Nudge, Nudge. Wink, Wink. Say No More. Please.



Humour can be a great route to engagement, but I thought we all knew from personal experience that if the joke has to be explained to you, then the impact is greatly diminished. It's either a bad joke or it's been badly told. Or both.



The parentheses above left me dumbfounded. Not only did it bring to mind memories of excrutiatingly unfunny speakers/party bores, it also managed to be sleazy rather than risque. If you're that unconfident about getting your idea across, tinkering at the edges will simply make things worse. Far better to go back to the drawing-board and craft it properly. If you have to explain it, rewrite it.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Make Marketing Amateur.

Image
"To me, an amateur photographer is one who is in love with taking pictures, a free soul who can photograph what he likes and who likes what he photographs." Erwin Blumenfeld (Popular Photography 1948)
Read more

A Closed Shave.

Image
You assumed I couldn't write another post about assumptions? This is the beautiful new hybrid razor or azor from King of Shaves that I recently picked up from their promotional bus. It's a company seeking to shake up a category and, as I am already a great fan of their shaving oil, I was intrigued to see if their promise that one could Shave Close, Longer, For Less would stand up. It did, but sadly it would force me to have a goatee, because I found all those areas that a goatee and moustache cover quite impossible to shave. However, they're definitely onto something because shaving the rest of my face with long smooth strokes was a revelation. Fast, soft and incredibly close. I'm not sure if my experience is typical, but if I shaved my legs I know what razor I'd use. If I'm right, I wonder if they'll start to think beyond their original assumptions and exploit another market in line with what the product does, rather than what they intended it to do. Many
Read more

On Hiatus Until Fall

Hello world. Sorry I haven't participated as much as I usually do both on this blog and in dialogue on other social media outlets. As I've accepted a new position as Managing Director of Milwaukee Repertory Theater, all of my energies have been focused on relocating to a new city and learning about my new theater. Looking forward to reentering the blogosphere in the fall, and to participating in conversations in the near future! Chad
Read more