Landing Laughs Can Be Less Scary Than Brands Think
You may know the feeling of being laid off (I do), but do you know the feeling of a coworker throwing you a lifeline?
I know that one too. For me, my lifeline was Tom Wilson.
If you’re ever down on your luck, I hope you know a good Tom.
Tom and I worked together at the now-defunct Chicago ad agency Element79 in the mid 2000’s. It was a really great era to be in the biz—still the pioneer days of digital and social.
Tom had landed at a top-tier agency in Washington DC called Arnold, helmed by the legendary ECD, Woody Kay.
Working at Arnold was a dream of mine since college. Their credits include TRUTH anti-smoking, Volkswagen “Drivers Wanted”, Ocean Spray “Straight from the Bog”, and PNC Bank “Brilliantly Boring”—a murderers’ row of marketing.
Tom got me an interview, which got me the job, which gave me the chance to write “Discover the Details” for Sleep Inn hotels, one of my best ad campaigns in terms of viewership.
But first, I had to earn it.
I had to go all in on Arnold. I moved from Chicago to Washington, D.C. I went long distance with my girlfriend (now wife). I found roommates on Craigslist. Believe it or not, they were the most regular roommates I’d ever had (government contractors).
I wrote small campaigns for the agency’s client roster before I was invited to work on a juicy brief.
Lucky for me, I was fresh out of comedy sketchwriting classes at Second City in Chicago. I applied the fundamentals, and the client selected my scripts.
I also collaborated with my Creative Director, Don Corrigan, who was an incredible mentor with an innate feel for comedy and timing. It wasn’t his first comedy rodeo, but it was mine.
After the edit and shoot, the work went live. We got a great response from our audience—many choosing to interact with all of our content, instead of skipping through. We even took home a few industry awards for the agency.
Here are comedy sketchwriting fundamentals that brands can use to drive mega click-through rates without flying too close to the sun.
Follow Tried-and-True Comedy Structures
Comedy is subjective, but it can be more of an equation than most people think.
A few fundamental lessons from the comedy school Second City are to focus on character relationships and keep heightening the scene.
For Sleep Inn, we created two characters who constantly one-upped each other in their jobs and fastidiousness. We used the characters’ friction to explore where the comedy would take us.
Finding comedy in relationships helps you avoid the trap of disparaging the product—a fast lane for scripts to hit the trash can.
Go Ahead and Pander to Your Audience
Our strategy team had a tight plan for our media buy. We aired only during the TV show Monk. This allowed us to create intriguing personalities and scenes that felt native to USA Network’s “Characters Welcome.”
We used our original characters as much as possible across all digital and social assets.
We got huge click-throughs on banner ads that typically don’t perform that well. That’s because people understood they’d get a dose of comedy while checking out a hotel chain that they may not have previously considered.
Bottom line: Nothing beats original assets that feel authentic to your audience
Milk Production for All It’s Worth
Production days are stressful for everyone. For me, I was either viewing monitors or furiously punching up dialogue and last-minute extras.
Our days were packed. We planned a photography shoot and audio recording in addition to our video shoot.
Although it was extra work, we didn’t have to use screenshots from our video—we had photography assets that were specifically shot for our digital and social ads.
When we went back to build the campaign, we had a ton of assets to use across digital and social. We didn’t have to force using screen grabs of video, which made the whole campaign feel more intentional and well-produced.
I’m not saying you shouldn’t enjoy the craft services table as much as possible—but I was always really glad that my CD kept pushing me to polish the work and maximize our time.
A layoff can feel devastating. Sometimes it’s just the middle chapter that forces you to write something better than you would’ve otherwise.
If you’re lucky, you get a Tom.
If you’re really lucky, you also get a brief, a mentor who understands comedy, and one more chance to prove the work still matters.
You might even get people to click through all the way.