Tickling the Buyer’s Funny Bones
One opens the television and sees two American football players teamed up to win a badminton game against a couple of Asian players. Wait a minute. Football players playing badminton? Can someone make some sense out of it? Not until one reaches the end of this commercial of a bottled mineral water that’s touted to be packed with vitamins, that one gets the point of it all. Funny commercials are a common method of the advertising industry. But what makes them actually tick is in the realm of consumer psychology.
The climax of the bottled water commercial is not the part where the football players win, but the point wherein one football player smashes the shuttlecock so forcefully it lodges into the right leg of one of the opposing players. The focal point of a funny commercial is to make a lasting impression on the consumers’ mind through humor. People like humorous advertisements and this appreciation for humor will eventually translate into an actual interest for the publicized product and/or service. But how?
While funny commercials are primarily designed to grab attention, holding a viewer’s interest is just the first step of any successful commercial. Keeping that attention and transforming it to brand recognition make up the whole scope.
Backtracking to the commercial mentioned earlier, the sight of pro football players playing badminton against Asians already commands attention. What keeps the viewers glued is the absurdity of the football players actually playing well versus the Asians. Then comes the improbable victory in the form of a killing stroke.
It is that “Aha!” moment that makes a funny commercial work; that sudden realization that happens when the brand name is introduced. Footballers crushed the Asians because they were drinking this certain brand of bottled water. In real life that would be highly unlikely. But who cares? The commercial was a success.
Read Manta’s profile on Cemex California.
A conversation with Gilberto Perez, President of Cemex California.
Read more about Cemex California at the Brand Managing website.
