Using Humour Well: The Negative Space Effect
...When getting rid of the product can lead to a better, funnier ad
Before kicking off…
I’m flying to Riga this week to do a keynote talk at the Baltic Brand Forum. I can’t wait. Despite using my grizzled mugshot in their advertising (below), tickets have apparently been selling fast.
Come along if you can — tickets here — and if you’re a B&H reader, give me a shout and we’ll have a coffee or a pint.
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I was having a chat to an FMCG marketer the other week about humour techniques. One that I often refer to is, in a sense, two sides of the same coin. I’ve found it pretty helpful over the years, so I thought I’d share it with you.
The first side is:
How would people live if your product didn’t exist?
This is what I often call the ‘Negative Space Effect’.
The second is:
How would people live obsessively because your product exists?
This is what I call the ‘Obsessive Effect.’
So! I thought it would be good to do a wee two-parter. Let’s kick off with the first question this week, the second next week.
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A really nice way to think about a product — especially an intangible one — is what would the world look like if it didn’t exist? Now, the sensible answer is, of course, the world wouldn’t look that much different. (Don’t tell the Coke marketing army this, but if there wasn’t Coke, people would have no choice but to choose Pepsi.)
But! It’s a great starting point for a funny ad. Why? Because it shows two things at once:
a) it shows how vital your product is, and
b) when people don’t have what you sell, they often look like fools.
…And when they look like fools, what happens?
Humour.
This is a lovely recent example:
As is this Yamaha ad:
And it even works in ads that, on a humour level are more low-key than laugh-out-loud. This ad came out in 1979, when I was in short pants and obsessed with Star Wars1, and it’s become a classic.
…As is this: an amusing vodka ad, with no vodka in sight but — critically — the iconic shape of the Absolut bottle:
Successful? I’d say. In the US alone Absolut saw a rise of 10,000 cases sold in 1980 to a staggering 4.5 million cases in 20002.
And yet! It can misfire.
Back in the early 80s, Guinness — officially The Company That Can Do No Wrong In Their Advertising® — did the ‘Guinnless’ campaign.
I feel I should almost apologise for including this ad, but it remains on YouTube, an embarrassing reminder of a public faux pas.
As part of this campaign Guinness decided to take classic ads, like this one from 1930…
And turn them into this, in 1983…
…Which is an ad without a) a brand name and b) an image of the product. Crazy, no? It’s basically advertising done by eight-year-olds.3
But to get back to my main point: when you do negative space the way that Yamaha, Chivas Regal, Absolut and Auto Glass Now do it, you’re onto a good ad and, indeed, a good funny ad.
Next week: how would people live obsessively because your product exists?
Many thanks for reading,
Paddy
pg@studiogilmore.com
+44 7866 538 233
LinkedIn: here
Only one of these things, dear Reader, have changed.
Moreover, Guinness themselves said so: ‘The “Guinnless” campaign was an annoying as it was memorable. The portrayal of the “Guinnless” as disenfranchised misfits also created an unfortunate image of the Guinness drinker — what they inevitably became after they’d undergone a “cure.”’ — Davies, Jim: The Book of Guinness Advertising, Guinness Publishing Ltd., 1998, pp. 156-157.