Consumer product brands are experimenting with absurd humor to stand out from the crowd and craft marketing campaigns that leave a lasting (or, at least, bewildered) impression. So far, it seems to be working.
The Big Picture: Crafting marketing that doesn’t offend consumers has become a tightrope, especially after a decade of message-driven, serious campaigns. By leaning into humor — specifically, the hyperactive absurdism popular with Gen Z and Gen Alpha — creativity is becoming more important than calls to action.
Behind The Joke: The state of digital marketing has become the Battle of the Bonkers, per Fast Company.
Nutter Butter has taken to TikTok to craft something between millennials’ Annoying Orange and Gen Alpha’s Skibidi Toilet to create a weird, interconnected universe of bizarre characters and in-jokes.
Duolingo has turned its own mascot into a passive-aggressive character who prods people to take their lessons or comment on their memes, shows up at Charli XCX concerts, and even appears in a Super Bowl ad, twerking.
Pop-Tarts debuted an edible mascot at its college bowl game last season, which was, yes, eaten by the game-winning players. The edible mascot is now a Halloween costume.
Liquid Death chose to market the water as something hardcore for hardcore people, including tapping celebrities like Ozzy Osbourne and Travis Barker as ambassadors.
The Punchline: Absurd marketing works. Nutter Butter’s videos have bagged millions of views. Duolingo saw its revenue growth soar 45% at the beginning of the year. Kellanova’s Pop-Tarts sales, well, popped 3% immediately after that fateful football game. And Liquid Death has a $1.4 billion valuation… for, and we can’t stress this enough, water. The overriding theme here is that even though no one likes to be sold to, everyone likes to have a bit of silly fun. Prepare for marketing to get way, way more ridiculous over the coming year… especially from the brands you least expect.
Go Weirder: Today’s crop of CMOs didn’t break ground with funny. Check out the “oddvertising” of just 20 years ago for a little history lesson.
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