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Is Humor back in corporate videos?
The Dollar Shave Club videos got me thinking….is corporate America ready for humor again in their videos?
Before 911 we had all kinds of spoof videos and humorous approaches to a concept. After 911 that dried up in favor of a more serious, direct and safe message to instill trust and confidence in the brand.
The recessions along the way in 2005, 2008 and 2010, then again in 2012 kept things pretty straight and narrow, for the most part, especially in the insurance and financial segments.
But recently, mostly in manufacturing, we are beginning to see a bit of loosening of the reigns on creative and more risky ideas with humor are making their way thru the ranks.
So, is it time to explore humor once again? Or a better way to say it, more conceptual and less docu-style messaging for corporate videos? What do you think?
Rich Rubasch
Tilt Media Inc.
Video Production, Post, Studio Sound Stage
Founder/President/Editor/Designer/Animator
https://www.tiltmedia.com -
4 Replies
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I didn’t think humor ever left. Delta Airlines has certainly been out front with humor for some time now with their safety videos.
In fact we just completed an on-site safety video for a manufacturing company that referenced Delta as what they’d like to incorporate. So that’s exactly what we did with a lot of on-camera gags, sound effects and subtle references to classic movies that keeps the viewer’s attention while covering all of the real safety needs of the company.
Walter Biscardi, Jr.
Editor, Colorist, Director, Writer, Consultant, Author, Chef.
HD Post and Production
Biscardi Creative MediaCraft and Career Advice & Training from real Working Creative Professionals
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I agree with Walter. It’s not so much that humor left as that it always needs to be appropriate to the message. And humor is the hardest thing to get right anyway, so, better to not attempt that unless you’re up to it creatively.
Humor works when it’s based in truth. Sometimes, truth is not what’s wanted in advertising.
Corporate clients are copycats; they like to skip the boring and expensive research and development phases and copy something that’s working for someone else, without doing the work to see *why* it worked in that case. They just assume that if it worked for xyz company,it must work for *any* company. And that’s when you get a lot of of really, really bad videos.
A video that works is crafted, like a bespoke suit, from a very tight understanding of the target market and how the message will be perceived. The chances of that suit looking flattering on someone else, without extensive alterations, are poor.
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The Delta ones are fun, but the below from Squatty Potty has to take the cake (I mean ice cream).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YbYWhdLO43Q
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Yes, but these are fairly recent. It has been a long time since 911. I have observed that larger corporate clients especially in the insurance and financial sectors were not ready for humor back in the scripts, even their large corporate theater shows. Heck even Harley was having fun before 911 with CEO spoofs and the rest, but after 911 until only recently, it has been all about numbers, sales and the hope for the future.
But lately I’m seeing a loosening of the reigns a bit and clients pointing to videos (like Walter’s example of a client referencing the Delta in air videos) hoping to add a little humor to the message.
Certainly works in Kickstarter videos.
But anyone else noticing this trend only recently?
Rich Rubasch
Tilt Media Inc.
Video Production, Post, Studio Sound Stage
Founder/President/Editor/Designer/Animator
https://www.tiltmedia.com
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