It has come to this, folks: We have officially reached some kind of Bizarro World threshold where we now have to convince (as in “prove to”) bosses and bean-counters that whimsy and fun are good things; that is, that whimsy and fun are effective marketing strategies.

One is reminded of H.L. Mencken’s famous dictum: some people suffer from the “… terrible, pervasive fear that someone, somewhere is having fun.” This is the destination we reach when Irony has held sway for too long.

This fear of fun and wariness of whimsy is — let me put this gently — idiotic. It is, of course, a giant Rorschach inkblot into the psyche of bosses and bean counters. Marketing, remember, isn’t about the bosses and bean counters. It’s about our customers, clients, guests, learners.

It should be obvious that some of the greatest marketing (and best literature — Shakespeare anyone?) uses humor or whimsy to get a message across. Creativity, fun, and whimsy are great ways to share our stories.

Once upon a time, bosses just knew this. They knew that people reward fun and whimsy when done creatively and appropriately. We ignore this at our peril.