If you still need a compelling reason to explore humor in PR, this post is for you. This week, a company called SonicMule decided to do add humor to a new hire announcement and it resulted in a major PR victory.
For those of us who work in PR, writing and pitching the new hire press release is akin to selling encyclopedias door to door. It’s an exercise in futility as few journalists, if any, are ever interested. But, as SonicMule proved, it doesn’t always have to go that way.
By injecting a little humor into their new hire announcement, an editor at the Wall Street Journal’s Venture Capital Dispatch blog took notice and not only covered the news but thanked them publicly for it. Let me repeat that: THE EDITOR THANKED THEM! Here’s the actual headline: “Thank You, SonicMule, For Having Fun With A Press Release.”
Perhaps more interesting is that SonicMule didn’t have to go overboard with the humor to score that killer headline.
For example, instead of issuing a typical quote like: “we are delighted to have [insert name] join our company,” SonicMule CEO Jeff Smith opted to poke fun at the new hire. And that’s all that was needed. As the editor himself pointed out: “The genius here is that they didn’t go over the top with it.”
Here are a couple of good points to remember when using humor in your PR efforts:
1. You don’t have to be Jon Stewart to get results with humor.
2. When using humor in PR be careful not to take it too far as it may cast doubt on the veracity of the news (or overshadow it completely). PR firm Elasticity experienced this first hand when their unorthodox but hilarious new hire announcement caused major confusion over at BusinessWire and PRNewswire.
3. Journalists are desperate for press releases or pitches that exhibit some originality.
In the comments section of the WSJ article, one reader warned that thousands of PR people will now try to emulate SonicMule’s approach when pitching WSJ journalists: “…what was once novel will become as hackneyed as the precursor versions of press releases…”
But the reply from the editor was pure gold: “…but at least the releases will be more creative and entertaining to read.”
I couldn’t agree more.
{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
I’LL CONFUSE YOU FOWLER!!!!!!!
i don’t find anything humorous about a CFO who can’t sing, or a VP of Engineering who has not progressed beyond twinkle, twinkle on the piano, or a CEO who can’t spell (juilliard for God’s sake!). it’s sad really. singing and dancing are fundamental to human expression. just ask any three-year-old child who has not yet been corrupted by our society. strangely, kids want to sing and dance all of the time, until they ‘grow up’. why does our society demand conformance? why the complete repression of any artistic freedom or self-expression? just look at what guys are wearing these days — it’s either blue, grey, or black, maybe a flare of stripes or checkers, or the ultimate in self-expression — brown shoes! fifty years ago at least they had all of those cool hats. not any more. do you think da Vinci would be ever be caught dead in one of those drab blue suits? if not for folk like t-pain, where would we be?
This! Smart, simple example of using humor and originality in media relations. That’s all it takes: a little effort and creativity, to make your pitch get noticed (provided it’s targeted to the right writer of course). Thanks for sharing.
Andrew,
The only reason humor should frighten anyone is that it encourages some unfunny people to try it. Most will go over the top.
SonicMule did a great job with it, especially because it was unexpected. If everyone did it, we’d be knee deep in unfunny.
Your points are perfect though, especially the third point. Be original, which is another way of finding the real news. It’s almost never what we think it is.
Darn. Now all I can think about is how long it has been since I’ve had an assignment that called for humor beyond the occasional 140 characters on Twitter.
Best,
Rich
Absolutely right. It’s not about the kneeslap – it’s about making your audience smile and take note. The kneeslap is great if you can get it, but the bar doesn’t have to be so high. When the perceived bar is too high, who wants to take that “risk?” The point is to have a little fun and make your reader take notice because it’s the element of surprise. That’s how the little things can make a big difference and make you stand out.
People fear humor because they don’t know how to use it and because they do not define it correctly. Humor isn’t comedy per se – it can be a light-hearted and light-handed sense of fun. Now defined that way, it’s easier to see its benefits, and diffuse some of the “risk.” Folks need to stop freaking out about the funny and concentrate on the unexpected sense of “fun.” After all, you can’t get to “funny” without having “fun” first! Get it?;-)