The UK is renowned for its excellent humour in advertising. We are also renowned for our excellent, blackly comic films (although our sitcoms these days do leave something to be desired). So why is it that there always seems to be such a down on humour in direct marketing? It is not the divine right of above the line to be the funny ones. Humour is an excellent and effective creative tool and we should be using it much, much more.
"Don't set out to be funny, but to be interesting," said Luke Sullivan in his excellent book 'Hey Whipple, Squeeze This', which is about the advertising industry. Ask someone "why did the chicken cross the road", and unless you have thought of a clever new ending no one is going to laugh. However, ask them "what does a donkey get for lunch in Blackpool?" (the answer is "half an hour!") and you are likely to raise a smile. People like jokes that make them think as it makes them feel clever that they got it, and this in turn makes them feel warm to you -- a feeling we are desperate to engender when it comes to direct mail.
Take a rather dry subject like fuel management -- not a subject likely to raise a smile with anyone you would imagine. However, Shell has used a wry, funny campaign with great success to promote its Fuel & Fleet Services.
The "hero" of this piece was a rather characterful, stressed-looking fleet manager called Pete who, according to the ad copy, had an ulcer, a nervous tic, stress rash and frequent tension headaches -- because he didn't have Shell fuel cards for his fleet, of course. The copy continues: "It has to be said that Pete also suffers terribly from piles. Piles of paperwork..." In the next in a series of off-the-page ads, featuring Pete, the headline says, "Remember Pete? You'll never have to see his miserable face again" -- because now he has Shell fuel cards he's happy. Pete was a great device that used humour to demonstrate how the benefits of Shell Fuel & Fleet management could make a fleet manager's life easier.
Audi has also used humour to great effect in a mailing penned in the name of a chauffeur called Parker. This hapless man is rather peeved to be in the embarrassing position of being a driver without a car -- thanks to the Audi A8. The copy has the understated, self-deprecating style that would fit perfectly within an episode of 'Frasier'.
In this spoof letter applying for a new job, Parker tells the recipient how impressed he was when his employer showed him the brochure for the A8 and informed him that Audi had generously offered a free 48-hour test drive. "Perfect" muses Parker, "for that weekend visit to my sister in Lyme Regis." He continues: "Little did I realise however, that the 'driver' Audi had in mind wasn't me, but my employer."
"The look on his face when I picked him up after his two-day spell in the A8 spoke volumes," he adds. "There was a restlessness about him that, frankly, I hadn't witnessed since before his promotion to the executive board."
Needless to say, the joy of driving the A8 leads Parker's employer to relegate him to the back seat while he cheerfully reacquaints himself with the joys of driving.
These two fine examples show just how valuable humour can be at getting your message across -- don't be scared of being funny. When done properly it adds intellect to your message and, once the recipient has got the joke, it will be locked in their head much longer than most campaigns.
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