“As you can see, it’s just not working.”
I recently watched an old but still funny Mitchell and Webb skit. In the skit, the comedy duo play two TV execs. They are reviewing a failing Apprentice-like show, in which a group of office workers compete for a prestigious job.
“Maybe that’s the problem,” says Mitchell.
“Go on,” says Webb.
“How would it be if instead, it was idiots competing for a relatively junior job?”
“Idiots?”
“Yeah. We deliberately pick sixteen idiots. Real idiots. Assholes as well. And then we get to watch them screw everything up.”
At this point, I had to pause the skit so I could write down the thoughts that had bubbled up in my head. Like several other times during Mitchell and Webb skits, I realized this was a comedy illustration of a genuine and valuable marketing trick.
I wrote that down and then I clicked play again.
“Maybe it can work,” says Webb. “But only for a season, right? Once people can see that all contestants are idiots, no one will want to apply.”
Mitchell shakes his head and smiles. “Idiots will. In fact, it will make the application process a lot easier because we’ll only get idiots.”
So there you go:
A valuable marketing trick hidden inside an old but still funny Mitchell and Webb skit.
If you think on it for a bit, maybe your own thoughts will bubble up, and you will see how you use this trick to transform something in your own business that’s just not working.
Or if you can’t figure that out, I got an offer for you:
This same idea is discussed in much more detail inside my Copy Riddles program, specifically in round 17.
Because this trick applies to copywriting as well as to marketing.
This trick is not hard to do, but it’s also not something you will see people doing instinctively, or might want to do instinctively yourself.
And yet it makes copy better, and can be used and applied way beyond the words you use to sell more, or to sell some, if you’re selling nothing right now.
For more info on this trick, and on Copy Riddles: