Is it funny enough to sell?

Thinking about this topic made me do some brain work. I've never really thought in depth about humor in advertising being a selling point. I did some analysis over my own spending habits and how much I buy based on advertising and how many of those ads had humor in it. Honestly, i'm still not even sure how to approach it. Here goes nothing.

I'm a shopping addict (to the point of a problem haha). I buy a lot of things on impulse. I wander stores and if something catches my eye, usually I end up buying it. I don't know how much of it is dependant on the advertising. There are certain products that I will go back to because I like the humorous advertising.

An example of that is vitamin water. The first time I tried this product wasn't because I wanted to try it, it was because of the witty advertising on the label.

I read one of those for the first time and it was the funniest thing to me. It was so cleverly done that I had to buy it. Not only did I buy one, I went and bought ever single one of them to read the labels every time I wanted a drink.

Needless to say I only ever buy vitamin water as a drink now. It the funny advertising that drew me in and I've continued to buy the product since then. I'm sure i'm not the only one. I mean how can you not?

I'm probably under the category of people that buy something because its funny or cute. That being said, I think the doritos ad with the banana man are hilarious and ridiculous. But I still don't like doritos. The funny advertising didn't do much to change my mind. I just don't like the product. Maybe thats because i've tried it before so its not the best example. Lets take the Snickers commercial. Their tagline is "you're not yourself when you're hungry" and the commercials are usually funny. It still doesn't make me want to buy a Snickers. I think the advertising is very well done. But it doesn't sell the product to me.

Vitamin water connected with its audience to sell their products. They had frank and genuine advertising that not only resonated with its consumers, it also compelled them to buy the product. To me it was literally a "look this is our product and we think its good for you, you should probably buy it" kind of approach, and it was done in such a hilarious and witty way that it worked. They knew their market, they did their research well and whoever designed that campaign knew exactly the kind of humor the target audience would appreciate.

I think humor in advertising is a very good way to relate to your audience. But you have to know the kind of humor your target audience will appreciate. It can't just be "funny" to sell the product. It has to connect. It has to hit the consumer in a way that makes them go "oh I get it! Thats awesome and I wanna buy this thing!". Any ad can be funny. Its when the humor is used well and in a way that really sells the product instead of just showing "look how funny we are!" that you will get a humorous ad that works. Connection with your audience is very very important, and you can't lose sight of that to make an ad thats just "funny".