notes from the writers’ room
The blog
Ideas on comedy, attention and marketing that doesn’t feel like marketing - 359 posts and counting.
Why Great Comedy Ads Are So Hard to Hire For
Great comedy ads need three rare skills at once: direct response, genuine comedy and scroll-stopping craft. Almost nobody has all three. Here is why that gap is so hard to close.
9 April 2026 · 3 min read
The Difference Between Testing Ads and Rearranging Deckchairs
Most Ad Accounts are not starved of ads. They are starved of genuinely different ones. Here is why tweaking the same creative is not testing, it is just rearranging deckchairs.
6 April 2026 · 3 min read
The Mini VSL That Can Nearly Double Your Sales
Adding the right video to your sales page can lift conversions by up to 86%. Not a 40-minute monster, a Mini VSL. Here is what it is and why yours is probably still video-free.
18 March 2026 · 2 min read
The Real Problem With Ads (And the Bigger Problem With Not)
Running ads feels like you are about to burn the house down. Here is the catch: not running them is the riskier bet, and most owners never notice until it is too late.
9 February 2026 · 2 min read
Please, Not Like This
We have all seen the LinkedIn posts that make you physically cringe. Here is the real difference between the content everyone scrolls past and the content that stops them.
19 November 2025 · 2 min read
My Love-Hate Relationship With Black Friday
Most Black Friday marketing deals are the same product all year, discounted off a price nobody ever paid. Here is the difference between a fake discount and genuine value.
11 November 2025 · 3 min read
The 3-Hour Social Media Post (and Why I'll Never Do It Again)
I once spent three hours writing one pension-planning post. It got 14 likes. A rival's one-sentence joke got 800 comments the same week. Here is what that taught me.
22 October 2025 · 3 min read
The Goldfish Are Laughing at Us
The average goldfish has an attention span of 9 seconds. The average human? 8 seconds. We have been officially outperformed, and most business marketing is still written for the attention spans of 2003.
1 October 2025 · 3 min read
The Most Unprofessional Thing You Can Do in Business
Two competing agencies post on LinkedIn within minutes of each other. One plays it perfectly professional. The other takes a small risk. Only one of them gets remembered, and it is not the safe one.
11 September 2025 · 3 min read
The Funniest Brands on Social Media
Our running collection of the funniest brand posts on social media, each with a quick note on why it works and what you can steal from it.
12 August 2025 · 60 min read
Why Your Customers Think You're Speaking Klingon
I read a client's website copy three times just to work out that they help businesses run better. Every industry has its own secret language, and it is quietly killing your marketing.
28 July 2025 · 3 min read
The Shock and Qualify Technique
Ever notice how stand-up comedians get away with saying outrageous things? They make a shocking claim, then pull back with a qualifier. Here is how to use that same trick to stop the scroll.
16 July 2025 · 3 min read
The $300 Million Dollar Joke
Most businesses treat humour like a loaded gun. Meanwhile, Southwest Airlines built a $300 million company on jokes about oxygen masks and seatbelts. Here is what they understood that their competitors never did.
2 July 2025 · 3 min read
The Lemon Juice Bank Robber Who Thought He Was Invisible
A man robbed two banks with lemon juice on his face, certain it made him invisible. His confidence explains why so much marketing goes wrong, and why learning more can make it worse.
25 May 2025 · 3 min read
Why Your Brand Name Should Have a Personality
Most tech and marketing names sound like rejected Star Wars droids. Here is why a name with a human personality beats a clever acronym almost every time.
24 March 2025 · 2 min read
How a Silly Meme Can Drive Thousands in Sales
A meme about forgetting your headphones looks like harmless fun. Underneath, it is a know-like-trust machine. Here is the psychology that turns a joke into sales.
26 February 2025 · 2 min read
The Man Who Cut His Own Elevator Cable (On Purpose)
In 1854 nobody believed elevators were safe. So Elisha Otis stood on a platform four storeys up and cut the cable. Here is the persuasion lesson in that stunt.
24 January 2025 · 3 min read
The Question Isn't Whether Comedy Ads Work. It's How.
You already know funny ads that earn attention beat ads that interrupt it. The hard part is getting them made, and made well. Here are your two honest options.
7 April 2026 · 2 min read
Why the Message Matters More Than the Joke
Coming from the people who never stop banging the comedy drum, this may surprise you: the message matters more than the joke. Here is why, and where the comedy actually earns its keep.
22 March 2026 · 2 min read
Do This Before You Run a Single Ad
Most people who get burnt by ads start in the wrong place: running them. Sort your funnel economics first and profitable ads become almost inevitable. Here is how.
11 February 2026 · 2 min read
I Stole My Best Marketing Ideas From the Advertising Greats
Funny marketing is not a new gimmick. Ogilvy, Sugarman and Collier all built empires on the idea that entertaining sells. Here is what they knew, and how to actually use it.
30 November 2025 · 3 min read
Build It With Your Audience, Not Just For Them
The safest way to build something people want is to stop guessing. Ask your audience their biggest problem, let them shape and vote on the fix, then build that.
13 November 2025 · 2 min read
The Smoothie Company That Talks to Its Bottles
I picked an Innocent smoothie over a dozen others because it was wearing a tiny knitted hat. The drink was identical. The personality was not. Here is the lesson.
5 November 2025 · 3 min read
Why Nobody Trusts Experts Anymore
A marketing guru with 50,000 followers posted his 7 proven strategies. The comments were brutal. Here is what has quietly replaced authority, and what actually works now.
15 October 2025 · 3 min read
This Is Accelerating
Remember the 47th email that started with 'In these unprecedented times'? That was the moment we all developed Corporate BS Radar. It never switched off, and AI is about to make it stronger.
25 September 2025 · 3 min read
You Don't Need to Be Ryan Reynolds (Thank God)
A business owner told me he was not funny enough to try comedy marketing, because he is no Ryan Reynolds. Here is the all-or-nothing fallacy keeping capable people stuck in marketing mediocrity.
28 August 2025 · 3 min read
Will This Go Viral? (And Other Questions That Make Me Twitch)
On a strategy call last month, a client asked the question every marketer secretly dreads: will this go viral? Here is why it is the wrong question, and the one you should be asking instead.
8 August 2025 · 3 min read
But How Does Comedy Work for Plumbing?
A plumber from Florida asked me the question I hear from almost everyone: how does humour actually work for plumbing? The answer works for any business people assume is boring.
24 July 2025 · 3 min read
Why Gordon Ramsay's Approach to Authority Is Nonsense
If I have to watch one more leadership guru tell business owners to be more like Gordon Ramsay, I will lose my mind. Screaming at people is not authority. Here is what actually earns it.
11 July 2025 · 2 min read
Why Most Social Media Content Fails (and What Fridges Teach Us)
Nobody ever thinks about refrigerators, and that is exactly the point. The story of how fridges stopped being ugly holds the secret to why most business social media gets ignored.
26 June 2025 · 3 min read
The Em-Dash Theory (And Other Ways to Spot AI Writing)
There are a handful of telltale signs that copy was written by AI. Spot them in your own marketing and you can stop your ads from screaming robot.
16 May 2025 · 3 min read
I Used to Hate AI (Then Something Changed My Mind)
For years I rolled my eyes at every AI breakthrough. Here is the business lesson that changed my mind, and it has almost nothing to do with AI.
11 March 2025 · 3 min read
Why Some Funny Marketing Makes Millions (and Most Just Gets Laughs)
There are two kinds of jokes in marketing: the ones that just get a laugh, and the ones that make people want to buy. Here is the difference, and how to spot it.
25 February 2025 · 2 min read
Your Marketing Has a Dopamine Problem
Your marketing is not competing with your competitors. It is competing with a guy pouring cereal in reverse. Here is how a few brands actually break through.
14 January 2025 · 2 min read
What Boring Ads Are Really Costing You
Boring ads do not just underperform. They quietly tax every pound you spend, in higher CPMs, weaker clicks and lost conversions. Here is what the numbers actually look like.
6 April 2026 · 2 min read
Why Scripting a Sales Video Feels So Hard (And How to Fix It)
Most business owners have no video on their sales page because scripting one feels impossible. Here is the real reason it is so hard, and the one thing that makes it easy.
18 March 2026 · 3 min read
Why Most of Your Marketing Is Wasted Effort
Organic posts and cold outreach feel free, so nobody counts the cost. Put an hourly rate on your time and work out your true cost per sale. The number is often brutal.
10 February 2026 · 3 min read
The One Bottleneck Holding Your Business Back
There is usually one bottleneck making everything in your business feel harder than it should. Working more hours will not fix it. Finding and clearing it will.
26 November 2025 · 2 min read
Why Monty Python Is Still Funny (But Your 2019 Memes Aren't)
A 1975 film had my wife in tears at the Black Knight. My 2019 Baby Yoda memes got a blank stare. Here is the difference between comedy that lasts and comedy that rots.
12 November 2025 · 3 min read
The Gorilla That Saved Cadbury
In 2007 Cadbury put a gorilla behind a drum kit for 90 seconds and said almost nothing about chocolate. It worked. Here is why one funny moment is enough.
29 October 2025 · 3 min read
Why the Algorithm Hates Your Content (and What to Do About It)
My 4-year-old nephew judges food by whether it is dinosaur-shaped. Somehow he also runs the social media algorithms. Here is what he taught me about getting seen.
8 October 2025 · 3 min read
Why Netflix Killed Blockbuster (and What It Means for Your Marketing)
Blockbuster had every film ever made, perfectly organised. Netflix had a fraction of the selection and made you wait days for a DVD. People chose Netflix anyway. Here is the reason, and what it means for your content.
18 September 2025 · 3 min read
Remember When Getting Lost Was Just Part of Driving?
A crumpled paper map, my dad's unshakeable confidence, and three hours parked on a country road. Getting lost used to be part of driving. Here is why comedy marketing feels exactly the same right now.
21 August 2025 · 3 min read
The Accountant Who Went Viral
A guy in a polo shirt explaining why you should not use TurboTax got 2.3 million views. He did not try to make accounting funny. He did something far smarter, and it works for even the most boring business.
31 July 2025 · 3 min read
The IKEA Test (and Why Most People Fail It)
You know that moment when you open an IKEA box and find your beautiful bookshelf in 47 pieces? That is exactly how most business owners feel about using comedy in their marketing.
18 July 2025 · 2 min read
Why People Ignore Your Social Media (The Museum Test)
The average visitor to the Met spends just 17 seconds looking at each masterpiece. Your social media posts get even less. Here is what gives certain posts the power to stop the scroll.
4 July 2025 · 2 min read
Put Your Social Media on Autopilot (Without Sounding Like a Robot)
Social media is a complete time vampire. You are expected to post every day, on every platform, with content that stops the scroll and drives sales. Here is how to do it without losing your evenings.
23 June 2025 · 2 min read
Why Most AI Tools Are Like a Parrot Reciting Shakespeare
Most AI copy tools produce writing that looks the part but does not sell. Here is the difference between an AI that mimics good copy and one that actually understands it.
15 May 2025 · 3 min read
The Secret Club Effect That Builds Brand Loyalty
Nothing bonds people to a brand faster than feeling part of a club. Here is how drawing an in-group and an out-group turns customers into loyal believers.
27 February 2025 · 3 min read
The Poisonous Tomato That Built a 100-Year Business
In 1876 the experts said tomato sauce had no future because people thought tomatoes were poisonous. Henry Heinz ignored them and built a 150-year empire. Here is how.
31 January 2025 · 3 min read