The one who profits laughs: how brands mocked themselves
The one who laughs last laughs the hardest. This is the idea that marketers adopt when they use humor in their campaigns. The history of advertising knows many cases when a successful joke saved a business from bankruptcy or raised it to a level above its competitors. Let’s look at four cases where it really worked… and was really funny.
Liquid Death made water harder
This story begins with punk rock. Or rather, with a concert that Mike Cessario, the brand’s founder, once attended. He noticed that even young people who didn’t drink alcohol still relaxed with cans of Monster or Red Bull. They had an identity. That’s what Cessario realized. And that inspired his own marketing plan.
Energy drinks had a face. But drinking water, which was always sold in clear plastic and relied on the “purity of artesian aquifers,” did not. So first of all, Cessario replaced the plastic that glistened pretty on supermarket shelves with tin cans with a skull on fire. The slogan promised to “murder your thirst.” But it was still plain water.
The contrast between positioning and offer was so strong that the brand instantly attracted the attention of underground circles. And the most unexpected thing was that orders appeared before the product itself.
The satire was so successful that within the first few months (even before it appeared in supermarkets), Liquid Death sold over 100,000 water packages through its website. The brand then began releasing music albums using angry comments as lyrics, advertising at the Super Bowl to Judas Priest’s “Breaking the Law,” etc.
Some still consider the Liquid Death case the best marketing campaign globally.
Surprise, it’s IKEA
Everyone knows IKEA. The middle class buys their furniture everywhere, but the arrogant consumer needs more. He wants to be given not only furniture, but luxury and prestige. And then Eureka Spiritsis appears.
Just imagine, in a dramatically darkened room, to the sounds of a cello, a decently dressed man tells you about premium furniture. However, something is wrong here. There is a certain caricature in all this. And there… Oops! The Eureka Spiritsis logo turns out to be an anagram that translates to “Surprise, it’s IKEA.”
The brand successfully ridicules its weaknesses and the ignorance of some buyers willing to pay more for a product of the same quality. At the same time, this advertisement’s creators achieved the goal: they associated IKEA with prestige.
Talking about IKEA, it’s also worth mentioning their amazing advertising integration into the work of the comedy band Nanowar of Steel, “Valhalleluja”. This one is a crazy mix of IKEA catalogue, heavy metal, Scandinavian mythology, and a Christmas song. And it’s better to see it than to read about it.
Paddy Power knows they screwed up
Paddy Power is a betting company that has come under severe criticism from the Gambling Commission. The charges were that the operator encouraged the problem gambler to continue gambling in every possible way, which led to the man losing five jobs and his house, and being banned from seeing his children.
However, Paddy Power was able to turn this scandal to its advantage. They made several satirical videos with the famous comedian Kayvan Novak. In these sketches, where Novak plays the head of the complaints department, they ridiculed both their dubious reputation and the absurdity of their customers’ behavior.
As a result, the company overcame the negativity directed at it, and even overtook both UKGC-licensed competitors and large non GamStop casino sites. This is a classic example of reverse PR, where a company doesn’t defend itself, but instead makes fun of its mistake. And it was hilarious.
From #PrimeDayFail to #DogsOfAmazon
Here’s another story with a happy ending. In 2018, on Prime Day, Amazon’s website couldn’t handle the crazy load and crashed. Instead of product catalogs, shoppers saw images of dogs with an error message.
Since Prime Day is an event on a scale comparable to Black Friday, it has caused not only a wave of hate on networks but also significant losses. In particular, brands that spent considerable amounts on advertising during Prime Day were also affected.
Amazon not only managed to make a joke, but also turned this failure to their advantage. Gradually introducing the same dogs into their communication with customers, they created a new meme. And the tone on social media quickly softened from #PrimeDayFail to #DogsOfAmazon. Nowadays, you can even buy merch featuring these doggies.
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