Is fun the killer business app you're overlooking?

We attended Inbound 13 last week, a brilliantly conceived conference for inbound marketers produced by HubSpot, covering the latest in content marketing, demand creation and social media. Every day started with a general session that opened with hilarious videos that poked ferocious fun at traditional marketing.  All while cleverly building the case for non-interruptive, inbound marketing, which, coincidentally enough, happens to be HubSpot’s business. Day 1 set the stage with the 3-minute “The Marketerette:”

If you look at some of the other videos, the talent is almost all HubSpot employees: Outbound Tactics with Dan Sally  and  Outbound Anonymous.  No high-priced acting talent. Probably a lower cost than traditional corporate videos, but not “free” content either. (Good is rarely free. You know that, right?)

The employees had to invest time in creativity and learning lines.  But that time invested in employees looks well spent, doesn’t it? Don’t these employees appear to be having a lot of fun? Team building that also created engaging content with a solid brand message. Brilliant!

Fun. You’ve Heard This from Us Before

This “fun” philosophy we speak of. O’Reilly DePalma has brought it to your attention before. Watching the HubSpot videos reminded me of the time I was in corporate brand management and I invited our entire marketing department, including my boss, the VP of Marketing, to an offsite at my house. Our goal was to brainstorm funny content for an annual sales meeting.

I served up lasagna and they served up one-liners. It was one of the best afternoons of my career. Better yet, I still smile when I think about the sales attendees, expecting a boring corporate video, doubled over in laughter with the cheeky video we used to open the sales meeting. Who wouldn’t try a solution that benefits the employer (good, low-cost content) and the employee (enjoyable team building with colleagues)

Oh, what’s the ROI on all that fun, you ask?  In 2012, HubSpot’s revenues were $52.5 million, an 82% increase over 2011.

Let there be fun.