Using humour in advertising.

In this blog, we’ll be looking at using humour in advertising.

At Partisan Advertising, we believe there are five tenets upon which effective and memorable advertising campaigns are built. They are:

Humour, testimonial, metaphor, analogy, and demonstration.

I’ll start by saying what we all know: humour isn’t universal but it’s super powerful and very popular. However, one man’s sense of humour can often be another man seconds away from being offended, or worse, not laughing. Humour can bring people closer together or push them further apart.

Human beings like to recall how humour made them feel, and because humour releases endorphins, jokes get remembered, retold and heard more frequently. A sense of humour can make us feel liked and connected, and humour can help develop our relationships. Humour is a fantastic method to appeal to customers’ emotions and gain their trust.

In the world of advertising, humour works and can easily cut through the noise and help brands stand out when it comes to communicating key messages. However, it’s not easy to find the perfect line to make your advertising humorous.

Years back, the word “viral” was the talk of the town. Every advertising agency was on the road to creating viral work, most often trying to go viral by using humour. But things have changed dramatically and the concept of viral has been turned on its head by current social media platforms like TikTok and Instagram, and just about anything can go viral with (or without) the use of humour.

When the Superbowl rolls into town on the first Sunday of February, advertisers pay extravagant fees to get their products and brands in front of millions of eyeballs on the biggest day in TV for advertising, and the vast majority use humour to break through and appeal to audiences. Superbowl advertising has become so popular that many people watch the Superbowl just for the ad breaks.

However, what is humorous can often quickly become imitated and boring, leading to a loss of memorability and, in worse cases, leading to a lack of likeability, as these three ads produced for Superbowl viewers show.

So here are ten easy tips to remember to crack the “humour effect” for your brand:

1. Show your personality.

2. Be authentic and believable.

3. Be relatable to your audience.

4. Don’t be offensive (unless it fits in with your brand positioning).

5. Don’t force your humour.

6. Don’t insult your audience.

7. Remember that humour is subjective.

8. Don’t use sarcasm, as it can’t always be communicated through text - as seen in the “Pepsi, Where’s my Jet?” advertising campaign.

9. Stay classy - don’t poke fun at your competitors.

10. Get a second opinion from a lawyer.

Here are five great places to use humour to build your brand besides on video:

1. Recruitment ads, like this one from SodaStream.

2. Internal communications. Just make sure that managers and leaders are fully onboard.

3. Email signatures. Here are some great ideas from RightInbox.

4. Create backgrounds for digital media meeting platform meeting rooms like Zoom and Google Meets using Xsplit Vcam.

One should never forget that using humour in advertising is the riskiest of our five tenets. Humour isn’t for everyone, but if you crack the code, prepare to enjoy the rewards.

In our next blog, we’ll take a look at using testimonials to create better advertising.

And while we’re waiting, here are 17 minutes of great examples of humour used in advertising. Enjoy!