There’s an art to funny copywriting.
Get it right, and using humour in your writing will leave you with hilarious copy and funny marketing campaigns that stick in people’s minds like these brands do:
- Innocent
- SURREAL
- Who Gives A Crap?
- IRN BRU
- DeadHappy
And I could probably throw Oatly into that list of names too.
Humour done right will make people remember you.
Get it wrong and you could end up as the joke in loads of funny marketing memes — funny for everyone else but not funny for you, right?
But first, you need to know and understand your brand tone of voice.
What is brand tone of voice?
Your brand tone of voice isn’t only what you say; it’s how you say it.
What you say is the knowledge you have that makes you an expert.
How you say it is your personality.
But voice and tone are different things too:
Voice
Is the personality of your brand.
Tone
Is the emotion in your voice, which can change depending on the circumstances.
In short:
Your tone changes like it does every day.
Your voice (personality) doesn’t.
To learn more about tone and voice, check out my articles, What is tone of voice? and Why your brand tone of voice is important.
How to use funny copywriting in your marketing
Boring your readers to death is no joke, they’ll click away and read something more interesting. So, to stop that happening, let’s look at some funny copywriting examples:
One. Keep your audience in mind at all times
Humour might not be appropriate for every brand.
It won’t work for everyone and it won’t work every time.
If you’re dealing with people at stressful or sensitive times in their lives, chances are they’re not gonna appreciate a pun about their cancer diagnosis.
Then again, life insurance companies like DeadHappy are famous for using wordplay in their content, like this:
And even they’ve gone too far and been offensive to the point they’ve had to pull marketing campaigns.
You have to consider who your audience is, how far you can go, and how they’ll respond to humour in different places, such as social media, newsletters, ads, etc.
To learn more about using puns in advertising, check out Puns in Marketing: 5 great examples of how to use ’em.
Two. Hone your hilarious content online first
You might want to write funny ads to be splashed across roadside billboards, like SURREAL:
But you need to know when and where is right for your brand and your audience.
The best place to start is on social media (SURREAL did before the billboards) because you can study how well using humour in your copywriting goes down with your audience — and there are statistics to back that up.
A study by Forbes found:
- 90% of people are more likely to remember a funny brand
- 48% said they didn’t feel they had a relationship with brands unless they made them laugh or smile
- 41% of Gen Z and 34% of Millennials said they use social media just to read funny content, including ads
Incredible stats for sure, but take a look at these:
- 95% of businesses are afraid to use humour to attract customers
- 85% don’t know how to use humour in marketing
Not everyone can or feels they can write funny, but you’ll know what works and what doesn’t by testing the waters online or using a funny copywriter.
A lot of social stuff is forgotten within minutes or hours.
So, you can hone your rib-tickling content, ready to make people’s sides split when you let rip your hilarious print marketing in the future.
Three. Keep it short
The best, funniest and most memorable pieces of marketing copy are short.
Even one word is enough.
Warburtons are absolute masters of short, funny copywriting:
Nice!
Make it easy to read and fast to digest and it’ll stick in the mind long after it’s been seen.
Four. Use observational humour
Observe the world around you and you can create humourous content that ties in with current events, which is what innocent drinks did when the Colleen Rooney / Rebekkah Vardy trial was going on:
Superb.
And stating with Innocent, we all know how popular they are.
Everyone says they wish they could write copy like Innocent, so let’s give you what you want.
Check out my article, How to write copy like Innocent Drinks.
Five. Don’t be offensive
It might seem edgy, but making fun of wars, murders and people who have died is a no-no. DeadHappy, who I mentioned earlier, ran an ad that included the killer Doctor, Harold Shipman.
It wasn’t big or clever; it was just offensive.
Bad-taste humour can turn people off you, and you don’t want that!
Six. Laugh at yourself
When there was a chicken shortage in their restaurants, KFC produced this cracker:
It’s funny, self-deprecating and a little bit cheeky.
It turned angry customers into understanding ones, making KFC fans love them even more.
Seven. Advertise with honesty
You have to be mad to be brutally honest in your marketing.
Maybe, but that didn’t stop Oasis:
Honest, funny and it makes you appreciate them for not trying to trick you with fake reasons.
Eight. Keep up with what’s on trend
You might sell fast food, and you could someone tie in your product with healthy living, but chances are, it’s going to come across as a bit coarse.
If a trend suits your brand, product and audience, post humourous content that works.
If it’s going to come across as a bit fake, leave it alone.
No amount of funny copywriting is worth people shaking their heads at you.
Nine. Be environmentally conscious
You don’t need me to tell you about the climate crisis. Every person and business has to think about sustainability and being an eco-friendly brand themselves, Who Gives A Crap? tie this into their marketing:
Showing you’re serious about saving the planet and being funny is a real eye-catching combination.
Ten. Include visual humour
When it comes to funny marketing campaigns, Scottish soft drinks brand Irn Bru hit this out of the park with their ‘Fanny‘ advert in 2012.
In Scotland, calling someone a ‘fanny’ means they’re an idiot and is also slang for a vagina. The dad is dead against calling his daughter Fanny until he swigs Irn Bru and grows a bit of a backbone.
Really, it’s ridiculing the ridiculousness of societal norms.
Have those funny copywriting examples tickled you?
Then remember to put some or all of the nine pieces of advice above into action.
You’ve got so many competitors trying to be heard, so cut through the lot of them by sticking puns in your marketing, silliness in your social posts and wickedly funny one-liners in your website copy.
If writing witty or funny content isn’t your thing, but you’d love to post more stuff that’ll make people chuckle and take notice, let’s chat to see how I can help you write loads of silly content on social media and create video content that’s full of hilarious wordplay and songs.
Until next time
Matt
PS. Looking for more fun stuff to do with your marketing? Check out 10 reasons why jingles are effective in advertising.
