Optimizing the Amount of Entertainment in Advertising: What's So Funny about Tracking Reactions to Humor?

Humor and other entertaining content, as opposed to demonstrations of product features and “selling,” are increasingly used in advertising, such as TV commercials, to attract and keep consumers’ attention.

Optimizing the Amount of Entertainment in Advertising: What’s So Funny about Tracking Reactions to Humor?

Thales S. Teixeira

Harvard Business School

Horst Stipp

Advertising Research Foundation

Management slant

  • This study uses facial tracking to explore how marketers can best use entertainment in ads.
  • It explores the optimal level (not too low and not too high) of entertainment to strike in video ads to increase their effectiveness in driving sales.
  • It suggests that the funniest ads are not necessarily the most effective at high levels and that the optimal level differs between humorous...

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