Death, Humour & Italian Marketing
...How a firm of Italian funeral directors tore up the advertising rulebook
One of the pleasures of writing Brands & Humour is a reader getting in touch out of the blue and saying:
“Have you seen these funny ads for Taffo?”
[ME:] “Who?”
“You haven’t seen Taffo’s funny ads?!”
“Sorry!”
“You should, they’re brilliant.”
This happened a few weeks ago. A British chap named James Elliott got in touch. He’s lived and worked in Rome for over 20 years and told me about a company of Roman funeral directors, Taffo Funeral Services, currently run by the nattily-dressed Alessandro Taffo.
Taffo do what they say: they’re funeral directors and have been for over 70 years. Now, Google ‘family undertakers’ (I just did) and they tend to sell themselves on precisely that: age.
You’ll find the old:
And the very old:
Taffo are having none of this. Back in early January, when everyone was sluggishly going back to the office, they created this ad (the headline = Going back to work).
People from Genoa have a reputation for being tight with their money, hence this lovely regional ad ( = We’re now open in Genoa. We, too, like saving cash).
And last year they sponsored the Turin Marathon ( = Run. There’s time to relax later).
There’s a counterweight to this, too: Taffo don’t shy away from the big issues. For example, an average of 106 women are killed each year in Italy by their husbands, boyfriends, ex-partners or male family members: that’s one woman every three days.
So Taffo created this ad with a women’s rights not-for-profit, Pangea ( = 72 hours ago Giulia was killed. Today, Rita was killed. In 72 hours’ time another woman will die).
Is this funny? Hardly. But this is my point: they know when humour works, and they know when not to use it. More astutely, they know that humorous advertising is the best way to open the door for deeper, more serious issues. Entertain first, educate second — a core lesson in advertising and one that’s all-too-frequently forgotten.
What’s more, they’re staying on brand — they’re talking about death, right?
***
The question remains: why should a funeral services company use humour so extensively? A central reason is because humour sweetens the pill on unappealing subjects, whether it be a disastrous date:
Or the perils of bad breath…
Death is inevitable but it’s also, you know… unappealing. So to advertise a funeral company without using humour is an upward battle1.
But there’s another reason. For most people, thankfully, we don’t use funeral directors that much. Marketers often say that 5% of any market are there to buy right now — 95% are potential buyers. This means advertising has to be memorable, so when that 95% do need your product, they know to turn to you.
Now let’s translate this to the market for funeral directors: a fraction of 1% of people need them right now — indeed, possibly a fraction of 0.1%. This means that their ads have to be even more memorable. Do the math, as they say in the US.
Not only have Taffo done the math, but they’re doing something else right: they’ve gained over 266,000 followers on Instagram, 53,000 on X, and a truckload of invaluable PR coverage. They even have a gift shop where you can buy everything from mouse-mats to beach-towels — all including jokes about death, of course. In 2021 it was reported they had to double their number of staff due to the success of their advertising2.
Death is a constant — but humour is a constant too. So hats off to Taffo.
***
Before I go:
Every April and November I do something called 30x30. I answer any questions, from 30 people, for 30 minutes each. You could be one of them — and it won’t cost you a penny.
If you’d like to book a time in this month, just pop to my Calendly here, and you can ask me any question about humour and your marketing. You can also find out more about my methodology — HumourScope® — that I’ve used with clients such as WPP, Epson, and Harley-Davidson.
Many thanks to James for pointing me in Taffo’s direction, and indeed to you, for reading,
Paddy
pg@studiogilmore.com
+44 7866 538 233
LinkedIn: here
On which note, death has inspired many great jokes over the years. My current favourite is Steven Wright’s wonderful ‘I tried to hang myself with a bungee cord. I kept almost dying’.