C.V.

Month: March 2014

Slate series

Good people: With the Humor Code launch in full preparation, we were lucky enough to score a ten-part blog series on Slate.com. Here are the first three entries: –What makes something funny? –When is a joke too soon? –Why do we laugh? Enjoy (and hope to see you at our NYC book launch event at Gotham […]

Is that a joke? Four risks of humorous marketing

I spend a lot of research time examining the costs and benefits of humor in business. The team at Grasshopper reached out to me recently to discuss how attempts to create funny marketing can fail. Here is what they came up with: Don’t Be Tedious or Tasteless Be Careful If You’re Poking Fun of Consumers […]

Guest post: Turn your kid into a comedian for everyone’s sake

By Hillary Anger Elfenbein; Washington University in St. Louis So your three-year-old comes home and tells you that he wants chocolate for dinner.  Now what? If you’re anything like me, you start by trying to sell him on what else you’ve prepared.  This approach doesn’t work very well, and then he throws himself on the […]