To consistently produce new entertainment, the Bananas copied the Saturday Night Live production model. Their week includes an "Over The Top" idea pitch meeting, a table read, rehearsals, and testing new material in front of a small live audience before the main show.
Founder Jesse Cole's creative engine is a simple rule: identify the standard way of doing things and then do the opposite. This ensures every idea is inherently remarkable and share-worthy, as people don't get excited about normalcy. It’s a core principle for breaking out of industry conventions.
Before becoming a viral sensation, founder Jesse Cole spent 8 years running a small, unknown team. This period of "toiling in obscurity" was crucial for testing hundreds of wild ideas without public scrutiny, building the playbook that enabled the Bananas' explosive growth.
To maintain a high creative output, Savannah Bananas founder Jesse Cole writes 10 new ideas every day. Crucially, he often focuses these sessions on a specific "idea bucket" or theme, such as developing characters for a new team. This transforms creativity from a sporadic event into a consistent, directed practice.
The perception that great comedians are simply 'naturally funny' on stage is a carefully crafted illusion. Masters like Jerry Seinfeld and Joan Rivers rely on disciplined, daily writing and meticulous organization. Their hard work is intentionally hidden to create the magic of spontaneous, effortless humor for the audience.
Creativity thrives not from pressure, but from a culture of psychological safety where experimentation is encouraged. Great thinkers often need to "sit on" a brief for weeks to let ideas incubate. Forcing immediate output stifles breakthrough campaign thinking.
One-off creative hits are easy, but replicating them requires structure. Truly creative marketing integrates storytelling into a disciplined process involving data analysis (washups, SWAT), strategic planning, and commercial goals. This framework provides the guardrails needed to turn creative ideas into repeatable, impactful campaigns.
A highly effective creative process can be structured like a business with specialized departments. In songwriting, instrumentalists first create a 'vibe' or emotional foundation. Lyricists then interpret that feeling and build a narrative. This division of labor allows each member to excel in their specific 'sandbox' without needing to be a jack-of-all-trades, resulting in a more cohesive and efficiently produced final product.
To write comedy professionally, you can't rely on inspiration. A systematic process, like 'joke farming,' allows for the reliable creation of humor by breaking down the unconscious creative process into deliberate, replicable steps that can be performed on demand.
The "99% Invisible" podcast subjects every script to a live table read where the entire staff provides hundreds of written comments in a shared document. This process is intensely rigorous but culturally gentle, focusing on elevating the story without personal criticism.
The ideal skill set for fastvertising mirrors that of a late-night comedy show's writing room. It requires a unique blend of rapid-fire creativity, cultural awareness, and disciplined judgment to generate witty responses while avoiding brand-damaging missteps.