Mention ‘humour and travel advertising’ and, at first glance, there’s not much to pick from. There are roughly three categories of badness:
You’ve got the highfalutin’…
(The headline for this ad translates as “There are countries which make your soul grow.” Mate, all I wanted was a cup of coffee.)
Then you’ve got the Photoshopped-to-within-an-inch-of-its-life…
…And then there’s the so-unimaginative-it’s-downright-lazy:
Now let’s be honest: tourism is big business — especially in our post-pandemic times. So why do tourist boards come out with such tosh? Three reasons come to mind:
First, there’s the sense that they want as wide an audience as possible. This dilutes everything down to very bland, let’s-please-everyone advertising.
Second, that old reason: money. So many parties pile millions into tourist ad campaigns. This means 101 opinions on what the ads should look like. And let’s not forget the old phrase, “He who pays the piper calls the tune.” This inevitably leads to safer-than-safe ads.
And third: fear. What if something goes wrong? Admittedly, there is some justification for this. The ad below was part of a campaign that went live in New York City in 2017. As the woman seemed to be undressing, there was a distinct implication of East Asian sex tourism. The ads were quickly — and rightly — scrapped1.
So when a travel company does use humour, what happens?
As it happens, humour and travel advertising have a very long history. This poster, The Jolly Fisherman, was painted in 1908, and ‘is regarded as one of the most famous holiday advertisements of all time’2.
Indeed it’s so famous, it’s even become a statue in Skegness:
Fast-forward 116 years and this is a lovely recent example (below) from the other side of the planet: Tasmania. Fresh, self-deprecating and bang-on trend with the AI reference, it ends with the flourish of a wonderful closing tagline: Come down for air.3
But my favourite form of travel advertising must be the renegade style. You’re either bad for being there…
…Or stupid for not going there:
What’s more, these couldn’t apply to anywhere: the default setting of so many travel ads. The first one taps into the truth that Helsinki is bloody freezing4; the second has the bluntness for which Australians are renowned.
But my favourite is the ad Iceland did in 2022, when Mark Zuckerberg was busily launching the metaverse and re-naming Facebook. Using a Zuckerberg lookalike, poor chap, they introduced the world to the ‘Icelandverse’:
Successful? I’d say so. The film ‘racked up over six million views, doubled the engagement rate of Iceland’s previous record, and earned over six billion media impressions. Just 10 days after the film’s launch, it was declared their most successful marketing campaign ever.’5
In other words, beneath the humour of this ad, listen carefully: you can hear those Icelandic cash tills ringing.
***
Before I go…
If I may toot my own trumpet (parp-parp!):
I’m going to be speaking at The Future of Brands, in London, on April 17th (here), and doing the keynote speech on The Power of Humour in Advertising, at the Baltic Brand Forum & Awards, in Riga, Latvia, on September 20th (here). If you’re there, or thereabouts, give me a shout and let’s grab a beer.
Many thanks for reading,
Paddy
pg@studiogilmore.com
+44 7866 538 233
LinkedIn: here
A big thanks to Dr Natasha Grand Norman, of INSTID, for sharing this with me.
I speak from experience: I was there in October of last year and swam in the Baltic Sea, mad fool that I am.