Sharp wit and good fun are the orders of the day in Newsworks communications manager Lewis Boulton’s latest column for INMA. He takes a look at the welcome trend of humour in news brand advertising after a serious start to the decade
Fun is back! At least, that’s what Canadian advertising leader Angus Tucker tentatively ventured in a column he recently wrote for Campaign magazine.
While I have a somewhat different opinion than Tucker on “earnest” advertising (what we might call “social purpose”), I did find his comments about fun resonated me. Even if it has been minimal, I’ve found that brands putting humour to the side during the pandemic or in light of the cost-of-living crisis are leaning back into being fun, unique, and, most importantly, memorable.
This isn’t to say there weren’t memorably humorous ads from the last few years, nor that issues like living costs and a turbulent economy aren’t still important to readers. They are. But I’ve found that, even in ads carrying serious messaging around value or purpose, the execution is often light and humorous.
What’s more, those advertisers that do lean into humour can take advantage of uplifts in effectiveness across key metrics. According to data from RAM UK, humorous ads see an uplift of 14 percentage points on the industry average for brand recognition, 16 percentage points for engagement, and seven points for action.
See which examples Lewis chose to highlight in his INMA column here.
