Take silly seriously

Silly is underestimated by serious people.

And that’s pretty silly.

Silly is seen as careless, empty, clownish, or something “the intern that didn’t stick around” brought to the table.

Silly should be seen as playful (like people we like), confident (like people we like), energizing (like people we like), and remark-able (like products and ideas we like).

Mascots. Charming error pages. Product demos that feel like tiny adventures rather than slidedecks. Cartoons that use inside-jokes and culture to make their points faster than whitepapers, while building relational equity along the way. A founder that doesn’t look like every other founder on LinkedIn ever.

We want our brands to have personalities like people our audience would like to be around. We want our brands to share products and ideas like those our audience would like to be around.

Perhaps it’s time to take silly seriously.