😅5 humorous video ads that could be 10% better (& how to do it)

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It’s Friday and I’m about to head out for a vicious hour of pickleball (more dangerous than you think).

First, we gotta get into today’s Main Thing→ 5 video ads that have some humor but could be improved with tiny effort.

After that comes This Week’s Marketing Wrap-Up. We begin with the appetizer below…

Appetizer: How to paint a more memorable picture inside your audience’s mind.

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The Main Thing

5 Ads that Could be 10% Funnier (& how I’d fix them)

Nothing worse than an ad or TV commercial that tries to be funny but falls on its face.

Actually, falling on its face would be better. That would at least secure a chuckle.

The following ads are not bad. They’re decent examples of brands attempting to use humor to make their ad memorable, noticeable, connect with viewers, or become more likable to consumers.

I’ll note how each could be funnier. Doesn’t take much brainpower to do so. I’m perfect for the job 😉.

#1 T-Mobile (Jeff Bridges as The Dude in Zoe Saldana’s house)

I’ll watch any ad featuring the Lioness star. The ad gives a nod to The Big Lebowski but doesn’t go all in.

Maybe they couldn’t due to copyright. But I woulda had Bridges dress sloppier, at least. The Dude would’ve never looked so fresh first thing in the morning. 

The ‘suits’ at Apple probably didn’t want an unkept-looking man next to their pretty little addiction device. 

#2 Liberty Mutual (emu streaking through football game)

The human in these ads has a “Better Call Saul” vibe to him. The emu is goofy and lovable. I like the idea of a streaker getting tackled by security. The set-up is slick, showing why the emu goes on the field (Eagle mascot has him riled up). 

A slight improvement would’ve been having the security person be a woman and having Doug the Liberty Mutual man’s glasses come flying off. The tackle could’ve been nastier too. Think Bill Goldberg’s spear move or any Ronnie Lott hit.

#3 Gorilla Glue (broken baseball bat)

This commercial does its job. Sets up the glue as the “hero.” The gorilla should have been the batter, though. Slightly funnier to let him break the bat over his head or knee like past MLB players have done. 

That way, they could’ve also saved money on paying the former baseball player to be in the ad and still had a funny, relatable commercial.

#4 Dr Pepper (Fansville with “casual fan”)

Even a bitter curmudgeon like me has to admit I like most Dr Pepper Fansville ads. 

This one is great. A couple of tweaks would make it funnier.

The big-wig, wealthy booster was actually too outlandish. I would have gone with a bourbon-sipping Texan in a luxury booth next to Jerry Jones (or a JJ lookalike). 

And the kids in the ad are great, but tweaking their line about “a receiver to throw to” would be more concrete with extra humor using the line… “You want us to have a 4-foot-nothing receiver like Julian Edelman instead of a 6-5 phenom like Randy Moss?”

#5 Geico (no talking, mad with power librarian)

Hard to find an improvement here. The lil lizard character is likable. He also has staying power (25 years). And the ad isn’t corny like most TV spots.

But to add to the librarian being a hypocrite about quiet time, some rowdy kids could be shown on the other side of the library getting away with being loud.

Oh, and I’m not sure if the whispering is designed to make viewers pay closer attention, but if so, this commercial gets bonus points. 

Onward now to This Week’s Marketing Wrap-Up…

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Shane McLendon - Copy Kingpin

"I don't think people need an AI strategy. They need to have a strategy and understand how AI can inform or enhance that." ~Todd Kaplan, CMO at Kraft Heinz