Let’s face it – it’s hard for brands to stand out in the field of marketing.
Amidst the global talent and social channels filled with advertisements and content, it can be tricky for a business or brand to capture consumers’ attention. Yet, it is the very thing a brand hopes to achieve with millions of dollars spent brainstorming strategies to achieve a relevant and genuine perception.
How far does a simple, good sense of humor get you with the level of expertise, money, and talent allocated in these departments?
Over the past couple of weeks, it has been fun to watch a harmless, joking TikToks unfold into gaining millions of people’s attention, including being captured and utilized by multi-million dollar corporations.
It all started with the user “@emilyzugay” remaking recognizable company logos such as Apple and Tinder and changing them into rudimentary designs as a joke, as you can see below in the graphic.
To much of Emily’s surprise and many others that came across these company’s TikTok pages, the companies decided to replace their logo with her’s temporarily.
I find this to be a fun concept that captures the audiences’ attention on TikTok, who, like me, organically came across her video and then, days later, saw the update that companies were seeing the videos and making changes to their profile. Just as Emily gained millions of new followers, the brands that partook in changing their logos are seen as fun and hip: something a brand wants to be on a platform filled with the Gen-Z audience. A win-win for both parties involved.
What do you think? A little bit of humor that could potentially confuse those who didn’t see the video, I think, is worth the risk involved by gaining more brand loyalty and building up their fan base.
Concerning this topic, a couple of weeks earlier, I saw a post on LinkedIn about a graphic designer applying for jobs with her “portfolio,” including the infamous 90s WordArt and purposefully a nightmare of a design as you can see below in the graphic…and it not only got her noticed but also hired!
Hiring manager, Kady O Connell, states that “when we advertised for a design role recently, this was the cover page of one of the portfolios that landed across my desk and as I was about to hit delete, something caught my eye, and I scrolled down.. to find pages of epic work. Amazing design skills AND a sense of humor?! I hired her immediately. We laugh about it still, and she says, “It was risky, but I wanted to get your attention.”
With the multitude of competition in success today, the little bit of humor utilized in these situations proves that it may be enough to cut through as a refreshing and genuine stance to act on.
Of course, brands and companies playing into humor have had their fair share of lousy PR. As long as it is tasteful and not too harmful, I think we will continue seeing a more organic and playful trend. It also gives way to consumers having more power and feeling as though they influence because, after all, we as consumers have the buying power.
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