Advertising That Works: Show Us the Funny

We all hate commercials…unless they make us laugh. Then we tell everyone we know, effectively making those commercials work through word of mouth. Here are a few I think are noteworthy:

* Domino’s Dessert Pizza. It’s plain silly, but the dessert mustaches just put you at ease and make you laugh!
* McDonalds has a commercial where a young man goes off in search of something hot and spicy. He brings back a hispanic rapper. Cute.
* Or let’s go back a few years to that Pepsi commercial with the cute dimpled girl/mobster.
* Where’s the Beef? by Wendy’s

I could go on and on. Most of the commercials that stick in your mind were either funny or had a catchy tune. They were memorable. Now try to think of a local carpet retailer ad. It’s likely you can’t even remember any. While it seems the bigger advertising budget creates commercials that snag our brains, it doesn’t have to be the case.

In order to make your marketing and advertising (commercials, internet ads, direct mail, emails, anything) memorable, here are a few tips:

1. Make people laugh. Happy people buy things, and they tell their friends.
2. Surprise them. Don’t shock, just surprise pleasantly. With so many commercials, how can yours stand out?
3. Spend time on the idea. Don’t rush the creative process. You don’t have to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars; good ideas are free. They just take time to develop.
4. Test your idea. Survey a test market to see what reactions would be to an ad or commercial before going to production.
-Susan
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Need More Resources?
Elistz.net: 13 Free or Cheap Advertising Methods
Allbusiness.com ABCs of Effective Advertising