Surprise Me Please and While You're at it Make Me Laugh!

This concept is nothing new as Aristotle, one of the great thinkers from the ancient world said "The secret to humor is surprise."

I think its human nature to like surprises, defined by freedictionary.com, surprise is, "to cause to feel wonder, astonishment, or amazement, as at something unanticipated." In advertising and marketing both off and on line, the element of surprise makes us take notice. Then add the extra zing of humor to the mix and you’ve got the beginning of a powerhouse of a campaign.

Just think of some of your favorite campaigns from the past. To totally age myself, one of my favs is "Where’s The Beef" from a Wendy's ad in 1984 (yikes, how time fly's). In the ad, a very senior Clara Peller receives a burger with a massive bun from a fictional competitor. The small patty prompts her to angrily exclaim, "Where's the beef?" This catch phrase was repeated everywhere and practically started the term viral marketing before the term ever existed. For those of you who weren’t even born in 1984 just think about the 2010 Super Bowl ad with Betty White selling Snickers, an ad that did go viral with over 2 million views on youtube. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X1Sv_z9jm8A).

But it doesn’t have to be just traditional advertising, I love the guerrilla marketing campaign that IKEA has been using. They went to the streets and literally covered benches, parking meters even bike seats with their fabric and added small signs which read" A little Fabric Makes a Big Difference" completely brilliant and unanticipated! (http://inventorspot.com/articles/ikea_element_surprise_7332).

Any great campaigns that made you feel wonder, please share.


–Ann Byne, Principal, The Byne Group