We Made Up a Character To Send Out Our Agency’s Promotional Emails

6 emails, 6 goals, one amazing man.

This is the case study of what we — and the press — are calling The Gary Experiment. We wanted to break down our strangest and most favorite email series to date, 1. Because people keep asking, and 2. Because we’ll take any excuse to talk about Gary again.

Here’s why we did it, why it worked, and why we’d do it again:

1. The two most common responses we got to these emails was either, “Ummm I LOVE Gary,” or “I am confused at what’s going on but I’m laughing.” The reason BOTH of these responses are great is that it meant people were reading the emails.
2. Correction: they were reading them AND thinking about them AND being entertained by them.
3. Addition to that correction: they went beyond absorbing the content and were motivated enough by it to reach out to us. That’s pretty much a marketer’s wet dream. In fact, this series had the highest open rate AND the highest number of replies of any that we had done before. It was hysterical.
4. Promotional emails in general are fickle pickles. They usually come off too thirsty or smarmy; thinly veiled “asks.” We decided that we would take the announcements and offerings we wanted to share, and weave them into a narrative — a weird, playful one about a rookie private eye who was hired by our competitors to spy on us and find out what we were up to and why we were stealing business. NORMAL, RIGHT? LOL.
5. So each email, we’d have Gary “discover” the thing we wanted to update you all about — mixed in with some general Gary reveals and ramblings.
6. All we knew for sure was that for our brand, this way of sharing info felt right; it felt weird and good and unexpected and ridiculous. It also proved yet again that humor is not a side effect of good strategy, it’s a killer strategy itself.
7. DON’T MAKE US SAY FUN SELLS AGAIN.
8. Speaking of fun, over the last several months we’ve been honing in on our formula for how we help businesses develop Brand Personalities. Along with the dark arts and evil genius behind the process, we have created core Humor Archetypes that are each a pillar of a specific tone of humor — including the way that tone resonates with a certain type of audience as well as the unique way it communicates and converts. Think: personality test but for businesses. So they can know exactly how their brand speaks, engages, jokes, motivates, comforts, and sells.
9. The point of that is that we also got to test that out with Gary’s character and voice by assigning him a Humor Archetype and using that to steer his “brand.” Because of this, our team got so entrenched in the Gary Brand that we could all identify very quickly what he would or wouldn’t do, say, eat, think, believe. And THIS is the power of humor as a conduit of brand consistency.
10. The moral of the story is we would never want to write boring emails that you’re bored of reading. So we shook it up, birthed a beautiful, 63-year-old man named Gary — and whaddyaknow, it worked.

Over and out,
Allie + Team Obedient

PS, read all 6 of the ‘Garylogs’ below

Email 1/
Subject line: Gary, the rookie private eye

Gary here, dispatching my first spy mission. The client told me to stop calling it a spy mission but as my life coach always says, a little drama never hurt nobody.

A bit about me: I’m 63, semi-retired, and finally following my passion of investigative detectiv-ing. My personal hero is Joey Greco from Cheaters — some call him a ‘madman who got stabbed on a boat during a confrontation,’ I call him a hero.

I’ve been hired to follow around the founders of Obedient to see how they’re doing what they’re doing and why it’s working so well. I asked my teen son Dale to join me but he said no. I told him it would help me stay incognito if he got on my shoulders and we wore an XXXL trench coat but he just said no in an even meaner voice through a mouthful of Corn Puffs.

So here I am. Hiding in the bushes with some sweet binocs. The client told me that it’s annoying to abbreviate ‘binoculars’ but I told them that I won’t apologize for following my heart.

Over the next few weeks, I’ll be sharing everything I’m learning from spying on Obedient — my mission being to gather enough intel to put a stop to this humor madness. Or, as the client yelled at me during our first meeting, “How in the heck are these kids getting results out of FUN when this industry has ALWAYS thrived on predictability and fear?!!”

After that outburst he made me listen to his copy of Patsy Cline Live at the Opry to pump us both back up. He’s a nice guy.

Here’s hoping I do a good job on my first mission. My glasses/mustache combo is starting to itch and I’ve only been out here for 3 minutes.

Over and out,
Gary, the rookie private eye

Email 2/
Subject line: A wrench in my plans

Gary here, on what may be my last day in the field. I’m in deep trouble — worse than the time I mistook a Sears mannequin for a cashier and accidentally shoplifted a 10-pack of briefs.

It appears as though the Obedient team has a new website. Like brand fricken new. I know for sure that the guy who hired me to gather intel on them did NOT expect this turn of events. Good thing I brought my Tums because this is going to get intense.

Using my binocs, I’ve only been able to see a few things that are gonna really grind his gears: The design and colors are definitely inappropriate for a boring marketing firm. The copy seems to not follow the standard format at all — I see an Outback Steakhouse slogan, a banana phone, a Mean Girls quote, a reference to life on other planets, and at least 3 curse words. Worst of all, it looks like they’re announcing that they’re full-service now. Crap.

My client was already peeved that Obedient breaks the marketing rules with funny messaging campaigns, but design now too? He’s gonna blow his lid when he hears this. He may even fire me and call the whole mission off.

Perhaps my dreams of being a private eye only lasted a day. If this is true, I’ll cherish these memories forever. I’m just gonna rip the bandaid and dispatch it over to him now.

www.obedientagency.com

Here’s hoping it goes better than the time I text the guy who landscapes my yard, “DTF?” thinking it meant “Day to Fertilize?”

Signing off from the field, with a sharp eye and a pure heart,
Gary

Email 3/
Subject line: #GARYLOG: Takeout Stakeout…or should I say Steak-out

Gary here, comin’ at you live from the field, or as I’ve now coined the operation: The #Garylog. I don’t know where to put that pound sign but looks cool huh? Maybe Obedient is rubbing off on me with my catchy mission name, but don’t tell my boss; I’m 78% sure he would NOT like it.

I’ve got all my gear lined up for my another full day of spy work: 3 Lunchables, my underwater watch (you never know), a harmonica, and a notebook. Dale makes fun of me for buying wide-ruled notebooks, but my elegant, swooping cursive won’t fit in any other kind, so, as they say: c’est la vie.

Today’s #Garylog:

I observed a team brainstorm about their new client: a food delivery app. Boy if there’s anything I know well it’s dining at home for one. Reading their campaign ideas was like getting my soul read. Honestly, I’m feeling a little emotional.

Here are some of their brainstorm jokes that I could make out from zooming way in with my Binocs:

• Craving wontons but don’t wonton put any clothes on? That’s our cue.
• Because you’re wearing athleisure but feeling ath-lazy. Say no more.
• Sometimes it’s impossible to get a table anywhere but your kitchen. Here for ya.
• When it’s dead cold outside so you’re dead on the inside. We got you.
• Hungry for falafel, but looking fal-awful? Meet the new private dining.
• Get a double espresso without getting trampled by a double stroller. Coffee, delivered.

Had to stop spying cuz their ideas were making me hungry. BRB goin’ ham on my Lunchables (which, funny enough, are ham!).

Until next time,

Gar

PS: Sorry for the scare last week. My boss still wants me to keep an eye on Obedient and suss out how and why humor is working so well. Wait…keep a private eye on them! ROFLOL. Woah, I might be getting funnier via osmosis to these people. Again, please don’t tell my boss.

Email 4/
Subject line: #Garylog: Brain science

Gary here, on another titillating Friday living my passion: private detectiving. On a dispatch call with my boss this morning I tried to sign off with, “Welp, as they say, TGIG!” That stands for Thank God It’s Gary — a joke I’ve made every Friday since I was 22 and according to court documents, the reason my first wife Judy divorced me. My boss didn’t like it any more than Judy did and replied with a brusque, “Cut the funny business and get back to work!” Sheesh, someone woke up on the wrong side of the waterbed, is the comeback I said only in my head as we hung up.

Anyhoo, I’ve been out here for 4 hours already trying to get more intel on Obedient. At my last count, I have 17 mosquito bites and 2 bites I can’t categorize (even my Pocket Bug Bite Photo Glossary didn’t help).

But onto the Garylog for today. The Obedient team has been ‘nerding out’ (I saw Dale use this expression in a tweet once) over the neuroscience and cognitive research on why humor works so well. My boss is NOT gonna be happy to learn that there’s more proof that humor marketing is ‘the tits,’ (another thing I saw Dale tweet the other day).

Here’s what I wrote down from today’s spying (my comments in parenthesis)

• Humor systematically activates the brain’s dopamine reward system. (woah!)
• Dopamine helps with learning and recall, goal-oriented motivation, and long-term memory (Double woah!)
• There are only 3 primary emotions that release adrenaline into your system — which cements the experience in your brain — fear, grief, and laughter. (My boss loves using those first two in his marketing campaigns.)
• Positivity + the power of laughter = captivating, memorable, motivating campaigns. (Uh oh.)

Welp, my mind is blown. More blown than the time I successfully made root beer moats by forming a castle out of vanilla ice cream and surrounding it with root beer. It was a huge mess and Judy was — to put it bluntly — PEEVED.

Signing off,
Gar

Email 5/
Subject line: #Garylog: Humor design

Gary here, and I only have time for a quick dispatch because I completely forgot about Dale’s Tae Kwon Do match this afternoon. Last time I missed it he made me buy him an Arby’s prepaid debit card (didn’t even know they made those!) so that he could buy himself curly fries whenever he wanted.

So, I can’t afford to miss it again — fiscally and emotionally.

From my perch atop this small hill outside their office, The Obedient team seems to be really busy and it must be noted that they high five a lot more than one would expect. The biggest thing I spied upon is that they’re officially expanding and adding design into their in-house bag of tricks. Ohhhhhh boy.

Fun sidenote: When I was 19, I wanted to become a professional magician, so I paid our neighbor to embroider “Bag O’ Tricks” on all of my duffel bags for my performances. Long story short: I’m no longer allowed to practice magic in the state of IL. Yes, mice were involved. No, I can’t legally disclose the details.

Back to Obedient, my boss is going to burst another blood vessel in his neck because design is basically the only thing he thought he might have on them from a competitive standpoint. But the other night when I was wearing full-on night vision goggles and a kimono, I saw an email draft open on Allie’s computer discussing how even the sharpest, funniest message can lose their luster if used amidst ugly, tame, lame design. It went on to say how things like typography, color, images, and illustrations have the power to heighten jokes and entice audiences and it used the phrase ‘humor design.’ Truth be told those two words sent chills down my spine more than the time I jokingly called 911 because my second wife Monica drank all of my eggnog. It was supposed to be funny but everyone involved was super steamed.

Allow me to say the obvious: the crap has officially hit the fan for me and my boss. Gotta scram and head to TKD (Tae Kwon Do, silly!) and support Dale (even though he hates the cheer I made up for him). I’ll have to face my boss with this bad news in the morning.

Until then!
Gar

Email 6/
Subject line: A goodbye poem from Gary

Gary here, I wrote a poem about my last day in the field because sometimes rhymes are the only way I know how to express myself. Here goes:

The day started out like the rest on my mission,
Woke up, grabbed my Crocs and some Tang from the kitchen.

Soon enough I was outside of Obedient HQ,
With my green, wide-ruled notebook and some spying to do.

I got out my binocs, and turned Steely Dan on,
Then saw them write “Up yours” as ad copy for tampons.

Nothing new there, I wrote, funny stuff is their thing,
Or as I heard Allie say once, “We add zeroes through zings.”

The day went on quickly, as I watched the team work,
And I spied and took notes with a near-constant smirk.

My boss had just pinged me on my Motorola pager,
And I called him right back to say, “Nah, nothing major.”

Then faster than you can say, “Dad, I hate your jeans!”
I noticed something written on an open computer screen.

It couldn’t be true, this would do my boss in,
If they brought their talents there, he’d for sure never win.

But as certain as my favorite book is the encyclopedia,
I learned Obedient was helping businesses use humor on social media.

With egg in my face and a tear in my eye,
I packed up my pizza rolls and bid my detectiving goodbye.

I knew in my heart the mission had come to an end,
But I’d like to think that I made two unsuspecting new friends.

Perhaps I’d dust off my resume and give Obedient a shout,
But for now, I’ll sign off — this is Gary: out.

Editor’s note: Gary is now our Security Guard (Or Insecurity Guard as he jokes) and he’s also our social media intern.

As the world’s first humor marketing agency, Obedient has developed creative branding for industry darlings like Clif Bar, Native, Blue Bunny, Argent, JOI, Waterboy, Fanny, ABC Fine Wine & Spirits, Yogi Tea, Choice Organics, GEN Z, The University of Chicago, Alleyoop, Roche, Dott Technologies, and The Dallas Cowboys. But they would never brag about it in their episode description. obedientagency.com