Enough with the 'sadvertising'

Over the past year, major brands have shifted their marketing efforts in response to the pandemic and, as you might imagine, started trending toward the somber.

Makes sense, looking at it from last March.

But it turns out that solemn messaging, mood moderating, whatever you call it, just isn't that effective. Even in a pandemic, when the global mood is particularly low, it turns out that audiences want (maybe need?) an injection of humor.

Data insights company Kantar just released a study of the most effective ads from 2020, and the ads that resonated most with audiences on a global scale were . . . funny.

So enough with the sadvertising already!

I get that brands want to stand for something. I get that in the midst of COVID, brands hope their message is one of purpose. But can't that purpose just be to make your customer's day just a little bit brighter?

Kantar says so. They focus-tested 10,000 ads with consumers to predict ROI. The top-scoring ads were the ones that made folks smile.

Daren Poole, Kantar's global brand director for creative development, told AdWeek that the most effective ads measured were the ones that provided consumers a much-needed break from reality.

"What consumers told us last year was that advertising is a little window into their normal life," he said. "It can be a break from the 24-hour news cycles talking about the pandemic. And humor is a great way of driving, first of all, attention, but also keynoting what a brand stands for, what a brand's personality is."

It doesn't have to be slapstick, over-the-top, nuttiness, either. Kandar's top spot went to this clever role-reversal spot from Heineken.

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Don't let Jeffrey M. Peyton's accolades, business accomplishments or cool demeanor fool you. The Sun's regional director of marketing has wing-walked on an airplane at 700 feet, co-piloted the Goodyear Blimp, swam with sharks, and managed to obtain paperwork officially declaring him “legally sane.”