Does humour belong in marketing?

For those of you who are scratching your collective heads and thinking ‘that sounds familiar’, yes, it should; ‘Does humour belong in music?’ is a Zappa album, and the title of this piece is a shameless lift. So now you know.

Clearly it shouldn’t be, but it is a serious question, and the answer should be a resounding yes, but only if appropriate. If you are responsible for the marketing for a funeral home or an STD clinic, I would advise a little caution. With a few exceptions, most people are blessed with a sense of humour and therefore find anything that appeals to it quite uplifting. Simply put into a commercial context, if whoever is doing the selling can make you smile, you are more likely to buy. This clearly refers not just to marketing, but sales as well; retailers take note.

Employing crass, schoolboy humour may well work for the ‘Lad’ market – I don’t think it exists any more since they all grew beards, and with that lost their collective sense of humour – but would butter no parsnips with the Saga brigade. You must be careful as humour can backfire. Clever exponents are the people responsible for Skoda and Aldi ads at the moment, as that, more gentle, humour has a universal appeal.

Marketing is, of course, more than advertisements alone. Brochure and web copy needn’t be straight and stuffy (we wouldn’t get far being called Big Red Moose if ours was), and also in press relations. Editors have a sense of humour too and respond to something that makes them smile. Unless, of course, they edit ‘You and your Funeral’.