B2B Brands Leverage Humor to Boost Recall, Engagement, and Brand Perception
Exploring the Most Humorous Business-to-Business Commercials
In today's dynamic business landscape, humor plays a significant role in B2B marketing, making brands easier to recall, engaging audiences, and bolstering brand associations. A recent study from our website (Emily Fairhead-Keen) and research from Google reveal that B2B customers are more emotionally connected to their vendors and service providers compared to B2C consumers. This highlights that rational decision-making in B2B buying processes is not an absolute truth, as the industry is increasingly influenced by emotions and biases.
Rory Sutherland, in his words, emphasizes that people tend to choose the option that is easiest to defend or least likely to attract criticism. Accordingly, humor can offer a unique way for brands to convey confidence and build rapport with their target audience. Here are nine humorous B2B ad campaigns that effectively utilized laughter as a marketing tool in the 21st century.
1. Lenovo - Users Happen (2016)
Agency: Traction
This campaign from Lenovo was built around the insight that IT decision-makers appreciate sharing 'war stories' about users and appreciate hardware that can handle challenges. The integrated campaign encompassed videos and satirical 'Survival Guides' showcasing the durability and reliability of Lenovo's ThinkPad. This approach garnered numerous awards and resulted in a 250% surge in leads and a 189% increase in the quality of leads.
2. Adobe - Click, Baby, Click! (2013)
Agency: Goodby Silverstein & Partners
Adobe, with the introduction of their Marketing Cloud product in 2013, presented a humorous advertisement focusing on the danger of relying solely on click measurements. A humorous anecdote about an encyclopedia company mistaking their display ad clicks for massive sales volumes served as a reminder to avoid evaluating digital campaigns on clicks alone. The campaign reportedly increased something by 25%.
3. Vistaprint - Your Partner in an Ever-Changing World (2021)
Agency: CALLEN
Vistaprint, a provider of on-demand printing services to small businesses, ran their largest ad campaign in 2021. The campaign capitalized on the resilience and adaptability of small business owners by featuring advertisements showcasing a lakeside burger bar pivoting to fish, a hotelier embracing a quick 'haunted' rebrand, and a yoga studio owner adapting to hot yoga when an asteroid crashed through her roof.
4. Slack - 'So Yeah, We Tried Slack...' (2014)
Agency: Sandwich
Slack launched their video advertising campaign by narrating the story of how they tried to get the Sandwich video team to create an advertisement for them but were refused due to skepticism. The smartly-paced fourth-wall-breaking execution effortlessly explained and sold the product.
5. Volvo Trucks - Live Tests (2014)
Agency: Forsman & Bodenfors
The Volvo Trucks 'Live Tests' campaign hinged on two key insights; truck drivers have a strong emotional bond with their trucks, and various parties (family, friends, colleagues, bosses, clients, and businesses) influence truck buying decisions. Emotional, shareable campaigns like this generated earned media impressions worth $172.6 million and were shared 8 million times.
6. Ajinomoto - Dinner with Goop (2023)
Agency: Edelman
Ajinomoto hosted a dinner to dispel myths about MSG being unhealthy by inviting Gwyneth Paltrow from the 'Goop' brand, owing to her influence in 'clean eating.' When Gwyneth didn't show up, the non-attendance became the focus of the story, leading to major media coverage, revised or removed incorrect claims on the Goop website, and an increase in 24.3 million Americans viewing MSG as 'clean.'
7. Nextel - Dance Party (2006)
Agency: TBWA\Chiat\Day
Nextel capitalized on the popularity of Salt-N-Pepa's "Push It" to showcase their push-to-talk mobile services, making a small office workforce appear so efficient that they could afford to take a dancing break in the middle of the workday.
8. Cisco - The Perfect Gift for Valentine's Day (2009)
Agency: Unknown
Cisco used dry, tongue-in-cheek humor to promote their ASR 9000 router as the perfect Valentine's Day gift, emphasizing its speed and reliability.
9. CCS McLays - Toilet Takeover (2024)
Agency: ...Gasp!
CCS McLays leveraged media placement as part of the humorous joke by sponsoring the toilets at the Retail Week x The Grocer LIVE event. This campaign highlighted the importance of creativity in making a small budget go a long way in capturing people's attention.
In conclusion, humorous B2B advertising can be an effective way to break through the noise, build emotional connections, increase brand recall, and make businesses more likable and memorable. While not every situation is suitable for humor, it can be particularly impactful in the seemingly driest industries.
- The food industry can also benefit from humor in marketing, as demonstrated by Ajinomoto's 'Dinner with Goop' campaign in 2023, which used a humorous approach to dispel myths about MSG and generate significant media coverage.
- In the realm of lifestyle and wellness, insight-driven campaigns like Slack's 'So Yeah, We Tried Slack...' advert in 2014, which humorously told the story of their difficulties in acquiring an advertisement, effectively explained and sold their product.
- Technology companies have also recognized the power of humor in advertising, such as Volvo Trucks' 'Live Tests' campaign in 2014, which generated millions of impressions and shares by emotionally engaging with its target audience.
- Science and health-related businesses can use humor to educate and engage their audience, like Cisco did in 2009 when they promoted their ASR 9000 router as the perfect Valentine's Day gift with dry, tongue-in-cheek humor.
- The media and entertainment sector can create humorous campaigns that generate buzz and create brand recall, as shown by Nextel's 'Dance Party' advert in 2006, which cleverly showcased their push-to-talk mobile services. These examples illustrate that humor can be an effective strategy across various industries, from B2B to B2C, and from business to entertainment.
