How much humor are you allowed in your business?
When do you cross the line? Where is the line? Who draws it?
Breville has a toaster with a button on it that says, “A Little More.”
How did that pass the boardroom conservatives? I wanted the toaster just for that reason. I seriously debated it. The toaster I have works fine, but a toaster with that button? I would love to have a little lightness, a little laugh, a little love in my toaster. What if every product had a bit of humor?
Would you work with a website designer / developer who put photos of pasta on their homepage?
What if product development teams had a comedian on board? Would people appreciate it? Would they be more inclined to buy the product? Or less? Might it turn them off? Maybe they would say, “Well, obviously this company thinks toasters are just a big joke. I’m going to go with a more serious company.”
I don’t know, would anyone say that? It’s a toaster. I don’t know if I’d want jokes on my chest x-ray machine … I imagine a little note that only the patient could see, “Is that a chicken bone in your esophagus or are you just happy to see me? I suppose there are limits.
There’s probably a book or a website or a blog out there with fake words on products … or maybe I should begin one. I’ve never taken myself too seriously (I’m probably guilty of the other end of the spectrum). But I truly admire companies who dare to push the limits of a joke or see how far they can go for a laugh.
My kids weren’t with me at the cafe below, but I’m sure they would have wanted for me to leave them unattended … for at least a while.
I’m filing this under both Parenting and Marketing.
Not only will I buy an espresso from this place, I want to go there and leave my kids unattended just to see what happens. Humor and lightheartedness opens people up. Just make them laugh, make them giggle, smile or at least think about smiling. It can’t hurt, right?
What might they do if you left your child unattended? My 11-year old would love this punishment.
