Funny works best when it stays on message.
You most likely have seen the recent 1-800-CONTACTS commercial. You know, the overly dramatic, “but I have special eyes” one. Or how about the latest back to school commercial from Staples, with the mom dropping cake ingredients in reaction to her son’s school supplies list?
These commercials are both good examples of how to effectively communicate a marketing message in a humorous way. With the 1-800-CONTACTS commercial you take away that they carry a wide variety of brands, even super special ones you might think they wouldn’t carry. And the Staples commercial conveys the convenience of school supply shopping, since you can get everything you need at a single Staples store. The humor in these commercials is relevant to the messaging, which is what makes them work.
Some advertisers miss the mark and make a funny commercial that people remember. But they remember the commercial and not necessarily the product. Or, perhaps you remember the product from a funny commercial, but a connection with a marketing message was missing so you’re left with, “Yeah that was funny, but why would it make me buy this product?”
Case in point, the Kia Soul “Black Sheep” hamsters commercial. Most people I talk to remember the commercial but not that it was for Kia Soul. Also, what’s the deal with the hamsters? Is the Kia Soul so small they had to use hamsters instead of people? Kia is comparing it to hamsters riding in a toaster. But there’s also a hamster riding in a washing machine. Ok so they’re comparing it to boxy vehicles. But the Kia Soul is boxy looking too, so if I want boxy this is the cool boxy car?
I give credit to this commercial for being unlike other vehicle commercials. It is creative, but the messaging is all over the place, and I’m not sure the point they were trying to get across is coming through to their audience. Does this commercial make YOU want to buy a Kia Soul?
The lesson to be learned here is to not make a funny commercial for funny’s sake. Funny can work. It just needs to be relevant to the marketing message you want to communicate, AND it needs to be appropriate for your product as well. Otherwise you will likely be wasting your advertising budget, and as we all know advertising on TV ain’t cheap.
Please share funny commercials you like, and if you think they were effective or not. We’ll see who has the last laugh.
