WTF? WHERE’S THE FUNNY IN ADVERTISING WHEN WE NEED IT MOST?
Funny sells. Especially when times are tough. But even when the economy’s humming and there are no pandemics, wars or riots, funny ads are more likely to get noticed, shared and remembered than ones that are not.
That’s because humans are hardwired for humor.
Advertising today is about as humorless as the couple in Grant Wood’s American Gothic
Research has confirmed over and over again that people buy on emotion and justify their purchases on logic. Turns out, no matter how logical your pitch, you really can’t reason your way into people’s hearts or minds. Humans, by nature, are feel-good junkies. We actively seek out things that get our dopamine flowing. Logical, boring and expected ads just don’t do the trick. They don’t make us feel anything – that is, if we even notice them at all. Humorous ads make us feel good and by doing so serve as gateways for making fast, meaningful and lasting positive impressions with potential buyers. We naturally look for and react to humor which allows brands to cut through and generate preference over their rivals. And isn’t that what all advertising should strive to do?
While emotions like fear, anger and love can elicit strong reactions, humor is a much better device for selling products and services to people. That’s because messages that play on fear, anger – and even love – can leave us with an icky feeling when coming from a brand. So instead creating a positive impression, people are left with a negative one. It feels great when your spouse, family member or best friend tells you they love you. That’s because they’re real, appropriate and welcome. A profession of love from a toilet paper brand is just freaking weird.
So if humorous ads are more likely to be noticed and leave a lasting positive impression, why are most ads humorless, boring and expected? For starters, creating funny ads that work is hard. Most agencies simply don’t have the creative chops to pull it off. Heck, even psychologists who study humor have a hard time defining why some things are funny and other aren’t. If you want to read about the latest psychological theories on what makes us laugh and why, read this article from Scientific American.
Reality is, the vast majority of products and services advertised are of low interest and boring. Financial services, insurance, toothbrushes, office furniture, cleaning products, mattress brands – are dull subject matter. Injecting humor and personality into an insurance brand is like turning the couple American Gothic into Aziz Ansari and Melissa McCarthy. (BTW, the Martin Agency did just that for the once unknown Government Employees Insurance Company – GEICO, now the second largest auto insurer in the US.)
To be effective, humorous ads MUST clear a lot of hurdles simultaneously. We’ve found the most effective humorous ads have several qualities in common. EFFECTIVE, HUMOROUS ADS are:
SURPRISING
The first hurdle any effective ad needs to clear is just getting noticed. In a world filled with a million-and-one things screaming for our attention when we have precious little to spare, that’s no easy task. However, just as we are hardwired to react favorably to humor, we also possess an internal radar that’s constantly on the lookout for the unexpected. When we encounter something that’s novel it flips our curiosity switch and directs our full attention to it. That’s why almost every effective ad is also surprising in some way.
BENEFIT-DRIVEN
An effective ad can’t just be surprising or shocking and end it at that. The surprise must be clearly tied to and pay off a benefit of the product or service you’re selling. Otherwise you’re just wasting your money.
INVOLVING
The more people are mentally involved in your ad, the more effective it will likely be. One way to do that is to actually leave a key piece of the message out. People are natural problem solvers and when information is missing our brains kick into overdrive to figure out what’s absent. When done effectively this can create strong long-term and positive memory connections to your brand and message.
APPROPRIATE
Some things are funny in certain contexts and categories but not others. For example, the billboard above we created for Cramer Mountain Club was totally appropriate for an area saturated with old school and somewhat snobby private golf communities. The message played extremely well with younger potential members looking for a more relaxed club experience. On the other hand, even though mini-golf has 18-holes, using this headline to advertise a Putt-Putt course would be inappropriate.
SUPPORTIVE
Warning: If you're anti-hunting you won’t find the video on the left funny.
Sometimes the most powerful way to recruit buyers is to stand with them against a common enemy. We created the TV spot above for Safari Club International (SCI), the largest pro-hunting organization in the world. For over a decade, radical anti-hunting organizations have been unfairly stereotyping hunters as bloodthirsty serial killers. To show their solidarity with hunters, SCI turned the tables on the antis by portraying them as emotionally unhinged and irrationally “triggered” by the slightest offense. The spot ran nationally on the Outdoor Channel and received wide acclaim by hunters across the nation.
WELL-WRITTEN
No matter how great an image is, if it's not supported by a great headline, body copy and and/or tagline, it's probably not going to be very effective. Great copywriting working with an image to articulate and pay-off a benefit in a clever way, is worth it’s weight in gold. As legendary ad man Howard Gossage said, “People read what interests them, and sometimes it’s an ad.”
WHAT ABOUT PROMOS?
Ok, that's all well and good for branding ads but what about promo ads that need to sell right freaking now or ads with boring subject matter like money market rates? Well, they can be funny too. In fact, as long as the benefit (promotion) is prominent and clear, you’re crazy not to inject your sales activation ads with humor. Here's how we made a sales promo for a local Toyota dealer and a money market yield rate ad entertaining.
IIn a recent study of over 20,000 ads around the world, researchers from Kantar found there's been a serious decrease in funny ads over the last two decades. Dom Boyd, Managing Director of Kantar said:
“Today you are twice as likely to see an ad without some form of light-hearted humour than you were 20 years ago.”
The Drum, “Even In Tough Times Consumers Want Ads That Make Them Laugh”
That’s a damn shame. With Hollywood on hold, Covid-19, civil unrest and general uncertainty – people want and need humor more than ever. In fact 75% of people say they want to see more humor in advertising – not less. So what are you waiting for? Start making people laugh again and you’ll be laughing all the way to the bank.
Eternally Yours:
David Smith
Founder, CEO & CCO