Marketing Insights: Humor in Advertising

That’s funny. Let’s buy it!

The first job of an advertising message is to make people take notice. One of the most effective ways of doing that is with humor in advertising. Funny ads not only encourage people to watch, but also to watch multiple times.

A big benefit of using humor in your marketing message is that it can associate your brand with a good feeling. For most businesses it is definitely an advantage if people smile when they think of your brand. Funny is also memorable and get’s talked about.

However, funny for funny sake doesn’t cut it. The humor must relate to your product or service. Otherwise, people will remember the joke and not the company.

Humor in advertising isn’t easy. What some people think is funny others are not amused by. There are countless examples of companies attempting to be funny and ending up offending their customers. Of course, the risk of going unnoticed is the biggest marketing risk of all.

So the moral is being funny is serious business, but it can end up with you laughing all the way to the bank.

Next week’s topic –

Free Marketing Insights: 2012 ADDY Awards – And the winner is…