The art of outrageous exaggeration
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"Comedy is simply a funny way of being serious."
Peter Ustinov, the British actor, filmmaker, and writer once said these wise words.
If you think about it, good copywriting is a bit like good comedy.
All good copywriters, all good comedians, are masters of hyperbole.
Hyperbole is not meant to be taken literally.
Hyperbole is a literary device.
First, it takes bare facts about the World around us. Then it simplifies those facts. And at last, it presents them intentionally in a dramatic yet memorable way…To. Make. A. Believable. Point.
Love or hate him, comedian Chris Rock is a master of hyperbole.
Recently I watched his new Netflix Special called "Selective Outrage".
One of my favorite parts was when he jokes about brands misguided belief that they have a special purpose.
So Chris Rock jokes, “Every business is full of sh*t. Everybody you do business they don’t even tell you about the product no more. They just tell you how much charity they do."
Then Chris gives a real-world example to illustrate what he means:
“Lululemon, I walked by and in the window of every Lululemon there’s sign that says, ‘We don’t support racism, sexism, discrimination, or hate.”
Then Chris adds, “I’m like, who gives a f*ck? You’re just selling yoga pants. I don’t need your yoga pants politics. Tell me how you work on ball sweat.”
Chris continues his rant, "'We don't support racism, sexism, discrimination or hate — they sell $100 yoga pants ... They hate somebody... They hate the poor".
Then Chris throws in the punchline, "Correction, they don't sell $100 yoga pants, they sell $100 non-racist yoga pants. I think I speak for everyone in this crowd when I say we’d prefer a pair of $20 racist yoga pants."
Brand purpose makes marketers feel good about the products they sell.
But as ad legend Dave Trott once said, “Ordinary people don’t want a pompous brand purpose, they want a laugh.”
》”Dangerous” Ideas
1/ Simplify, then exaggerate
In the 1980s Range Rover used hyperbole (obvious outrageous exaggeration) brilliantly to make a very believable point: A Range Rover lets you do things that 99 % of the cars would not.
2/ Good comedy is like good copywriting - it is highly memorable.
The last thing the consumer wants is a narcissistic brand purpose.
Consumers only care about one thing: "What's in it for me?".
In other words, what consumers want is to buy lifestyle upgrades, social status symbols or cultural acceptance. What consumers want is to buy peace of mind, time savers or...the “good enough” option.
But make people laugh and there's a good chance people will remember your brand.
3/ Think less about brand purpose, think more about finding relatable truths
Relatable truths work because they’re the kind of unspoken truths that gets people talking.
Your pal,
🚀 Founder & Chief Copywriter: Teardwn ↬ “Hire me to give voltage to your website copy”
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