How to safely inject humor into PR

When I worked at a PR agency, it was serious business. By this I mean humor rarely seeped into the client’s work. This was not because the client couldn’t appreciate it. It just wasn’t done. You want to be funny, go work for an ad agency.

This was unfortunate because I saw so many client campaigns that could have benefited from a dose of humor. But all too often the humorous idea from the “class clown” ended up on the cutting room floor.

But that was then and this is now.

In today’s information overload, nothing cuts through the noise quite like humor. Everyday I, and many others, click on links to funny blogs, articles, videos sent via popular social networks like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. Funny stuff gets noticed and, more importantly, shared. Done right, humor can convey client messages in a way that is far more effective than just the plain facts.

Last week, I tapped into Twitter to collect some initial examples of how PR people are integrating humor into their work. What I discovered was that there are many creative PR professionals using humor and getting great results. That’s right, the “class clown” is finally getting some respect (apologies to Roger Dangerfield).

To get the conversation started, I asked whether humor was still owned by the ad agencies. Most disagreed.

Brian Cross (@vanceOpel), Managing Partner at Elasticity, the firm behind the well-known American Mustache Institute campaigns, wrote:

“Too many large agencies feel that their work is too important to bring humor to. However, we found that humor actually helps with earned media.  In fact, some of our biggest media successes have come as a result of humor. Creative firms and Ad agencies don’t understand earned media.  They can’t tell a story.  And a funny story is better than a funny picture.”

Scott Baradell (@Orchardo), President of Idea Grove, echoed this sentiment and wrote:

“Traditionally PR firms have been very serious — both in how they present themselves to journalists and to clients.  But that is changing. Now more and more of what PR firms do is aimed directly at the public — and the public is bored by serious. So if PR firms cede the entire realm of fun, humorous and/or emotion-based appeals to ad firms, they doom themselves to less relevance over time.”

Big risk, big reward

One common theme that surfaced was risk. Humor is very tricky. Just because you and your co-workers think you’re funny doesn’t necessarily mean it will resonate with the outside world where sensitive and influential groups can quickly turn a campaign on its head. We all remember what happened to Motrin’s ad campaign once it came to the attention of the influential mommy bloggers.

David Murdico (@DavidMurdico), Executive Creative Director of Supercool Creative an ad agency based in Los Angeles, wrote:

“One thing about humor, and the reason why a creative shop may be more qualified, is that so much of humor is subjective. Where comedy writers and ad creatives excel is in their ability to package what most people will find funny or better yet, what a targeted segment of people will find funny, together with a brand, product or service’s message. This can be a tough balancing act. Too much funny and the message is lost, too much message and the funny won’t spread. They also have a learned and often innate sense of “what will play on Broadway” as they are typically keen observers of what gets laughs and what doesn’t as well as of social and cultural trends.”

But for those willing to brave the risk, humor can propel your client or company to new heights. Elasticity’s campaign for the American Mustache Institute captured the “attention of hundreds of media for millions of media impressions,” said Cross. “And the latest voting of the Robert Goulet Mustached American of the Year award has gathered several hundred media hits in the last two weeks.”

How to safely inject humor into your PR program

While there’s no clear recipe for success, most agreed that PR people should at least consider these safety tips before using humor:

• Know your audience – You may know your target audience but you probably don’t know what they will find funny. Do some humor-specific research especially if you’re not sure how people will respond to your particular brand of humor. For example, look at what has worked or failed for similar companies. If you’re still drawing a blank, consider using less formal communication tools like blogs, Twitter and Facebook to test out some of your concepts.

• Have a Plan B - The web is riddled with “humor fail.” You must accept the possibility that your humor might bomb so plan accordingly. Ask yourself: What will we do and say if the prevailing opinion is negative?

• Know your company or client’s funny bone – This is critical. Make sure you know the scope and limits of your company or client’s humor. Start with asking them what movies or comedians they find funny and go from there.

• Know thyself – If you are funny, chances are you know you are. But when you’re spending other people’s money, it wouldn’t hurt to get some third-party validation from your co-workers and/or people outside the company. If you carry the “class clown” title, that’s probably a good sign.

• Tailor the delivery - Decide the best format(s) for delivering your humor. This could be a press release, phone and email pitch, tweet, video, Facebook fan page or all of the above. Tailor the humor in way that makes sense for the recipient. And whatever you do, do not attempt to deliver humor in a format you’re not familiar with. Kevin Dugan (@prblog), co-founder of the Bad Pitch Blog and Director of Marketing, at Empower MediaMarketing, advises: “Funny over the phone is probably easier than funny in email. Email has no context and relies on audience interpretation.”

• Choose your timing wisely – Keep an eye out for the latest trends or hot topics in your particular industry and then try to build your humor campaign around it. But be wary of going too far. As Jeremy Toeman (@jtoeman) a Partner at  Stage Two Consulting, advises: “Don’t use humor when it’s a situation that needs a “grown up” response. That said, don’t be afraid to use humor even in a “serious” situation.”

In conclusion, PR  should not overlook humor as an effective communications strategy. Just because the content isn’t serious doesn’t mean that it can’t achieve serious business results. Over the next few weeks, I’ll be looking into some specific case studies. If you have a good one, be sure to let me know.

Acknowledgments:

There were a number of people who contributed their thoughts to this post. For that I am grateful. Alas, I wasn’t skilled enough to work all their excellent thoughts into this first post, so I’ve decided to include them below:

Matthew Berman (@FireflyVodka): “The underlying goal of PR is to make the public think favorably about the company and its offerings. Showing a sense of humor and not taking yourself too seriously goes a long way in building good will. Additionally, PR is usually a two-way conversation. It’s about building relationships.”

Kevin Dugan (@prblog): “The real issue is how well you know your audience and yourself. Not everyone can pull off funny. And even if they do, if it doesn’t resonate with an audience, it doesn’t really matter. So I think there is, per usual, a need for knowing your audience and having a comfort level with making the funny. And by comfort level I mean that you accept that the humor might bomb. I can usually make three jokes and at least one will stick. But that means I have two moments of groans or, even worse, silence. Do I want those odds when pitching an idea? Not so much.”

Jason Falls (@jasonfalls): “The biggest consideration is whether or not your audience is ready for it. If/when you dive into humor, your audience will have a variety of reactions. I’ve joked in blog posts before and gotten hammered in the comments because my main mechanism of communication is normally serious/business related. The humor has to be pervasive, the campaign or over-arching strategy one that is light and festive to butter the audience up and put them in a laughable zone. If you smack them in the face with even the best joke and they’re not expecting it, they’ll turn on you.”

Nick Lawhead (@DesautelHege): “I think that humor can go both ways – it can really support PR efforts or it can detract and become a distraction.  Like many things, it requires professionalism and common sense to find the balance between the two.  I think humor is appropriate in public relations if it is reflective of the client or project that we are working with.”

Megan Licursi (@meganlicursi): “PR agencies can’t necessarily be treated different than creative agencies (assuming you mean advertising versus PR) because we’re two slices in the same pie.  The messages that are put in front of the public have to complement one another regardless of what medium–or department–it comes from.”

Jeremy Pepper (@jspepper): “Humor is an ice breaking technique. It is used to defuse tense situations (pretty much all of PR) and to get a point across. If the PR person has a sense of humor, and can work it in seamlessly where it is not forced, humor could and should be used.”

Ike Pigott (@ikepigott): “Public relations is about the relations, and that means there is some meaning to the receiver beyond “audience.” Far be it for me to assume that everyone I know must be talked with in the same manner, with the same vernacular, with the same tone, with the same introduction, with the same anecdote… If humor works for the people you are pitching, then by all means use it.

Peter Shankman (@skydiver): “We have to throw humor into what we do. It’s required. The majority of agencies understand that, and use it sparingly, when it matters. Humor for agencies, is not unlike salt. Too much makes it unusable.”

Bill Sledzik (@billsledzik): “Humor fits so very well in the marketing context. But in the other niches of PR — reputation management, employee communication, public affairs, etc., the clients tend to take themselves far more seriously. And we shouldn’t be surprised at that. As a result, we don’t always get a chance to even present humorous approaches. And when we do, it takes a special breed of CEO to embrace it.”

Jeremy Toeman (@jtoeman): “I candidly think the lines between agency & PR are blurring due to the impact of social media, and as a result a great “PR firm” needs to be able to think as creatively as a creative agency does.  Now, selfishly, this is exactly where my firm sits, so one might consider me biased in that statement.  But I think it’s become obvious that the “old ways of PR” are failing, and as PR firms attempt to reinvent themselves, this seems like an obvious place for it.  In the era where “anyone” is a journalist, we can inherently assume that humor is an essential part of a “pitch”, since most people enjoy a little funny in their days.”

Kate Wilkinson (@wilkinsonjk): “How we communicate obviously differs depending on the audience and brand. Would I use humor when I pitch DeVry University, probably not as it wouldn’t be appropriate. But when I’m talking about my beauty clients or, in the case of the Maxim pitch, a plunger with CO2 cartridges you can bet a little humor is certainly called for.”