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Three lessons humor can teach us about brands and #femvertising

By Samantha Skey, Chief Revenue and Marketing Officer

July 8, 2015 | 5 min read

Mindy Kaling is on a roll. She’s laughing all the way to the bank as brands realize that the 'Mindy' factor, humor, is also a powerful money maker. Humor has been a key vehicle for advertising messages for decades. Advertisers seek to grab and hold our attention. Funny ads do just that. In fact, humor is one of the four brand categories in SheKnows Media's first annual #Femvertising awards. These awards honor brands that challenge gender norms by building stereotype-busting, pro-female messages and images into ads that target women. This year’s humor finalists: Hello Flo’s 'Full Moon Party', Cardstore by American Greetings 'World’s Toughest Job', and Sport England’s 'This Girl Can' count on ROI that makes you ROTFL. Here are three lessons that humor has taught us:

1. Funny is sharable, buzzable, memorable: Kaling’s 2015 Super bowl commercial, 'Invisible Mindy Kaling', speaks to gender and race, while making us laugh and delivering an empowering message. In the ad, Kaling thinks that she is actually invisible after failing to hail cabs over the years. She decides to embrace her 'perceived' invisibility by doing a range of things that are just plain funny. Emboldened by her new invisibility she relaxes naked in the park, washes herself – fully clothed – in a car wash and attempts to kiss Matt Damon. He stops her. And that’s when it’s clear that she is indeed visible. As we laugh at her audacious gullibility, we embrace her powerful naïveté. This tongue in cheek modern nod to the 'Emperor Has No Clothing', stands on the foundation that invisibility is in the eye, or mirror, of the perceiver. It’s a social construct. We are all invisible to some, but very visible to others. Ms. Kaling nails this comedic truth. The result? A timeless commercial that makes us laugh, think and engage.

2. Comedy unites people with brands: Humor finalists for the SheKnows Media #Femvertising Awards know this and bank on the value of a good laugh in their campaigns. Women represent a $7tn market and control 85 per cent of the household purchasing decisions. Our three finalists have created ads that are funny, while delivering pro-female messages. Hello Flo’s 'First Moon Party', Cardstore by American Greetings’ “World Toughest Job” and Sport England’s 'This Girl Can' all have invested in humor as a valuable way to celebrate women with pro-women campaigns. Hello Flo’s 'First Moon Party' creates cackles as it tackles menstruation. This ad features a young girl who lies to her mom about getting her first period. Always the wiser, her savvy mom decides to throw her daughter a 'First Moon Party' resplendent with mixed company, thematic 'Flo' cakes, music and speeches. Mom’s over-the-top celebration doesn’t skirt around the issue of menstruation. We laugh with the mom, at the daughter’s lie and for this empowering message. There’s no shame here! The laugh is with us, not on us in the humor #Femvertising campaigns.

3. Funny is trending: According to a SheKnows study, 52 per cent of women have purchased a product because they like the brand. Advertisers are betting on the fact that strong female comedians will be good for business. Why? Because funny is fab. And fab is what makes brands money. So funny female fab is the equivalent of a Triple Crown for brands that put there money where we spend it. Ellen Degeneres’s American Express ads? Funny, positive money makers. Mindy Kaling’s Amex ads? Empowering and funny. Maria Bamford’s Target ads? Black Friday gut-buster! We don’t have to 'perfect', we just need to be perfectly us. “I was told, that they don’t put girls who look like me on TV. I guess they can’t say that anymore,” Kaling states in one American Express ad. Wink. Brands, and female humorists that bank on empowering female messages, get the last laugh. Bravo humor. Brava #Femvertising.

Samantha Skey is chief revenue officer at SheKnows Media. She tweets @samskey7

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