Peter McGraw helps organizations that are struggling to delight customers and failing to stand out in a cluttered marketplace. As a behavioral economist who teaches MBAs by day and decodes comedy by night, McGraw presents inspiring business insights gleaned from the practices and perspectives of the masters of comedy—and most creative rule breakers. His entertaining lessons help organizations uniquely solve problems, craft messages that are impossible to ignore, and create ground-breaking products and captivating brands.
Escape the competition by serving solos
Strategy and tactics gleaned from the genius and madness of the masters of comedy
Organizations are fixated on families—targeting them with products and promotions. By doing so, however, companies end up competing for the same customers.
Yet, there is another market—one that is overlooked and undervalued.
They are the one hundred and twenty-eight million adults in the United States who are unmarried, contributing to the 28% of households with a single occupant.
Dr. Peter McGraw—a behavioral economist, business professor, and bachelor—knows these singles and how they think, feel, and behave. His talk provides managers, marketers, entrepreneurs, and sales people unique insights into this potential market.
By understanding this huge, diverse group provides a plethora of opportunities to escape the competition.
Topics include:
• What are the demographic, psychographic, and technological trends behind the explosive growth in single living.
• Singles are disproportionately diverse populations and have novel perspectives on jobs, housing, cars, travel, and their pets.
• Who are the four types of singles – and how more half of them are not looking to date or for a traditional long-term relationship.
• How single living is a world-wide phenomenon—from South Korea’s Honjoks to the 50% households that are solo in Stockholm, Sweden.
Serious lessons in creativity and execution from comedy’s rebels
The world’s best businesses think differently in their pursuit of novel problem-solving. The world’s funniest people, too, think differently in their pursuit of laughs on command.
After more than a decade studying humor, sharing stages with comics, and hanging out with them in dingy green rooms, McGraw presents entertaining insights gleaned from the most creative rule breakers:
Innovation insights for organizations from people who don’t fit in organizations:
• How a simple “101” comedy trick used by Chris Rock, Ali Wong, and Anthony Jeslenik can overcome biases and reveal new business opportunities.
• Why Tina Fey and Amy Poehler’s approach to comedy is the model for the radical collaboration needed to implement creative solutions
• How Vaudeville and British music halls were at the leading-edge of the lean startup revolution.
• What tactics Mae West, Jim Gaffigan, and the writers of The Onion use to enhance inventive thinking.
Strategy and tactics gleaned from the genius and madness of the masters of comedy
Let the world’s funniest people show your organization how to drive growth and sustainable success. McGraw’s entertaining insights will help you uniquely solve problems, craft messages that cut through the clutter, and create ground-breaking products and captivating brands.
• Why smart businesses are building brands like Dave Chappelle, Joan Rivers, and Sarah Silverman in order to get ahead of the competition.
• How to develop Jerry Seinfeld’s comic-as-outside perspective in order to identify new growth opportunities and fearlessly smash the status quo.
• Why “It’s funny cause it’s true,” can be applied beyond stand-up to creating marketing communications that stand out.
• How to stop thinking of bugs as bugs—and turn them into (differentiated) features.
Dr. Peter McGraw is a behavioral economist and global expert in the scientific study of humor. He directs The Humor Research Lab (HuRL), hosts the podcast I’M NOT JOKING, and is the co-author of The Humor Code: A Global Search for What Makes Things Funny. McGraw is a business school professor who teaches MBA courses for the University of Colorado Boulder, University of California San Diego, and London Business School. His work has been covered by The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Harvard Business Review, NPR, BBC, and CNN.