Easy-to-process things feel truer, safer, and more appealing.
More quotesThree people remember the joke. One names the wrong advertiser. Another can only say, “It was the one with the dog.” The third remembers the character but nothing it sold.
The recall test continues.
Humour helps attention because surprise and pleasure interrupt the usual trudge. It can also reduce defensiveness: a recognisable human mistake is easier to examine after a laugh than after a sermon. Build the joke around the useful idea. Stick a gag beside a generic claim and people may remember the entertaining bit while losing the brand and proposition.
Testing “Did they like it?” tells us very little. People may love the character, repeat the line and buy the competitor whose name they mistakenly attached to both. Ask later, without showing the work: what was it for, who was it from and what did it make easier to understand?
Not every subject wants a chuckle. A failed payment can tolerate a light line; news of bereavement cannot. Making the customer the butt of the joke is especially stupid when the company controls the service and the customer is already stuck inside it.
The evidence here is intriguing. It cannot promise that adding comedy doubles recall for every message. Different audiences choose different news formats, and a funny film before a memory test is not an ad campaign.
Earnestness remains wildly overrated. Brands often remove humour because the approval group cannot prove it is “on strategy”, then approve solemn sludge nobody can recall.
The fourth participant remembers the joke, the advertiser and the reason to buy. Keep their explanation. The first three answers stay in the results.