Knock Knock! Who’s there? Juno. Juno who? Juno that I’m out here, right? Who doesn’t love to have a good chuckle from time to time? Your customers work hard, manage projects, go to appointments, take care of their family, and deal with miscellanous situations that pop up every day. Humour is a great vehicle to escape reality, even if it just for a few seconds!
Humour establishes rapport. Almost all people love to laugh. Jokes (non-offensive) can easily establish likeability and trust in your brand. A joke can disarm conflict, shed light on a negative or frustrating situation, and relationships are often built on experiences of shared humor. People do business with people they like, and if they smile and laugh every time you are near, they associate you with contentment. (Assuming, of course, that they are not laughing AT you!) Combining knowledge with humour demonstrates confidence and strength in a brand.
Humour, if used properly, is also memorable. Many strive to create “HA! moments” in consumers’ minds. This occurs when one is thinking one way and you turn their head to think another. In some of the images listed below, they register in the brain as humour, which triggers endorphins that encode for memory. This is why a joke from your childhood may still exist in your mind today.
If your website is experiencing some down time, there is nothing more annoying then reading a generic pop-up message. It is not fun for you, or your consumer – so be creative, have a little fun, and display something other than the boring message most other websites display.
Here are a few examples that may get your creative juices flowing (and your funny bone humming) with ideas for your own company website. Warning: You may have a chuckle or two!
Groupon Video: Unsubscribe
Even with companies paying more and more attention to Twitter followers and Facebook fans, email marketing is still crucial to any marketing strategy. A frequent activity of many people is reducing their inbox from marketing emails that have had no affect on them. Most companies provide an easy unsubscribing process within an email that does not allowing users to think twice about their actions. And as a marketer, it hurts to see any email subscribers leave and it hurts even more if you’re Derrick from Groupon. Watch the video below for what pops up when you unsubscribe from Groupon.
Pretty ingenious, right? Now here’s the clever part that plays off your guilt of punishing Derrick – At the end of the video, you’re able to repent for your vicious act and re-subscribe to Derrick’s emails.
Would you re-subscribe? I did.
Even if no one re-subscribes to Groupon, their creative use of video positively positions the compnay in your mind and certainly has people tweeting, Facebooking and blogging about this unsubscribe page! It’s a great example of the power of video and a company using their personality to connect with you, or in this case, re-connect with you.
Centerd: Page Missing
It’s been said that animals make one of the most popular/effective advertising subjects. Centerd, an iphone app, took advantage of this by creating a 404 page featuring a cat causing site problems. Although it’s not the funniest 404 page ever, the amount of cuteness makes up for getting the URL wrong, and still creates a significant amount of viral buzz.
Tumblr: Website Down
Having an issue with Tumblr? You can blame the Tumbeasts! The creative (and hilarious) cartoon, is how Tumblr tells you their website is temporarily down. Dang Tumbeasts are chewing up all the servers again…
Groveshark: Down for Maintenance
Grooveshark takes their error message one step further by displaying a short tale about why Pickles, the giant panda, is the source of their website being inactive. Not only do users get a laugh, but they get an entertaining story, a cute panda, a “that’s what she said” joke, and a pun!
The North Face: Non-Existing Page
The North Face is a company that understands its customers by making an error page related to its image. It plays off its backpacking personality by blaming the site issue on goats! By playing with humor, North Face shows its lighter side and makes the site error more personable and resonating with its consumers.
South Park: Page Error
South Park Studios has created error pages with funny comments by their characters. Doing this offers a unique interaction between the company and its fans. The site alternates the error page graphic every time an error page is refreshed. Does your favourite character come up?
What other examples have you seen where companies use humour? What effects does it have on you?