Page 174 - 100 Great Marketing Ideas (100 Great Ideas)

83 MAKE YOUR
CUSTOMERS LAUGH

Making people laugh has always been a good way of getting them
to like you. The same is equally true of companies—humor is often
used in advertising, especially for “fun” items such as toys or beer.

For some products, humor is less often used but can still be very
powerful. Jokes aimed at an educated, better-off audience can often
be subtle—and in particular can generate some positive word of
mouth as the jokes are passed on.

The idea

BMW manufactures upmarket cars for wealthier drivers. Normally,
car advertising is serious—it usually emphasizes the emotional
aspects of ownership (the style, the comfort, the feeling of power)
but sometimes discusses technical, practical aspects of ownership
such as fuel economy, emissions, maintenance scheduling, and
so forth.

Each year, on April 1st, BMW runs a spoof advertisement,
usually talking about some major new technical breakthrough in
the design of the cars. For example, one year the company advertised
that new European Union regulations banning right-hand-drive
cars from Continental Europe had caused BMW to invent a car with
no steering wheel, directed by the driver’s head movements. The
ad warned against turning around to talk to back-seat passengers,
and flagged up the dangers of looking at passers-by or interesting
views. Another year the company announced the invention of
a windshield coating that caused flies to bounce off, and in yet
another year they announced a car that would automatically give

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