Humor can be an incredibly effective way of reaching new customers with billboard advertising, but it’s also something that’s very easy to get wrong. If your joke isn’t expertly crafted, you can wind up alienating as many people as you endear, so it has to be done with great care.
La Vie, a company that makes plant-based bacon, hit the sweet spot with a recent ad campaign run in London.
Granted, plant-based bacon isn’t for everyone, but their ad is both hilarious and absolutely correct. The text reads: “A jew, a meat-lover, a Muslim and a vegan walk into a bar and share a bacon sandwich. No joke.”
This ad is a bit text-heavy but the contrast of the pink background and the giant black block letters makes it an easy read for both foot traffic and those passing by in their vehicles. It’s funny because it’s so unexpected, but of course, being plant-based bacon, it’s also 100% correct. That genuinely could happen!
It’s so unexpected that it delighted people all across the internet, sparked a wonderful conversation, raised consumer brand awareness and increased the company’s sales. That’s an amazing feat for a humble billboard and represents the Triple Crown of advertising.
Depending on the business you’re in, it will either be relatively easy, or incredibly challenging to come up with a way to bring humor to your ad campaigns, but as La Vie’s billboard demonstrates, done well, it can be tremendously successful. We highly recommend at least studying the feasibility of this approach for most businesses.
If you like the idea but are struggling for ways to apply it to your business, we can help with that! Our advertising professional have decades of combined experience and we’d be happy to sit down with you and discuss the possibilities. Just give our office a call at 770-391-8528 to get started.