By Bizna Brand Analyst
Every year as Kenya’s advertising industry becomes more and more sophisticated, we still witness some classic examples of “badvertising” While such marketing howlers are usually reserved for medium-sized or local businesses with moderate budgets and limited creative counsel, major-spending advertisers sometimes do the unthinkable and try to promote their products and services with hogwash campaigns..
Take KCB’s ‘Ule Msee’ campaign for example. We were teased and put into the ‘patience corner’ for a long time and then served with a tasteless ad. The bank has hired a comedian called ‘Jemo Ule Msee’ to talk about the KCB app alongside other things that wouldn’t even appeal to people with money. The kind of people that have fat bank accounts to keep banks running have no interest in seeing a comedian rambling in sheng. They simply cannot take such adverts seriously.
We might lie to each as much as we want but it’s the people with spending power that matter most to any business or financial institution. Young people that love sheng like me have bank accounts that stay empty most of the time. Why would you place too much focus on us and alienate people who matter? Most guys my age don’t even watch ads.
The balance between funny and obnoxious can often be delicate, and a marketer must be certain the positive effects outweigh the negative before an advertisement can be introduced. By the time an ad from a corporate is released to the public, it has been studied and picked at by countless people at an ad agency and the company’s internal marketing team. So it’s baffling how often major companies trying to be hip or funny put out an ad or sell a product only to find out it is offensive or boring to countless prospective customers
We could also take a look at KRA’s recent marketing misfire. The fact that they hired Papa Shirandula to encourage people to file tax returns is crazy. How can papa Shirandula convince me to file tax returns? I wouldn’t see the issue as that serious whereas tax is a sensitive issue that should be handled with utmost focus.
Business experts will tell you that the best products to sell using humor tend to be those that consumers have to think the least about. Products that are relatively inexpensive, and often consumable, can be represented without providing a lot of facts, and that’s where there’s room for humor. Whereas the best services to sell using comedy are entertainment services. You can sell Satellite TV for example, using comedy but you can’t sell banking using comedy.
Another point to consider when using humor in advertising is that different things are funny to different people. A commercial that may leave one person gripping their sides from kicheko may leave a bad taste in another’s mouth. The target market must always be considered. What’s funny in a client presentation may not be funny on an office or hospital
Humor in advertising tends to improve brand recognition, but does not necessarily improve product recall, message credibility, or buying intentions. In other words, consumers may be familiar with and have good feelings towards the service or product, but their purchasing decisions will generally not be affected
Corporates should stop overdoing the humor. You can entertain millions of people but not sell one of them. Two of the most influential books in the world have no humor in them. That’s the bible and the Koran. Pitch ideologies and necessities to customers, not laughter