to describe a filing technique. Had I been watching a sleep-inducing WBT, I would have missed such a hilarious adjective.
If you have ever golfed, think about how many times someone quotes Caddyshack and how many people can quote a mind-numbing video on how to correct a slice. Don’t forget to yell fore!
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2 comments:
Of course I agree, but I don't think Corporate America is oblivious to the value of humor augmenting the content of their ad/presentation/what-have-you. I just don't think decision-makers who are accountable for an expense line on their P&L are willing to risk the possible advantages of a humor-based product based on two possible (and probable) pitfalls: 1) They might not be taken seriously as a company/product/executive if the message is too goofy. 2) The effectiveness of the humorous delivery is predicated on the quality of humor, and that's where we run into real snags. For me, if I'm listening to a presentation where the chucklehead up there is thinking he's Cliff Huxtable and bombing left and right with stale, predictable one-liners is irritates me to the point of crotch-punching and the entire message is lost on me. Let's be honest, how many people who color themselves "funny" are just downright irritating and sad? THOSE are the people who are ruining the opportunities for bona-fide witicizers like yourself (I made that word up, what are you going to do about it? Nothing, that's what). Honestly, as much as I appreciate an efficient, clever, and funny message, I don't think my degree of enjoyment can mitigate the degree of rage I feel when having to listen to some clueless bastard ask "how's everyone doing? Oh, you can do better than that. HOW'S EVERYONE DOING!" \feverishly punching own crotch
I think you just inspired me to write part deux of this post. When trainers invoke crotch-punching.
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