Humour

It is a proven fact that humorous ads attract more attention than serious ones. I suppose this has something to do with the fact that consumers don't like a product to be pitched, but rather entertaining. There is a fine line between being humorous and offensive. I think to have a successful humour advertisement is to include a subject that is generally funny and can't be seen as offensive. For example, the little wrestler in the Koodo commercials is a funny and entertaining way to present/promote your brand name/product. Seriously, who can find a little animated wrestler offensive? If you were to come up with a campaign like the Mike's Hard Lemonade in 2002, where men working labour jobs were having freak accidents and becoming seriously hurt, you are going to not only insult people, but create a bad reputation for your name brand. You also need to take into account that if your ads are on TV or the internet, children may have access to them. Who would want their children to see men being impaled by metal bars to promote an alcoholic beverage? The target audience is the utmost important thing to consider, but the medium in which your presenting your ad is very important as well because other personas WILL see it. It's inevitable.

It is true that funny ads will die out in time, but they DO help brand recognition. Variety is key in humour! If one ad starts to fall off the shelves, add another spin to it, or make a new funny ad. You need to keep the consumers interest and humour is one of the easiest and most effective ways of accomplishing this. I do think it is worth all of the work and risks because humour is universal. You don't  need supporting text to get the message across. All in all, you can have an ad made in Germany and still have the same impact if you brought it here in Canada.