Why Taking The Piss In Your Marketing Is More Effective — Sonder
An alarming number of Tinder profiles call for a partner who, “doesn’t take themselves too seriously” and honestly, your marketing should follow suit.
After all, your business pursuing customers isn’t so different to swiping online.
Your customers have loads of choices and brands that, often, are all kind of saying the same thing.
Take a marketing agency for example. 90 per cent of the digital marketing websites online are going to tell you they’ll polish your online presence, increase your leads, and grow your business.
And of those 90 per cent, probably 80 per cent will mention the funnel, just for good measure.
If everyone is saying the exact same thing though, how do you stand out? Well, you don’t.
This blog post is an ode to taking the piss out of your business in your marketing.
Here’s one of our favourite recent examples, courtesy of TED
Okay, so Toohey’s Extra Dry -you know, the beer that’s sure to come out when Dad sparks up the barbecue- has partnered with a bunch of Aussie cultural icons.
We’re talking the likes of Struthless, Aaron Gocs, and Betoota Advocate — the platforms known for taking the piss out of Australian culture.
It comes as part of their ‘Proudly Ordinary’ campaign. Where the beer acknowledges its “truth”, which is that it really is ordinary.
As their Betoota Advocate ad described it, “Average at best. Average at worst.”
The whole idea of the campaign is to embrace the fact that TEDs are nothing special, but they are reliable. And my Dad would agree.
The beer giant had Campbell Walker, more commonly known as Struthless, create a series of ads.
The first is this animation.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CGqnNL_pt7W/
Then this painfully apt starter pack.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CGYzoPwJkSf/
Then this, which Struthless simply captioned, “[Toohey’s Extra Dry] keeps paying me to roast them.”
https://www.instagram.com/p/CG80OnPJLga/
Here’s why it’s so good
No matter which industry you’re working in, the market is saturated with people saying they’re good. Don’t get us wrong, we love a good chunk of benefits-based copy. But if you’re wanting to get attention, generate a buzz around your brand, and create fans of your product — being ~different~ is the way to do it.
Emotion-evoking marketing grabs attention
It’s true. Humans are driven by emotion.
If we have an emotional reaction to something, we’re more likely to remember it, more likely to share it with friends or family, and we’re more likely to be driven to do something.
And in the marketing sense, it’s more likely to establish a connection and build loyalty in your brand.
When we say emotional, you might think of sadness but it really applies to any strong emotion. Sadness and anger, sure, but happiness, laughter, and surprise too.
But above all, people like to laugh
Yeah so, if you’re a law firm, a charity, or a not-for-profit, humorous marketing probably isn’t for you — sorry. In any other industry where the matters you’re dealing with aren’t super duper serious?
Then making people laugh is just the smart thing to do.
When you make someone laugh, that’s an overall positive experience for them. They then attribute that really positive experience with the ad or marketing material of yours that they saw — your brand is then brandished with the positivity wand.
Humour makes your brand more likeable, it makes your audience feel good, and it leaves an impression.
Funny content is more shareable content
Especially in video marketing and social media marketing, the shares are so valuable. And funny content is way more likely to be shared.
If you think about people and how they use social media, it’s mostly used to zone on out. But second to that, is to entertain themselves, and thirdly, to connect with their friends.
So, if you made a run of the mill video advertising your business and listing run of the mill benefits — why would anyone share that?
Taking the absolute piss out of your own product in a way that makes people think, “haha it’s true,” is way more shareable.
The social-scroller found it funny and they reckon their friends will too — so they’ll share it to their Instagram story.
Self-deprecating humour is more relatable & makes you look humble
Currently, that 18–35-year-old market is filled with people who grew up with the internet and have been exposed to loads of marketing and loads of different approaches to marketing.
So, there’s something to be said for ~cutting the crap~.
If you’re marketing a new soft drink, we can assume it’s tasty.
If you’re a marketing agency, we can assume you get businesses more leads.
And if you’re a beer that’s been around for ages now, well, we probably already know what it tastes like.
Taking the absolute piss out of your brand and your product is way more authentic than hiring actors to drink your product and pretend to just be having a vibe of a time.
Originally published at https://sonder.com.au on November 30, 2020.
