Advertising best practice, evidence and insights

What we know about using humour in advertising

Article • WARC Best Practice, August 2019

Provides marketers with information and guidance about using humour to create buzz, emotional engagement and virality.

Case Study • SABRE Awards, Asia-Pacific, Product Media Relations (consumer media), Gold, 2019

Sydney Beer Co. (SBC), a beer brand, encouraged Sydneysiders to champion a beer inspired by their own city which gave it an ROI of over 4300%.

Hotels.com: Introducing Bleisure to Japan

Case Study • SABRE Awards, Asia-Pacific, Marketing to Men, Gold, 2019

Hotels.com, a hotel-booking service, used humour to reach business travellers in Japan.

AirAsia: Holiday Quickies

Case Study • SABRE Awards, Asia-Pacific, South-East Asia, Gold, 2019

Air Asia, a low-cost airline, took a cheeky approach to humour, helping its brand stand out of the crowd for Singapore’s millennial travellers.

Purple taps influencer marketing

News • 10 September 2019

Purple, the mattress company, is partnering with a range of influencers that can help it reach people who run their home, thus moving it beyond the broad, irreverent humour that has characterised much of its advertising.

KitKat: Break in case of life's little emergencies

Case Study • Sonia Pascual, Earl Javier, Nanais Hernandez, WARC Prize for Asian Strategy, Shortlisted, 2019

Nestlé-owned chocolate bar brand KitKat re-vamped its packaging to reverse declining sales in the Philippines.

Lay's: Crunchy Sound Challenge

Case Study • Benjamin Condit, Jerry Perez, WARC Prize for Asian Strategy, Shortlisted, 2019

Potato-chip brand Lay's used short-video platform Douyin and the sound of chips being eaten to drive e-commerce impulse purchase in China.

Guinness: How Guinness got more Singaporeans to celebrate St Patrick's Day

Case Study • Mark Hadfield, WARC Prize for Asian Strategy, Shortlisted, 2019

Diageo-owned beer brand Guinness launched a Saint Patrick's Day campaign with a twist to increase sales volume of Guinness Draught in Singapore.

How mattress brand Purple has generated 1.5 billion online video views in three years

Article • Stephen Whiteside, Event Reports, CommerceNext, July 2019

Purple, the mattress brand, has secured more than 1.5 billion views of its online video content by taking an innovative approach to this medium.

Pond's Men: Bodybuilder

Case Study • Nayantara Atal, Sumegha Rao, Benoit Wiesser, WARC Prize for Asian Strategy, Shortlisted, 2019

Skincare challenger brand Pond's Men leveraged a new way of thinking to shake up a tired category and reverse declining sales in Indonesia.

KFC: Anything is better with KFC Golden Egg Crunch

Case Study • Galen Lau, Alyafarah Zainudin, Phoenix Tang, WARC Prize for Asian Strategy, Shortlisted, 2019

QSR brand KFC successfully relaunched its Golden Egg Crunch during Chinese New Year in Malaysia using a TV sync activation.

Telstra: How not worrying about data took Telstra Pre-Paid from decline to growth

Case Study • The Communications Council, Silver, Australian Effie Awards, 2019

Telstra, a telecommunications brand, increased awareness and appeal for its pre-paid offer in Australia by launching a series of TVCs and videos that showed people who weren't worried about data, because they're with Telstra.

Metamucil: Poo Romance - The Sequel

Case Study • The Communications Council, Bronze, Australian Effie Awards, 2019

Metamucil, a brand of fibre supplements, increased its sales by 50% with its humorous sequel to 2017's Poo Romance campaign in Australia.

Canadian Down Syndrome Society: Endangered Syndrome

Case Study • Cannes Creative Lions, Gold, Creative Strategy Lion, 2019

The Canadian Down Syndrome Society (CDSS), a non-profit organization, created the Endangered Syndrome video campaign in North America to get people with Down syndrome put on the endangered species list.

Libresse/Bodyform: Viva La Vulva

Case Study • Cannes Creative Lions, Gold, Creative Strategy Lion, 2019

Libresse, a brand of feminine hygiene products, increased market share in Scandinavia by launching Viva La Vulva, a lip sync video that encouraged women not to be ashamed and to love their vulvas.

PVR Cinemas: LET PEOPLE SPEAK #Nooutsidefoodincinema (F&B crisis)

Case Study • SABRE Awards, South Asia, Crisis/Issues Management, 2019

PVR Cinemas, an entertainment company, reached 18 million consumers and enacted action against a government proposal to allow outside food into cinemas in India.

Always: Relevant content led to massive impact with young women

Case Study • MIXX Awards, Bronze, Native Advertising, 2019

Always, a feminine hygiene brand, engaged young women in Denmark in a discussion of menstruation which led to a 65% increase in Always usage.

Orange Tunisia: The Hashtagging Grandpa

Case Study • Tahaab Rais, Mongi Bhouri, WARC Prize for MENA Strategy, Bronze, 2019

Telecoms brand Orange used a multichannel, branded content approach, featuring a grandad, to appeal to young people and turn around its image as an old-fashioned brand in Tunisia.

McDonald's: The Official Sponsors of Losers

Case Study • Carl Bou Abdallah, WARC Prize for MENA Strategy, Silver, 2019

Fast-food brand McDonald's employed a social media and on-ground strategy targeting losing football fans during the 2018 World Cup to drive footfall to restaurants in Lebanon.

Dubai Properties: 1/JBR – It’s not for everyone

Case Study • Tahaab Rais, WARC Prize for MENA Strategy, Gold, 2019

Real-estate developer Dubai Properties used a multichannel approach aimed at alienating flashy customers to sell apartments in its new Jumeirah Beach Residences 1/JBR development.

Jawwy: Pay For What You Use

Case Study • Tahaab Rais, Moushami Dighe Bhattacharya, WARC Prize for MENA Strategy, Entrant, 2019

Mobile network Jawwy used social media and online video to persuade young consumers in Saudi Arabia to ditch their current mobile provider and switch.

Emirates NBD: While You Wait

Case Study • Tahaab Rais, Anna Sadykova, WARC Prize for MENA Strategy, Bronze, 2019

Money remittance service DirectRemit turned YouTube pre-roll ads into effective marketing messages to attract more users in the United Arab Emirates.

Head & Shoulders: Don’t let dandruff have the last word

Case Study • Ozge Arat, WARC Prize for MENA Strategy, Shortlisted, 2019

Anti-dandruff shampoo Head & Shoulders used a holistic, humorous campaign to bring its core equity, anti-dandruff, top of mind and increase sales in the MENA region.

SNIFF: Clásico Dogs

Case Study • Rifaat Fakih, WARC Prize for MENA Strategy, Entrant, 2019

Dog rehoming charity SNIFF turned rescue dogs into football stars in a social media campaign to boost adoption rates in the UAE.

RSA Insurance UAE: Search for the UAE’s Unluckiest Traveller #RSATravelPhotoFails

Case Study • Zahraa Hachem, Nadine Mazraani, WARC Prize for MENA Strategy, Entrant, 2019

UAE insurance brand RSA used a social-media led campaign to connect with its target audience and increase travel insurance sales.

Humour & jokes