Flirt With the World: The Neuroscience of Playfulness in Marketing

Walk into most corporate offices and you’ll see the same patterns: meetings packed back-to-back, emails written in safe, predictable language, outreach decks that all blur into each other - so much of modern business runs on autopilot. Executives are trained to be efficient, serious, and rational. The problem is this: when everyone communicates the same way, nothing stands out.

If you want to influence decision-makers, you need to break the pattern and one of the most powerful and underused ways to do that is through playfulness.

Why Play Matters More Than You Think

Psychiatrist Stuart Brown, who spent decades studying play, described it as 'the single most significant factor in determining success and fulfilment'.

Play is not trivial, it is how humans build trust, learn and connect.

Neuroscience confirms this: play activates dopamine pathways in the brain, the same reward systems involved in curiosity, motivation and memory. When we experience something playful or unexpected, our brains tag it as important. In marketing terms: a moment of playfulness is far more likely to be remembered, talked about and associated with positive emotion.

The Von Restorff Effect: Standing Out in a Sea of Sameness

There is a psychological principle called the Von Restorff Effect, also known as the Isolation Effect. It shows that people remember things that are different more than things that are similar. Think about a standard outreach email versus a personalised, playful gesture. The email blends in with hundreds of others, the gift that makes someone smile - that is the moment that's remembered. Executives are not immune to this effect. In fact, because their lives are dominated by routine and predictability, the disruptive power of something playful is even stronger.

How Playfulness Creates Opportunity

Playfulness is not about being silly, it is about creating moments that feel human, unexpected, and emotionally engaging. In a corporate context, gifting is one of the easiest ways to achieve this.

• The Autopilot Breaker

  A CFO receiving yet another industry white paper may skim and forget. A tailored gift that references their passion for cycling or art? That breaks the autopilot and makes them pause.

  
  

• The Conversation Starter

  Playful gifting creates space for dialogue. It is not a hard sell, it is an invitation: 'We see you, we thought of you, let’s talk'. That shift from persuasion to connection changes everything.

  
  

• The Memory Anchor

  Because play triggers dopamine, the moment is encoded more strongly in memory. When that executive later sees your name on a proposal, their brain retrieves not just the document but the positive feeling associated with it.

The Cost of Seriousness

Most marketing budgets are spent on channels that keep things 'serious': banner ads, dense reports, generic conference sponsorships. The problem is these efforts rarely cut through.

Research shows that emotion-driven campaigns outperform rational-only campaigns by 23% (Nielsen). Yet the majority of B2B marketing still prioritises rational features over emotional experiences. Playfulness is not just a creative choice, it is a performance strategy.

How to Apply This in Your Business

1. Design for Surprise

   Think about the default communication your executives receive. Then design something that stands out from it. A playful gift delivered after a high-stakes meeting is more powerful than another PDF or a thank you email.

   
   

2. Make it Personal

   Playfulness works best when it feels like it is just for them. Reference a hobby, a moment from a conversation, or an inside detail from their industry.

   
   

3. Think Human First, Business Second

   Behind every corporate title is a person. If you can make that person smile or feel curious, you have already achieved what most competitors cannot - and most importantly, they will remember you for it!

Final Thought

The corporate world is serious by default, but human connection thrives on play. Neuroscience shows us that moments of surprise and delight are remembered more, talked about more and acted on more.

When you integrate playfulness into gifting you are not being frivolous, you are using one of the most reliable mechanisms of human attention and memory to cut through noise and build genuine connection. In a business world running on autopilot, the companies willing to 'flirt with the world' are the ones who will be remembered.