It seems like there could be no better day to talk about humor and advertising than on April 1st, also known as April Fool’s Day.
Humor Is Storytelling
With our business storytelling blog, we explained how humor can be part of the storytelling experience. Large companies with seemingly faceless reputations will use the opportunity such as April Fool’s Day to demonstrate a more human side – one that can poke fun at itself. It helps add relatability to the customer, “I like their sense of humor, I will check them out”. Even on days of the year that are not the first of April, there are a wide range of opportunities to add humor into the storytelling. A & W adds consistent humor with its spokes person commercials, Wendy’s famously uses Twitter with comedic copy writing.
Competing For Laughs
Very quickly, you will realize that all companies use some amounts of humour in the marketing strategy. This will also include your competitors. A good joke, a funny scene, or a humorous tag-line has a large chance of sticking in the brain. It’s a delicate balance here of competing for laughs but also effectively communicating your value propositions.
Example: Super Bowl LV Ads (2021)
Why use humor during the commercial breaks of one of the most highly anticipated sports games on the planet? It breaks tension. More importantly, its in front of the eyes of many people. Adopting a similar strategy for smaller businesses would include finding opportunities to break tension in the view of many people (whether its an online video, a viral infographic, an engaging twitter-chain). Here are some funny advertisements played in the recent Super Bowl:
Humor During COVID-19
There hasn’t been a more tense time globally in recent human history than the current pandemic. Many people are looking for a way back to the normal times and humor is part of that. Tastefully implementing humor into your marketing strategy during these troubling times will bring your customer relationships closer.
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