CopyCon roundup #8 - finding the funny
So, I'm a little late to post about the final speaker at #CopyConX, but now I've finally finished laughing I'm ready to share my best bits from the presentation by the renowned, and proper sound, Dave Harland.
I'll admit, when I first decided to get CopyCon tickets, it was mainly to see Dave's presentation. See, Dave and I have been friends for a while now, and he's even outsourced to me in the past. So I thought I could show my support/heckle him* by being there in person.
Unsurprisingly, Dave's presentation had us all in stitches. After all, it was called "Where to find the funny in anything". And shockingly, Dave shared that only around 7 in every 100 brands are actually doing humour? Why? Well probably because humour can be something difficult to get right. And let's face it, it doesn't work for every brand or every circumstance. Not sure an investment firm joking about spending all their client's money on cocaine and brasses (if you know the reference, you know!) would go down well. However, DeadHappy referring to being buried by a company called Minge Funerals definitely raises a smirk! (See image).
Why use humour?
- It makes you stand out
- It's memorable
- It makes people feel good
- It's humanising
- It builds trust
Dave also shared with us his top tips on where to find humour. Now, I'm not going to give all his trade secrets away, but you can get the video package of all of the presentations from ProCopywriters... but I am going to share one place to find humour that's probably not all that surprising.... in self-depreciation, flaunting flaws and owning brutal honesty.
The reason I'm sharing this one is because it's something that's worked well for me. In fact, my candidness and dark humour about my breast cancer diagnosis, treatment and subsequent one-tittedness has led to me being remembered by lots of people in my network AND getting noticed by brands in the space that I really want to work with.
So if your project allows it, find the funny. Life's too short not to laugh as much as possible.
Cheers Dave, your presentation was everything I thought it would be and still managed to surprise me (who would ever have thought a Dave Harland presentation would include a fucking graph?!)
*delete as appropriate