Remember my post about US singer/songwriter Ryan Adams?
It’s the one where I talk about the time he was just about to launch into a song at one of his concerts when some evil genius in the audience screamed out …
“Play The Summer Of 69”
Apparently the singer was so angry that he declared he wouldn’t play another song till the guilty party was kicked out from the show.
Genius. [that’s the heckler, not the singer]
Anyway, it would seem Bryan Adams has decided to totally fuck with the guy, because browsing through a record shop, I saw his new album cover looked like this …
… which looks remarkably like this one from Ryan …
Coincidence? I don’t fucking think so.
To be honest I’ve always had abit of a soft spot for Bryan Adams [and no, it’s not a marsh] because I loved his ‘Reckless’ album and my guitar teacher actually went and joined his band for a few years … however seeing this act of mindfucking brilliance – intentional or not – makes me like him even more and I’m almost willing to forgive him for that Robin Hood bollocks he churned out for Kevin ‘hair weave’ Costner.
I wish more brands embraced humour.
No, I’m not talking about the 30 second sponsored joke … I’m talking about their overall brand behaviour.
OK, so challenger brands tend to have it in abundance but what about the more established players? When did humour come to represent unprofessional?
Sure, it’s down to what you say, how you say it and – to a certain extent – where you say it [so no “NORTHERN ROCK TO LAUNCH RUBBER CHEQUEBOOK” gags] but it’s ability to capture and enrapture cannot be underestimated … especially when the competition continually act like a bunch of stiffs.
I always felt BMW’s “April Fools Day” press releases in the UK, did more to make the brand appealing to the masses than any of their ‘Gillette Man’ ads. Infact it made such an impact on me that I always suggest to our clients they do something on April 1 because not only does it give them almost instant differentiation [for basically zero cost] but it genuinely enhances the reputation and perception of the brand in an instant.
Admittedly, whilst it’s been relatively easy to get brands like Virgin and Lonely Planet to do it, I’ve had less luck with organisations like TNT and NASA, but I’ll keep trying because I believe the benefits [for brand, agency, trade, consumer] far outweigh the possible negatives.
Despite me saying I’m against 30″ jokes … I am going to leave you with one.
Infact, this is one of my favourite ones because it’s not built around an irrelevant or ambiguous gag, it’s built around the core benefit of the clients product. [Take note Fallon, ha!]
What makes it especially worthy of praise is that the category – Corporate Data Backup – is hardly known for it’s sense of humour, so great credit has to go to the agency [Y&R] and the client [Computer Associates] for letting go of the category pomp and embracing a more human side to corporate communication.
And it worked it’s little socks off!
