Brands don’t need to choose between playfulness and purpose – they can do both

It’s September, and not only is Brat summer a distant memory, but so too is ‘Silly Season’, that month in the year when, at least historically, frivolous stories and cheeky publicity stunts fill the news as parliament shuts for its hols.

As the dreariness of the party political conferences unfolded this month, and we head into the endlessness of the US election and the sadness of escalating conflicts, I thought I’d use this month’s column as an industry call to arms – an appeal for more playfulness in marketing and advertising.

This is not just because we could all do with more cheer but also because, as Kantar data revealed last month, despite its proven effectiveness, humour in advertising has declined over the last 20 years. We’ve become a serious bunch.

I’m going to start with purposeful marketing which many pundits believe has lost its way, in part because it had just got too, well, full of purpose, too high-minded.

Personally I don’t think purpose is going anywhere – but I do think that those brands doing it well today have evolved how they show up with values, and have learned to swap earnestness for lightness to get their message across. Case in point, Malibu’s charming ‘Don’t Drink and Dive’ summer spot featuring Tom Daley and his knitted speedos. Yes, the campaign’s ‘purpose’ is to raise awareness of the dangers of mixing alcohol and water, but also, yes, the campaign includes a limited-edition knitwear collection. Fun!

How humour helped Nationwide position itself as the ‘antithesis’ of other banksFor me, a lot of the best (read: most enjoyable and most effective) purpose-infused marketing and advertising in recent years has been from brands with a pronounced female focus. Maltesers and their cheekily toned campaigns highlighting women’s mental load. Hanx and all they do around women’s sexual health, including the surreal field of contraceptive carnations we created for them at Boxpark Shoreditch. Or Essity and their recent ‘Never Just a Period’ campaign with its brilliant moments of awkward funniness.

These are serious issues brands are activating around, yet they do so with levity and love, and it works. Why then are so many other brands with less to be weighty about not making the most of what a spot of humour and whimsy in marketing could deliver for them?

If I had a pound for every time I heard the phrase ‘brand authenticity’ at Cannes earlier this year I’d be buying myself a yacht now, so I got to wondering how many brands conflate authenticity with seriousness.

“I do believe the pursuit of authenticity can lead to brands straying into an overly ‘worthy’ territory, which frankly just ends up losing the audience,” says Sarah Welsh, co-founder of Hanx, adding that for them – particularly given the often taboo space they’re in – being authentic means tracking along with and being true to people’s natural feelings and emotions.

“In our case, leaning into and acknowledging the giggles that come with our territory can be freeing – and have greater purpose too,” adds Welsh.

Clare Moulder, senior brand manager at Maltesers, is coming from the same place when she tells me, “Across all of our work, we aim to help women build resilience by laughing together through the tough stuff, in an effort to open up conversations that might otherwise be difficult to start.”

Workday’s CMO on why humour is a ‘real differentiator’ in B2BPerhaps one of the most helpful learnings that what I’m calling ‘Purpose 2.0’ gives us is that deploying humour in your marketing doesn’t need to detract from your commitments.

“While a brand should take its actions seriously, the way it communicates doesn’t need to be serious at all,” says Gary Raucher, European head of product, marketing, and merchandising at Asics, the sportswear brand recognised for its work to end the gender exercise gap and whose salty wit regularly shows up in their marketing.

It’s true that being funny (or funny peculiar) can require nerves of steel these days, when fear of being called out as misguided, culturally inappropriate or, yes, inauthentic is at an all-time high. And of course, there are industries like legal and finance that are traditionally more levity-averse due to the nature of their products or services. But, then again, look at Klarna and the surreal frivolity that peppers their ads. A classic example of a historical industry commitment to gravitas being flipped on its head – and working very well for the brand in question thank you very much.

No, I think (and I hope) it’s time more brands made a concerted effort to embrace quirkiness, humour and whimsy in their advertising. After all, we know that while ads that fail to elicit a positive emotional response don’t directly harm brands, they are less effective at increasing mental availability or triggering sales than those that do (and thus spend on a ‘neutral’ ad will be less efficient).

So for marketers interested in upping their playfulness game but worrying about losing sight of themselves (or getting stuck in the ‘what ifs’), here are three principles to help you lean in – and stay the course:

• Be unpredictably consistent: If you’re going to show up as kooky, then make sure you do so following the exact same principles, refreshed creatively over time.
• Be unmistakably you: Don’t flinch. Create distinctive assets and apply them without exception.
• Be unapologetically unique: Accept you will never please everyone. Commit and lean in.

As an industry we must never forget that the ability to raise a smile – even a wry smile – is one of the most powerful creative weapons we have if we’re to create a strong emotional connection with consumers.

Here’s to a whole lot more work that ticks the box, and tickles our audiences.