It’s not just you – (most) brands haven’t been good at being funny for a while.
We’ve lived in a cautious, at best – depressing, at worst – world for much of the last 20 years.
A little economic anxiety there, a drop(let) of coronavirus here, and a dash of political correctness to top it all off … commercials largely have been reflecting the broad hellscape we’ve just learned to live in. All jokes aside, it’s been a mess.
But can we change it?
At Hackstone, we already have. No, we aren’t saving the world but we are saving brands from looking and sounding like all the other brands pitching deep serious feelings and super buttoned-up marketing messages.
Listen, it was fine for a bit – maybe even needed.
The marketing department told the C-suite the business needed to stay in step with consumers. Consumers felt sad, lonely, desperate, and hopeless, and had taken to bed rotting.
But now people are exhausted. We don’t need every ad to solve world hunger — we just want a break.
Even the self-important people at Cannes Lions have decided humor in advertising is something to be celebrated.
Turns out, making people laugh is good for business. Who knew?
Well, we knew. And now we’re going to help you know it, too!
Humor isn’t just a gimmick — it’s a strategy. It builds brand affinity, boosts engagement, and makes people want to interact with your content. If your brand has been afraid to be funny, consider this your permission slip.
In this article, we’ll walk you through a few of our own favorites – funny stuff we’ve made at Hackstone – and give you tips on how to approach humor in commercials.
First up, urinal cakes.
Humor Advertising Examples
A few years ago, Sheets Laundry Club came to us looking for help to get their product in front of more people. They sell a slew of household cleaning products and stuff that makes you smell better and feel fresher – starting with their namesake Sheets, which replace liquid laundry detergent.
A brand like this could center a marketing campaign around its do-gooder ways, like reducing plastic that ends up in the ocean. Or it could home in on the simple, convenient subscription that brings dryer sheets and quick-dissolving laundry detergent sheets right to your front door every month.
But what if humor could be the way to make sure consumers pay attention to those other points in the first place? That’s what we did for Sheets – and it worked.
We started with a little misdirection, played around with observational humor, and found a way to weave in a little joke about urinal cakes. Check it out!
Moving on from some stellar mom humor, let’s hop over to the land of using pro football players to sell more F-150s.
We did a string of commercials for a Ford dealer in Maryland featuring Super Bowl XLVII MVP Joe Flacco. Creating something that would truly stand out was essential here – as athlete endorsements and putting car salesmen on TV are two of the most worn-out paths you could walk on.
So, we reached into our bag of tricks and pulled out humor. Specifically, we went with meta-humor – incorporating all the car dealership tropes with none of the ego. Here’s one of the Al Packer Ford commercials featuring Flacco and some funny lines.
Advertising humor can increase engagement and brand recall — because people actually want to watch your ad instead of hitting “skip” the second they can. Here are four specific types of humor you might want to deploy in your next marketing campaign:
- Absurdist Humor: Think completely over-the-top, nonsensical scenarios that make people laugh because they’re so unexpected. Example: A man wrestles a bear over the last energy drink in a convenience store, only for the bear to politely ask for a sip. The key? Lean into the ridiculous while keeping it tied to your brand.
- Deadpan Humor: Delivering a joke with zero emotion or expression can make it even funnier. Picture a spokesperson explaining why a product is revolutionary — while standing in the middle of complete chaos (like a kitchen on fire or a car inexplicably sinking into a lake). The contrast is what makes it work.
- Meta-Humor (Breaking the Fourth Wall): Acknowledge that it’s an ad. Call out the clichés. Maybe your spokesperson sighs halfway through and says, “At this point, I’m supposed to tell you our product is life-changing. But really, it’s just a great pair of socks. Buy them.” Self-awareness makes brands feel human.
- Misdirection & Surprise: Set up an expectation, then subvert it for comedic effect. A person dramatically prepares for an intense sports challenge — only to reveal they’re just trying to open a stubborn pickle jar. This works because the audience’s brain fills in the expected outcome, making the punchline land harder.
Humor in Marketing
Now chances are (we hope) you’ve chuckled a little but you’re still a tad skeptical …
Humor can be tricky for brands. What if you offend someone? What if it’s funny but it doesn’t sell? What if they just laugh at you, not with you? Mel Robbins would say “Let Them.”
At Hackstone, we’d ask: “How should it make people feel?”
Funny commercials are both entertaining and effective when you dial into your audience’s emotional needs. Every campaign we create at Hackstone – from ads with dark humor to action-packed mini-docs to contemplative brand films – puts the question of emotional appeal and resonance at center stage.
That’s because when you make people giggle (or feel anything at all), they remember you more. People who study the brain have confirmed this and so have people who write reports titled “45% of People Have Not Felt True Happiness for More Than Two Years.”
Here are four tried-and-true ways to make humor in commercials work for your business:
- Stay tied to the product: A joke that’s hilarious but has nothing to do with what you’re selling is just … a joke. Make sure humor reinforces your message, not distract from it.
- Test with real people: What’s funny in a brainstorming session doesn’t always translate. Show early versions of the ad to a focus group to make sure it actually lands.
- Don’t force it: Not every brand needs to be funny, and not every campaign requires humor. If it feels unnatural, skip it. Bad jokes are worse than no jokes.
- Hire someone funnier than you: See below.
We tell all kinds of stories through brand films, commercials, and ads, and plenty of them don’t involve jokes or humor. But many of our favorite ones do!
Now that the word’s out that humor is making a comeback in marketing, we’d just like to say: Welcome! We never stopped being funny and we’d love to help you be funny, too!
If you’re tired of playing it safe (and really can’t afford for your next campaign to bomb), give us a call.