Use Humor to Market Effectively
By: Natalie Bartelme
April 1, 2025
Utilizing humor to build brand awareness and customer loyalty is a tried-and-true approach to maximize ROI. Brands that can find consumers’ elusive funny bones make their messaging a welcome interruption. This is particularly true in today’s digital landscape, where most of the posts shared between friends are humorous. Bottom line, people like to laugh and feel good.
Recent consumer research from Oracle found:
- 91% prefer brands that are funny
- 90% are more likely to recall a brand with a humorous approach
- 72% would choose a brand that uses humor over a competitor that does not
- 75% would follow a brand on social media if it was funny
Majority of 2024 Super Bowl commercials utilized humor.
Another timely indicator of the effectiveness of humor in advertising is that in 2024, 70% of the brands that placed multimillion dollar commercials in the Super Bowl broadcast chose a humorous approach.
Benefits of humorous marketing include:
- Humor has been proven to make people more open and attentive
- Humor in marketing has been linked to higher recall
- Consumers find funny brands more relatable
- Increases word of mouth and social sharing
- Improves customer retention
Can you be laughing all the way to the bank?
Humor is subjective and relies heavily on knowing your target market. If you’d like to learn more about the effective use of humor in marketing, give Odney a call for a serious discussion about the best ways to grow your market share
Natalie Bartelme uses her 30+ years of experience to lead the creative direction and brand strategy behind integrated campaigns for a range of high-profile clients. She guides a multidisciplinary team of writers, designers and creative leaders to turn insights into work that connects with audiences and drives results. With a background spanning agency, freelance and brand-side roles, Natalie brings a thoughtful blend of storytelling, strategic thinking and collaboration to help brands grow with clarity and purpose.