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SXSW Panel: Strange Business: Corporate Creative That Doesn’t Suck
Time/Date: Sunday, 12:30 p.m. (hashtag: #scqdk)
Panelists: Aaron With, Groupon (CEO Andrew Mason, who was scheduled, was not present)
The gist: Groupon’s quirky sales deal copy isn’t just generated to boost sales; With, who is a very funny man, made it clear that a lot of the behind-the-scenes that goes on at the company is just as silly. He showed photos, videos and more demonstrating the fairly elaborate pranks and humorous projects that have very little to do with the company’s astounding valuation (somewhere in the $15 billion valuation). But on second thought, maybe it has everything to do with the company’s business value. The games and humorous memes the employees engage in are a kind of team-building. With began the presentation by asking about office art at other people’s companies (he wondered aloud about Google’s rich art) and by engaging in geek humor, like showing a photo of the company’s six wall clocks, all set to Central Time. Not all the jokes went over well and the quirkiness seemed to wear thin after the first 15 minutes. With said the company is disciplined about its content production and wants to create its own humor, not rely on cultural references and use lame, played-out targets (Snuggies, Austin Powers, etc.). It wasn’t until nearly the end of the panel that With addressed the company’s badly received Super Bowl ads. He acknowledged that the ads just didn’t connect. He called them a “Fiasco” and said, “we alienated too many people.
Quotes: “That’s OK, I wasn’t saying anything important.” - With after an audience member said he couldn’t hear. “It helps weed out people we wouldn’t want anyway.” - With, on a kind of litmus test for hiring employees who don’t get their sense of humor or sensibility. “Groupon clone job.” - With, referring to rival site Gilt.com in explaining an April Fool’s joke his company did.
Takeaways: Groupon doesn’t just use humor for its marketing and sales copy, it tries to be creative and have a silly sensibility in every part of its corporate culture. Although With didn’t offer a lot of advice for other companies to do the same, it’s clear that, at least in terms of valuation, his company is doing something right. Insincere marketing-driven humor or viral marketing can backfire if it’s not really coming from a company’s wheelhouse and is demographically driven. It’s not easy to make copy sing. You have to invest in a process.
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