Everyone likes humor; we all know this.
But humor can seem risky when it comes to branding—it has certainly backfired on numerous occasions when a company takes things perhaps a bit too far (or sometimes when it is just misunderstood).
On the other hand, playing it too safe is also a great way to remain somewhere in the middle. Almost everyone likes the middle. Nobody loses their job in the middle. Customers come and go at a steady rate in the middle. Nobody boycotts the middle.
To quote the greatest show of all time, "Ain't nobody got nothing to say about a 40-degree day."
From HBO: source
A lot of brands talk about wanting to take risks. They might even discuss some radical ideas in the safety of their own conference rooms. But most of the time we end up with "safe" when it's time to execute on a strategy.
Does any of this sound familiar?
"Let's tweet more!"
"How about we make a hilarious infographic!"
"Let's put one of those meme things on our blog!"
"Our competitor just did that one awesome thing, let's do the exact same thing!"
Don't DO something, BE something
One of my favorite books of all time, Hey Whipple, Squeeze This, discusses the topic of "being something" as opposed to just "doing something."
"When a client says 'we want to seem cooler' the answer isn't an ad that says 'we're cool'—the answer is to BE cool."
It's important to make any attempt at a strategy—especially when it involves humor—a full effort where you're not simply doing something for the occasional chuckle. You are going to have to fight a much more difficult (but fully worthwhile) battle of changing the overall perception of your brand.
I asked Joel Klettke, resident internet funnyman and owner of Business Casual Copywriting, for his thoughts on the topic:
Do you think every brand should partake in a strategy involving humor?
I think every brand is capable, but not every brand should try. I think the downfall of humor in advertising or online is when a business starts becoming a sideshow and the brand is lost in the mix. A lot of brands get too focused on laughs: Entertaining an audience is great, but you're still trying to sell things.
I also think that there are some products or services where humor needs to be considered extremely carefully - things like child welfare, etc.
Can you list some examples of brands that overstepped the boundaries on using humor?
Yup, the Hyundai suicide commercials were terrible attempts at humor. Summer's Eve had a series of commercials [NSFW-ish] that were a terrible choice.
What are some of your favorite examples of brands using humor as a strategy well?
- Bodyform's CEO videos did exceptionally well.
- The LA Kings hockey team's tweets during the playoffs a few years ago.
- Domtar's short video series did a great job with humor with a pretty lame (paper) product.
- The Skittles Facebook page has lots of gems.
OK great, humor is good; but where do we draw the line?
Well, that's a tricky one as the line gets a bit fuzzy depending on a lot of variables. Every brand is going to have varying persona research, and you should know your customers better than anyone, so you'll likely have to find that line on your own. Good customer research will be the key here.
For an extreme example, I think this KMart "Ship My Pants" campaign is the stuff of legends. It's hilarious and teeters right on the line of offensive, all while remaining relevant to the brand (free shipping at KMart). They wanted to grow their online presence and drive traffic to their site with this campaign, which this ad certainly did as it got massive amounts of attention. It's been hailed widely as a success, earning 19.5 million YouTube views, but they did earn themselves a small boycott from some folks who were offended, which has mostly fizzled.
This raises an important point: Take as much risk as you want, but try not to offend people in some key areas. I can ignore something I find slightly annoying pretty easily, but if it strikes a chord that offends one of my core principles, that's when I'm going to get on my social media soapbox and start ranting.
Some things that are guaranteed to offend:
- Racism
- Sexism
- Stereotyping
- Religious focus
- Political focus
- Being a bully (don't pick on the little guy, even in retaliation)
- Making the wrong assumptions (research, research, research!)
So, how do you get started?
Make sure your humor is somehow relevant to your brand
"Oh, I see. All I have to do is show something interesting and funny for the first 25 seconds of the ad and then cut to the product?" – Luke Sullivan
While running a campaign where you just tell jokes and make funny videos might get a lot of attention, at the end of the day, making "cool stuff" is not a content strategy.
Find the ridiculous parts of your brand and "go there"
Vintage VW ad: source
"You know those really funny ideas you get that make you laugh and say, ‘Wouldn't it be great if we could really do that?' Those are often the very best ideas, and it is only your superego/parent/internalized client saying you can't do it. You've stumbled on a mischievous idea. Something you shouldn't do. That's a good sign you're onto something you SHOULD do. Revisit it." – Luke Sullivan
Here are some of my most recent favorite examples of brands poking fun at themselves:
Making fun of your core product can be risky. VW used this strategy during its early advertising efforts and it paid massive dividends. Bigstock recently took that approach and fully embraced the concept of "awkward" in their photo collection.
It's no secret that there are plenty of these awkward stock photos out there. But were you aware of the assortment of awkward "steak" photos available? Puns might be considered the lowest form of humor on the joke food chain, but be honest: You like them, no matter how deeply buried that linguistic love might be.
Taking the bland and boring parts of your business and attempting to make them exciting takes quite a bit of creativity, but it's a powerful angle.
Nobody has paid attention to an airline safety presentation since 1974. Air New Zealand aimed to change that (and bring themselves plenty of brand recognition in the process) by making a mockery of the otherwise mind-numbing instructional sessions. Featuring Bear Grylls, The Lord of the Rings, and naked employees, these videos quickly grabbed the attention of all those aboard the aircraft as well as everyone online.
Criminal justice is hardly ever intentionally humorous, but the Seattle Police Department made it a part of their rebranding strategy. The department has been in hot water for the past several years from both local citizens as well as the federal government, so they brought in local journalist Jonah Spangenthal-Lee to attempt a rebrand. To say he has been knocking it out of the ballpark would be a major understatement.
Some recent highlights include their distributing Doritos to Hempfest attendees, releasing the funniest blog post about marijuana legalization of all time (seriously, read that one), pictures of their mounted patrol horses at the dentist and just generally being ridiculously responsive on social media, even to trolls.
Source: Seattle Police Department Twitter page
What happened here? The city population started to view the department differently. Public perception quickly shifted positively, and before our very eyes, our police department had personality. There were real people that worked behind the badges. It was a huge risk to take on a humorous strategy—especially as a government agency--but it has quickly earned positive national attention with very little push-back.
Funny isn't everything; it has to be based on something smart
"Should you do something humorous, don't mistake a good joke for a good idea. Funny is fine. But set out to be interesting first. You must have an idea [of where to go next]." – Luke Sullivan
I'm repeating myself a bit here, but it's always important to make sure that this humor is based on a solid overall strategy--that it is well researched and planned. Always think: Who is your ideal customer, and what do they find funny?
Lastly, keep in mind the Internet has a short memory
I know a lot of people worry about taking risks in fear of potential backlash, but ask yourself: Can you truly name more than a handful of brands that got a bunch of bad press in 2012 for a risky campaign? I understand that it can seem as if the world is ending when your brand takes a few days of heat for having taken a risk. But truthfully, in this day and age, unless you say something completely tasteless, I can assure you that a slight misstep here and there will come and go faster than you can brainstorm your next ideas. Just apologize and move on. Most importantly, quit being so afraid of taking chances in your next strategy.
What about you? Got any favorite creative campaigns that you felt have really worked? How about anything your own brand is doing?
Let me know in the comments below, or feel free to reach out on Twitter!
@stentontoledo
"Who is your ideal customer, and what do they find funny?"
Humor is so subjective and so personal. What you and I find funny might completely fall flat for someone else. You can't possibly make everyone laugh so you have to fine tune you humor to what your key demographic finds clever/witting/funny. Chances are you will misstep from time to time, so how you handle those missteps is equally important.
Exactly -- One challenge I always find interesting is if a customer base has widely varying personas. In that case, humor can be ridiculously tricky
That's True. Many a times it backfire and become irritaing.
Fantastic post! I love the Hempfest pic from the Seattle PD.
https://goo.gl/pg90rY
I believe the most impacting statement you made is "being something" not just "doing something." I will always appreciate a business or person who understands their identity in the market or the world. Someone trying to be something they are not is awkward and weird.
I can see a number of great companies that will not wow me with their humor, but with their intense focus on quality and perfection.
I want to be wowed... sometimes humor does that!
Yup -- it's always VERY obvious when a brand is trying to do something that differs from their normal message, it can come across as strained and very awkward.
Humor is a great way to engage and to make your brand memorable. I really, really, really wish more companies would stay COMPLETELY away from sexist, racist or potentially offensive stereotypical topics. With all the potential humor out there, it's just completely unnecessary. It's so prevalent too.
I really don't understand why anyone still tries -- like how do those types of ads make it through testing without someone going "ok, maybe we should tone down the sexism/racism/stereotyping"
Really enjoyed this Rob - and couldn't agree more.
Tapping Joel was a smart move.. when we launched an experiment into a hyper-niche market, we asked Joel to help us create something humorous that would help us to position our pretty boring products in a more positive and fun light.
He hit it out of the park with this piece: https://ledtrafficwands.com/affordable-light-saber
And while it wasn't a huge success, it helped us get the new website out there and even created some sales.
Thanks Nick -- I remember when that post went live -- hilarious stuff
I love this post Rob. Not only do you advocate brands push their comfort zone, but that they do it with regard to their audience. The Kmart campaign was seriously brilliant and I definitely grew some love for them when I saw those ads (as Mack is not typically a Kmart shopper).
It's funny to me how scared companies are to take risks that show their personality. We're all people and we all like to laugh and feel like we're part of something really cool. As companies understand that this is what helps build their brands and their communities, maybe they'd be more willing to give it a shot. Hopefully you'll get some companies who will take the chance after reading this. Good on ya.
Thanks Mack =) -- Completely agree; it's always fun to be a part of a joke
Great Seattle PD example! I love it when law enforcement or government groups do Twitter well. I came across this somewhat related story yesterday: https://www.cnn.com/2013/08/15/tech/canada-tweet-weed
HA -- that's awesome -- gotta love their use of Twitter to fight crime
Rob,
Laughing is to happiness, as crying is to sadness. So, one of the most powerful things in the world is when you can make someone laugh, because essentially you are making them happy.
I think the lesson here is that consumers aren't just "consumers", they are people who talk, listen and laugh.
Fun article. Thanks for sharing :)
Thanks for reading Marvin -- I think you're hitting it right on the head, if you, as a brand, can make someone feel better about their day, that's going to have a long term positive effect when it comes to growing a business
I know I'm going to get downvoted to oblivion for this but... DAE like laughing?
Nice post, Rob. Have a thumbs up.
As a customer it makes me feel more at ease with the website, probably because spam websites does not use humor.
The guys at wiredears.com added a small touch to convince people to sign up for their newsletter(right side bar).
I will certainly be using these tips thanks rob
That's a great point -- I've never see a spam site that uses humor; so subconciously I definitely agree that humor builds sort of a default trust in a website
Great post thanks Rob, any post with a picture of Stringer Bell would get a like from me but it's also helpful you've got great content too. I really do agree brands need to stop being so scared of taking chances with humour and just go for it! (within reason...). We're actually considering rebranding ourselves so we'll do our best to create something humorous in our strategy! Cheers
A man has got to have a code...
Best of luck with the possible rebrand! Never an easy task, but always a fun challenge
Great post Rob. Too often we can get caught up in educating our target market and forget about entertaining them which can drive real engagement.
Building relationships and emotional connections are so important as well. As per one of my favorite quotes:
"I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel." - Maya Angelou
Rob@
you tried well and i liked your approach. Brands can be define in many ways, if we are delievering the results effectively, it is creating our branding but as you have mentioned in the port, i must say that it depends on the nature of service that we should follow the brands or not.
About 10-20 years ago TV adverts where great, I remember talking about them on my way to school, they pushed boundaries and were very tongue in cheek. Then we became all PC and boring ads started to show up.
Its good to see companies taking a risk again when using the internet, I am far more likely to watch an interesting advert on the internet and share it with my friends than I am to sit through a boring ad on TV.
However, sponsored TV ads in the UK are becoming funny again as they create little dramas before the main show starts.
Very Nice Post Rob
Stringer Bell! Yeah!
Great post. And if you mentioned the Wire, Marlo is the best example of super-serious "brand"(i think we can call him a brand, it's Marlo!). And he had some real problems with his "seriousness" which certainly cost him some opportunities.
Really enjoyed this post.
Humour is such a good tool when used correctly, but obviously can be punishing if you fail to do it in quite the right tastes. But like you said, in most cases if you have an unsuccessful humour campaign, or even an offensive one due to the amount of media online you are unlikely to be in the dark for too long. That being said, with the speed of the internet I imagine you can be duly punished for a tasteless humour (or humourless!) on quite a large scale, especially with social media and such. That's a tough call!
+10 for quoting The Wire
When people or companies make the wrong decisions or take the wrong risks they call me. I am a senior ORM consultant at brand.com. I believe in humor and giving your brand its own identity, it just has to be done in a neutral way so that it doesn't come back to haunt you. You don't have to do "Controversial" marketing campaigns to build a brand.
I couldn't agree more - I was managing a Social Media Campaign for a client who sold personalised phone cases, he was aimed at teenagers / students and his logo was a purple fluffy animal (type thing), yet all engagement was done in a professional and formal manner.
When this was changed and the engagement was done at the customers level and a joke was made about the fact people were talking to a purple fluffy thing. As this happened more people engaged with the client and sales increased!
It's not always about what you say, but how you say it!
Lot of great content in here! I think the thing that brands need to remember is no matter if they're considering a humorous approach or not, there's risk involved in any campaign. And it's very rare to create a campaign that won't elicit some negative responses from certain people. It's just the way of the world.
If the perceived risk is worth it to the company, humor can go a long way and build a lot of brand recognition if done tastefully.
Oh yeah. Been there and done that with the "talked about it in the safety of the conference room" crowd.
Here's something else I think is important to consider: Not EVERYONE on the planet needs to find your humor funny. The only people who need to think it's funny are people who connect, fit the persona, or are otherwise pre-disposed to like your brand in the first place. If you are a guy, and I'm trying to make him laugh at a lipstick commercial, unless he wears lipstick, who gives a flying flip if he thinks the ad is funny? You want to humor the right people.
But then, that goes all the way back to branding doesn't it? There's the real problem. Most companies can't even articulate who they really are, let alone what their brand constituents might find humorous.
The biggest risk in trying to be humorous is not having a clue who you are in the first place.
Great post. Thank you!!!
Awesome post, Rob! Humor is always something we’ve tried to include in the Moz brand.
I agree with you that testing is super important especially if your brand has a large international audience. For example, if you have a lot of people interacting with your brand when English is not their first language, a pun (however much I personally love them) might not translate well. Good thing we have adorable cat videos that everyone can relate to. :D
From experience and lots of a failure in attempting to incorporate humor, i purchased a few books. The humor genre it finally worked the best was something called "dinner table humor" basically the type of humor you would allow yourself to tell at public dinner event. the reasons are many and correlate with many points in the post above, unless you have a humor site, the goal is to put a smile on the face of visitor and not necesaraly a full power laugh
I agree, humor can be well received when implemented properly into an ad campaign/brand messaging. We all love to laugh, right?
You've also got to be careful that you're not stepping over any lines with your humor though. One thing I like to do is create the idea, get everything down on paper, then let it sit for a day or two while you focus on something else. Then, you can revisit the idea and more clearly decide whether the joke is appropriate. That process has done wonders in making sure you project yourself & your company in the way you truly want.
Field testing the idea with a few unbiased people is always a good idea too - especially people outside your target market who might be sensitive to the content of the joke/humour.
Can't go wrong with memes ;) - https://moz.com/blog/how-to-use-memes-to-build-easy-backlinks-traffic
Dear Rob, thanks to share such a great article with us, its a pleasure to read your fresh write-up about "taking the brand names seriously", that's awesome idea shared by you, and I'll apply it to convert some of my costumers businesses into a popular brand name. And I'll always keep in my mind that the Internet has a short memory :P... If there is any thing else kindly suggest me to improve in my clientele.
Nice Post Rob!
Rightly said Humour should be relevent to Brand.
It can be observed that telling jokes or making funny videos do fetch lot of attention! But at the end Consumers Retain only that joke or video and forget the BRAND.
Rob, may I first say that your post was 'spot on', man! I have had conversations with numerous CEO about the Online Branding Strategy and their company's brand in general and humor is always something I suggest. I believe the humor really helps to 'humanize' a brand which is what I think consumers are really looking for - NOT faceless, cold Corporations, but companies comprised of individuals just like them. In addition, humor has another more subtle ability which is usually outlooked. A great, recent spiritual teacher (Dr. David R. Hawkins) said that "Humor is the handmaiden of Truth." Humor allows us to look at the darker or perhaps unpleasant sides of our human nature and 'bring them into the light' without guilt of negativity. As a branding strategy for companies that perhaps have had a negative image or recently made some huge public error, humor (respectful humor) is always a good way to bring an incident to light, acknowledge it, and then move on in a way that can (in some cases) minimize public backlash or negative repercussions .
Anyways, sorry to go off on a tangent a bit there, I really just wanted to say "Rob - Two Thumbs Up on your article!" Keep it up, Bro!
Amazing Post Rob!! Thanks for sharing your view regarding different people, their opinions, their points of view..It's true that every people has their own point of view and humor is the best thing in human beings which give great results when a person use it in correct sense. Really a worthy article to read. Thank you once again.
Rob,
I definitely agree with you when you said to find out what your customer finds funny, rather than what you find funny. I think companies face this a lot because they are constantly reminding themselves that their advertisements need to be directed at their customers, and not themselves. Along those same lines, starting out with something interesting is a better way to target your customer because you can get them thinking. The humor will follow suit if you start out right.
Great Post Rob.. I agree with all your points. But my point is how can you derive the humor or funny part from the brands like Application developments, law firms etc.
Great points made in this article. Different types of humor for different types of people is what we at
https://www.etech7.com/ recommend. Memes, quotes, etc. is what can catch a viewers eye and capture their hearts. Great article.