As evidenced by its ramping popularity, humor is uniquely capable of entertaining and persuading audiences that have become cynical and unresponsive to run-of-the-mill content. While this makes satire and parody common in late-night television, the application of humor in advertising and marketing can be very effective as well. Consumers inevitably grow more and more savvy to traditional marketing and advertising tactics. Often, after a lifetime’s worth of exposure to marketing that demands attention, consumers train themselves to ignore these efforts altogether. Similarly, on the trade show floor or during a pitch, sometimes a good idea will be overlooked because it sounds little too much like standard boilerplate. In either situation, it is common for the most important messages to be filtered out.
Humor offers marketers a different option. Intelligent, unexpected and impactful, humor is unique in its ability to move in “under the radar.” It should be noted that marketers should consider what type of humor they want to employ - options include satire and parody as well as general humor. Humor offers an advantage in that it can appear to be something else at first glance. For example, truly deadpan forms of satirical advertising might not even resemble a traditional ad, and allow great flexibility. While the effective use of inductive advertising is well known, satire uses a special formula. There is an extra layer of information behind satirical ads that must be teased out by the audience in order to be understood. The viewer needs to actually think about the content being delivered, which naturally increases their involvement, and ultimately, their retention of information. Satirical content in ads can disarm cynicism. A self-referential, satirical ad allows the advertiser to create a perceived distance between themselves and their product. If the audience identifies with skeptical ideas about a product, providing those ideas directly makes it possible to control the narrative and ultimately change their perception to positive.
Parody can be useful with both internal and external customers. We have explored parody via tradeshow booth presentations that parody popular television programs as well as feature films, creating a live interactive presentation for the audience that entertains as well as informs. Our client Tensilica finds that offering a truly entertaining booth presentation can make the difference in attracting not only crowds of attendees, but also qualified leads. This year, we produced a booth presentation that spoofed Dr. Who for Tensilica’s booth at the Design Automation Conference (DAC). In previous years, we produced parodies of Star Trek episodes.
We have also had great success with developing entertaining presentations for annual sales meetings for Cadence Design Systems, OnStation, Verisity Design, DEY LP and more. Examples include parodies of Mission Impossible, The Apprentice, Pulp Fiction, etc. Some clients worry that using humor at a sales event might detract from messaging and tactics they need to present - but we have found that sales teams respond much better to presentations that are motivating and fun, and a stronger relationship between marketing and sales can be forged at these events.
It should be noted that humor isn’t appropriate for all industries or all audiences. As such, if you are interested in exploring options for an upcoming campaign or event, share your ideas and concerns with your agency to ensure that your project achieves the desired impact.
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That said, it is truly surprising how often our clients feel compelled to allocate their dwindling budget towards the former rather than the latter. Perhaps this is because the traditional marketing methods feel more “comfortable” than venturing into something new. Or perhaps there is some uncertainty about customer trends and the effectiveness of newer tactics such as web banner ads, e-blasts, online product demos etc. These are important concerns, so let’s take a moment to review current trends and some statistical data.