I was recently having a conversation with my award-winning-teacher sister about marketing to educators. In all honesty, it wasn’t a conversation at all, but a shameless attempt on my part to get some free demographic research. (For example, did you know that teachers are far more likely to respond to direct mail than email campaigns? And did you know that they prefer technology swag to tote bags and stress balls? And did you know that teachers are really sick of red apple and yellow number two pencil imagery?)

My true goal was to discover whether the field of education was as self-mocking as the advertising industry. I wanted to learn about the inside jokes of teachers. There are one million (give or take) YouTube videos that parody the travails of ad agencies and marketers. It’s practically a cottage industry. We advertisers just can’t stop observing and wittily commenting on ourselves.

Are educators the same? Do they gleefully record themselves mocking…well…themselves? Do they produce highly-scripted video complaints about being in their chosen field? No. They do not. Their funny videos have to have a message.

I give you Not On The Test

I feel so ashamed.

—Lisa