How a Common Enemy Turns Scrollers Into a Crowd
Founder and Head of Growth, White Label Comedy
Give your audience a common enemy and they stop scrolling and start piling in. It works because sharing a mild, funny injustice, like the driver who never waves thanks, turns passive viewers into active participants who comment and tag their friends. As Blair Warren put it, people will do anything for those who help them throw rocks at their enemies.
Why a shared enemy drives engagement
Think about the last time someone let a driver cut in and did not even get a wave for it. Part of you secretly hopes that ungrateful driver hits a bit of bad luck. Nothing fatal, obviously. Maybe just a speeding ticket, or a desperate need for the loo with no services for another 40 miles.
That flicker of "they had it coming" is surprisingly powerful. Blair Warren's line captures the whole thing: people back those who confirm their suspicions and help them throw rocks at their enemies. Naming a shared enemy, whether that is the non-waver or whoever decided there should be no service station between Warwick and Telford, turns an audience from quiet scrollers into a crowd that wants to join in.
Keep it playful, and pick a fair target
There is a line here, and it matters. The goal is a knowing laugh, not a pile-on. So keep it light and make sure the "enemy" actually deserves the gentle ribbing.
The safest targets are everyday injustices everyone quietly agrees on: slow walkers who fan out across the whole pavement, the self-checkout that insists there is an unexpected item, the meeting that could have been an email. Nobody gets hurt, and everyone recognises themselves in the annoyance.
Turn the injustice into a joke
Once you have your common enemy, the format does the rest. Find an everyday injustice, point out how annoying it is in a funny way, and let people flood the comments with their own version of the same gripe.
One of our joke formulas turns exactly this into a "bad luck pie chart" your audience rallies behind and tags their friends to see. The mechanism is always the same: a shared enemy, a playful jab, and an open invitation for everyone else who feels the same way to say so. That is how you gather a genuinely engaged audience of potential customers.
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Finding the right shared enemy for your audience, and turning it into content people actually share, is the sort of thing our comedy writers do for brands every day.
If you would like a team that can build engagement-driving content for your brand, work with us.
Adam Hunt
Founder and Head of Growth at White Label Comedy. He spends his days convincing serious brands that funny is the most profitable thing they're not doing.
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