A dear old friend of mine emailed me after I sent her a shameless plug for my weekly blog here. She mentioned a newsletter that I wrote for the company where we both worked years ago. That got me thinking….

The Lump was a slightly irreverent (okay, more than slightly) review of the weekly happenings at Lerner Newspapers. It would cover anything from our softball failures to our various office sports pools. I also squeezed in important work stuff. I had a lot of fun doing it and it had a fairly strong following. Some diehard Lump fans even saved them (still not sure why).

Shortly after we hired a marketing manager, I ended The Lump after she wanted to approve each newsletter before it was distributed. Corporate America reared its ugly head. After a fun-filled 75-week run, I ended The Lump.

Nothing in The Lump was really controversial. It wasn’t even politically incorrect. The Lump did take good-natured pokes at people and procedures (myself and my department included). It’s a shame that a few people might be too sensitive or take themselves too seriously to take a bit of humor.

Perhaps the big worry was about our company image. If image was a concern, they needed to move us out of the ever-flooding basement which we rented for cheap. Or at the very least, rid the carpets of the ever-present odors and mold.

A few other attempts at newsletters were launched, but never embraced and quickly folded. Why? Because nobody wants a dry, fact-filled company update.

What do they want? Info and fun. Yes, they want to know about upcoming meetings or events. But they also want to see a goofy picture of a dispatch driver demonstrating “The Claw” wrestling hold on himself. They want to know the receptionist’s favorite cartoon character. Silly stuff, but it gets people to continue reading other “important” stuff, like the spoonful of sugar approach to taking medicine. So, is the corporate newsletter like a holiday fruitcake – ever present, but never really enjoyable?

-John Wroblewski, distribution specialist (and author of the now defunct GT newsletter)