Serious about being silly

Jerry Seinfeld is one of the funniest people ever

His sitcom aired for 180 episodes

He’s performed countless stand-up shows

And comedians in cars getting coffee aired for 11 seasons

To be so consistent over so long has required serious dedication to the craft of comedy

So serious in fact that he lives by a methodical regime

Write every day

And for every day you write draw an X on the calendar

Then see how many X’s you can get in a row

The aim being to never break the chain

So you’re writing funny stuff every single day

Seinfeld is so serious about this craft that he hasn’t missed a day of writing in decades

That’s why he’s so good at it

Simply put he takes being silly seriously

He’s also a great example of the difference between the process and output

Just because you take something seriously

Doesn’t mean the result has to look serious

In the last 10 years the number of campaigns winning at Cannes using humour has dropped 5-fold

Whilst the number winning for purpose led work has increased by about the same amount

There are a loads of reasons earnest advertising has increased

And they’re not all bad

But I wonder if funny ads are on the decrease

Because agencies and clients are letting the seriousness of the task spill over into the work

Yes we need to take the job seriously


But that’s not the same as saying the work needs to be serious 


Actually quite the opposite

Funny ads have been shown to be some of the most effective

Most recalled

And the most enjoyed

Starbursts Berrys & Cream is one of the silliest ads ever

It had a resurgence on TikTok last year and #BerriesAndCream content was viewed over five billion times

We should be more serious about being silly