by 
By Mona Mangat
If you can make them laugh, well then you’ve won half the battle, and probably you’ve won them over too.
One of the best times to witness big companies using their funny bones to their advantage is in January/February. The most sought-after and highly awaited commercials are played during the NFL’s championship final: the Super Bowl, and without disappointing, year after year they deliver cutting-edge humorous content that speaks to millions of consumers in a way that only humor can.
Out are the professional, serious and stiff images that were de riguer when marketing first became an acknowledged activity for mainstream businesses to do. Since then, due the nature of the online world, where ‘going viral’ is the holy grail for marketers, humor has been one way in which they have achieved their legend status. There are commercials and campaigns from years past that still get talked about today and are the benchmark for marketers right now.
Humor is worthy of our appreciation, since it reaches audiences in a way rarely achieved by a more serious approach. It crosses cultures, borders, gender and class. Some commercials don’t even need words to get their message across.
With the Super Bowl LI coming up very soon, take a look at last year’s winners, and who won over audiences by leaving a lasting impression on viewers. What’s the common denominator? None of these companies took themselves seriously for a second. They even went beyond that and mocked themselves, So much so, as to endear themselves to consumers who never forget a good laugh, nor to share it and spread the love. That is the win-win combination companies will be looking to repeat in this year’s big show.
Here’s a few simple reasons you should think twice about adding some lightness to your marketing campaigns:
Humor creates a rapport
Since everyone loves to laugh, non-offensive jokes quickly establish a connection, likeability and trust between your brand and the audience. You can disarm an audience with a joke and successful relationships usually have shared experiences in common such as similar humor. It’s pretty simple: People like to do business with people they like, so if you can make them smile and laugh, when they think you they’ll associate you with happiness which usually leads to customer loyalty. The best part of humor is, when you mock yourself it shows how dominant you are and also how self-assured and confident you feel.
Humor makes people remember
If you can create a funny situation or an ‘AHA! moment’ in a customer’s mind then they will remember you. It’s usually when you make a person see something in a totally new light and put something mundane in a different, ironic or amusing context. A punch-line sticks. An unexpected wordplay or punch-line clicks in our minds as humorous and triggers endorphins that cement into memories, which means anytime that theme comes up it’s likely your brand will be instantly associated with it. It’s the basic way a simple joke remains in our repertoire years after first being heard.
Humor creates community
Understanding a joke means the understanding of it is based on shared experiences. So, when you’re reaching out to many people, humor works really well because what you’re poking fun at is usually something there is a communal understanding of. When you use a common issue and come up with a creative punch-line around it, consumers will be impressed and will adopt the punch-line as a trigger which relates to or defines the issue. So, when you can take a mundane action or situation and twist it, to make it more than what it first seems, people will laugh out loud and remember the connection almost instantaneously, with allusions to your brand and identity not lagging far behind.
So, don’t be shy, go ahead and make them laugh!
Contact us now to learn how we can help you create interesting and inspiring content for your company with our pay-as-you-go support packages or how we can help you create a strategic marketing plan in 1-2 weeks.
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Photo courtesy of commons.wikimedia.org | http://www.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123133585
