Humor In Marketing - How Far Can You Push Your Luck?
February 6, 2008
Do you use humor in marketing? I do, and when it’s done well, it can pay off. But sometimes the use of humour in marketing can attract the wrong sort of attention and customers.
Often, people will remember the message and forget the name of the company. And if you go too far, your message can actually put the customer off.
For example, the message in the ad below, is memorable. But, I would be a little put off by a company who wanted to “do my mom.” Wouldn’t you?
And will this restaurant have people lining up in droves for their Sunday lunch? Or are they more likely to persuade people into vegetarianism?
So, should you avoid humor in marketing altogether? I don’t think so. You’ll always offend some people, no matter what you do. And I think the key is to consider how the majority of your customers will respond to your humorous marketing. Also, bear in mind whether they’re liable to remember your brand after seeing it, or if they’ll just remember the hilarious marketing.
Ian Denny pulls off humorous marketing well at Multisolutions, with YouTube videos. It works because he involves his customers in voting and forfeit decisions. However, Barbara, at Blogging Without a Blog suggests that all business owners should punish themselves for the sake of their customers. And if you check out this post, you’ll see that she has some bizarre ideas on the method of punishment to be employed.
Do you use humor in marketing? Are you tempted to? Have you seen instances where it’s worked well, or have you witnessed humorous marketing campaigns that have flopped? Please share in the comments section.
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22 Responses to “Humor In Marketing - How Far Can You Push Your Luck?”
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Oh Catherine,
The suspense was killing me, and I knew you were postig this at 6pm my time, so I was anxiously waiting for the minutes to pass.
You got me laughing on this one. Hopefully your readers will follow the link and discover the “truth”. I swear, those typos can come back to bite you.
Great post though. Humor in advertising can help immensely in branding. I still remember the ad for “where’s the beef” which was done by Wendy’s hamburger chain. It was hilarious and got everyone repeating the saying.
Barbara’s last blog post..I Can’t Believe I Said That
Well humour is obviously essential if you are in the business of humour. But I have never run an advertising campaign…
I think the funny advertisements are the ones that sticks out the most. Heck, come Super Bowl many beg for the ads more than the game.
For everyday ads the best plan might be to embed a more subtle bit of humour.
Rashy’s last blog post..Anonymous gang-banging Scientology
Humour is a difficult one!
I’ve read a fair bit about direct marketing, and humour can often distract from the message.
I do the videos for fun, granted, but I’ve not actually used them directly to market us (bar them being linked to in our autosignatures).
Sometimes people are tempted to make a noise with their marketing. Or be funny.
I still think you will do better by being relevant. If there’s a little humour in that, then fine. As long as it isn’t the entire message.
Still, the videos are fun to engage in. Which reminds me we owe everyone a forfeit video - must get on with it…
Ian Denny’s last blog post..Cast The First Stone, I’m Guilty Of Small Business Dreaming
Hi Rashy - looking at the ads above, subtle humor sounds like a good suggestion. Is the Super Bowl that awful then? Or are the ads just really funny?
Hi Ian - Is there anything really more direct than putting them on You Tube and on your business website?! And you do invite some of your existing customers to these forfeit events don’t you?
I wondered when your next forfeit video was coming - thought you were trying to get out of it.
The Super Bowl ads are just really funny! Or rather, regular ads are just really boring by comparison. I thought I was the only one who liked the ads more than the game…glad to hear there are others!
Hunter Nuttall’s last blog post..The Science Of Getting Rich
Catherine, Great discussion. I do think advertisers take things too far. A little humor is ok, but the ad in the first picture would turn me off.
Hi Amanda - it put me off too. And I definitely can’t imagine eating those cute little animals!
I don’t think I’ve ever used humor in marketing. I have a dry sense of humor. I mainly use timing, sarcasm, and wit. That would not go over well in marketing people might take you seriously.
I don’t want to offend anyone because they think I was being serious. Occasionally show that side on my blogs but not too much.
I find it very difficult when I’m writing, or speaking to someone, to remember not to do it.
ROFL of the first message. But I would definitively do business with them if the tag line was “you can do our mom” just teasing.
Messages like that (to me) would just make me laugh, but will definitively put me off doing business with them, the tagline already is offending me before I even become their customer, should i expect something worst if I become their customer?
SEO Optimization’s last blog post..SEO and Grammatically Correct Spelling
To assist in the understanding of the first shot, I will present you with the context. This is a downtown urban clothing store, with a twenty year history of catering to pre-teen and teen-agers. Through the 80’s, 90’s and now into the new millenium they have continued to thrive as a counter-culture provider to each generation of urban rebels; the sticker that raises statements such as “but will definitively put me off doing business with them, the tagline already is offending me before I even become their customer, should i expect something worst if I become their customer?” is not designed to elicit your business - this is a company who understands their clientele and markets not only correctly, but in fact exceedingly well - it is useful to realise that that reaction of yours will probably spur on a teenager’s desire to purchase a shirt from this store - if the advertising can offend, who knows what the product can do?
Glad to see that my picture brought about discussion! Hope the clarification helps!
Patrick Kennedy
Preciouskhyatt’s last blog post..Now where did I put that…?
You have to speak to your market. Humor can be great or really off-putting.
Does Budweiser care when people complain about their ads…only if it matches the demographic they are going after…
So, humor:
Taco Bell - Good
Funeral Parlor - Not so much
RacerX’s last blog post..New Carnivals…of Doom
Hi Patrick - Thanks for the great picture and also for dropping by and filling us in on the background of the company.
This would make sense that the product is marketed at teenagers. I don’t know how popular they’ll become in the UK though. My son thought the ad hilarious but he said he wouldn’t buy from them.
Maybe they would use different ads over here?
Racer - it’s definitely knowing about who your market is and what they want isn’t it - as shown by the other ad.
Funeral parlor humor would definitely not be good. Do you remember my friend in the other post who had a short lived funeral parlor business?
cathlawson’s last blog post..Humor In Marketing - How Far Can You Push Your Luck?
Cath;
Thank you for your support on my recent post
I continue to read your blog as it is a constant source of information and entertainment on my boring third shift
Cheers!
Scott
Scott Sweeney’s last blog post..My Hard Lesson in Blogging
http://www.manvsblog.com/2008/02/02/my-semi-official-stance-on-the-richardmimscom-issue/
I’m glad you enjoy my blog, and thanks for reading. There’s a post about boredom at work coming soon!
Cathlawson: Well I’m not into American football that much, so the super bowl isn’t that huge of a deal to me, but I am always up for a good laugh. I imagine there are many people out there who feel the same as me. But even hardcore football fans love the well made commercials, its like a tradition I guess you could say.
Rashy’s last blog post..Anonymous gang-banging Scientology
Great article. I know it can definitely be taken too far, but I love it when companies liven things up with a bit of humor. We try to achieve a humorous tone at Vat19.com, especially in the product videos and the ads that we run - some may be a little questionable (like the Finger Drums video), but the overall response is very positive.
Still it is fun - I will have to check out your finger drums video.
Watching the Superbowl in the US for the first time (I’m from the UK), the Superbowl half time ads had a lot to live up to. After watching, I do however think that this year’s Superbowl was a prime example of where humor was overused to the extent where I was craving an ad which did not follow the formulaic ‘Let’s make an advert with a baby/animal singing/dancing’ recipe.
As this article expertly points out, too much humor dilutes the overall message and the primary reason for the ad, which is to get the public to remember the company and the message behind the ad - isn’t it? Personally, I could remember Justin Timberlake flying through the air, bouncing off cars and buildings - but was it coke or pepsi he was advertising? And what was that talking baby trying to sell me?
Does anyone else feel like too many advertisers have gone along with laughter for the sake of the easy option? I would definitely rather some more ‘out of the box’, creative advertising.
Some of it may be down to laziness and also due to ad designers being more concerned about winning awards than producing successful campaigns
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