Comedy’s comeback is bringing brands closer to their communities

It’s time for brands to be funny again. With Cannes introducing a humour category in this year’s awards, it’s a reminder that brands can and should be ‘fun’. But it’s not just about being funny, it’s about making sure your jokes land, within the context of their audiences. Reading the room and connecting with your audience requires authenticity. So how can brands deliver punch lines that drive growth?

First, they must recognise the shift from individual consumers to the decision-making power of communities. Almost half (46%) of consumers say their community influences their decisions and behaviours, according to our #ID Culture: The Power of Communities report.

In the US, WPP agency Ogilvy PR capitalised on the power of influence of actor Michael Cera for its Cerave campaign, playing on his name. The effort aimed to counter disinformation — pushed by Michael Cera himself — that he was the brains behind CeraVe’s moisturizing cream. It was an immersive campaign that invited everyone to participate in a memorable prank-like experience, only to be debunked on America’s biggest stage – the Super Bowl – by CeraVe’s dermatologists. 

Secondly, brands need to truly understand the culture around their audiences’ sense of humour to create media that lands. Bronze Media Lions winner, Pot Noodle received backlash for the slurping noise in its ‘Nothing Satisfies Like Pot Noodle’ campaign. The brand quickly pivoted by using data to generate audience insights to deliver hyper-targeted versions of the advert with bespoke sounds. This generated a +25% sales lift in the first four weeks with 19,000,000 pots sold.

A third part of the set-up is AI. It’s not a case of using AI to write gags or launching sassy chatbots that inevitably go off the rails. Where this tech’s real potential lies, is in enhancing human creativity, not replacing it. 

This year’s Media Lions Grand Prix was awarded to Mercado Libre’s Handshake Hunt – a Brazilian retail store, which tapped into the insight that handshakes are everywhere, including the logo of Mercado Libre. The e-commerce and financial tech company worked with Brazilian TV network Globo TV to scan media using AI so that whenever a handshake—Mercado Libre’s logo—appeared on a viewer’s screen, a QR code would pop up linking to a Black Friday deal.

Humour has always played a critical role in communications – the most memorable people are the ones that make you laugh. Today, the brands doing it best are using it authentically to get closer to their communities. Delivering punchlines that make them laugh and grow together.