Connect Between Brands And Sense Of Humour
One cannot probably forget the fun tag lines of some of the regularly playing advertisements on Indian TV in yesteryears that slayed the humour gamut, the likes of Tata Sky- “Isko laga dala to life Jhingalala” or that of Kurkure brand of spiced crunchy puffcorn snacks saying “Tedha hai par mera hai”, Surf Excel’s “Daag acche hai” campaign or Colgate’s –“Kya aapke toothpaste mein namak hai”! Humour in advertising help people to remember, recall and understand the brand message faster.
A survey by Oracle to understand the perspective of consumers on humour and brands revealed that around 78 per cent people felt that brands could add more humour. 91 per cent favoured amusing brands. They also understood that only 20 per cent of brands employed comedy in their advertisements, despite the fact that 90 per cent of customers recalled and enjoyed hilarious ads. About 24 per cent of organisations utilized humour in their email marketing campaigns, and 69 per cent of customers said they would open a brand's email if the subject line was funnier.
In these post Covid times, people are bouncing back to normalcy and happy times, hence humorous advertising tends to be more effective and also likely to grab audience attention. According to one scientific study, brands that engage the consumers with wit and charm, outperform others. People are more likely to be affected by a hilarious commercial material than factual or serious ad content. Humourous advertisements have a better memory recall and eventually leads to increased sales.
What Can Humour Do?
Humour breaks down barriers and allows you to see the human side of a company. People form relationships with other people, so the trick here is to make the ideal client feel like they're dealing with a person, not simply a profile that sends auto-replies and tweets. Fun and jokes are relevant but consumers appreciate honesty and authenticity in the brand too.
Several brands in FMCG sector can employ humour brilliantly. Products like chocolates, soaps and gels, toothpastes etc that have lower value but higher competition can suffuse humour in their advertisements. However, for high paying products, brands must carefully manage their creative commercials. Customers like genuine and straight forward approach when they buy high end products.
MEMEs
Brands are using humour in the form of memes these days. Since memes are captioned photos intended to elicit humour, they are a welcome change from the usual educational and promotional content on social media. These have become a form of communication on the internet, and marketers want to capitalize on it as well.
Humour Can Be Subjective
The study conducted by Oracle along with Gretchen Rubin, found that companies understand that humour is a terrific tool for expanding their reach to the customers, yet they are reluctant to employ it. Approximately 89 per cent of firms thought they could make their clients smile. However, 95 per cent of people are hesitant to employ humour while talking with customers. This is primarily due to the difficulty of getting humour right. Humour is subjective and what one person thinks amusing, the other person may find offensive.
