The case for humour

By Anam Hakeem

Recently, two big brands have taken the initiative to introduce a lighter side in their efforts to engage with their audiences.

In March, Sprite launched a campaign called the ‘University of Freshology’ (UoF) aimed at inspiring and teaching young people how to think in an out of the box way. The campaign is based on the insight that there is a strong common thread in the myriad, everyday problems the young face. These problems, dubbed as maslas, cut across age, SECs and cultural boundaries. The campaign was organised in three phases. In the first phase, the Sprite team spoke to young people across Pakistan about their concerns.

Bassam Qureshi, Assistant Brand Manager, Sprite says “We managed to put together a list of 100,000 concerns. It was most informative in terms of the way people think about their issues.”

In the second phase, TVCs highlighting the most common concerns were aired accompanied by humorous solutions. In phase three, Sprite took the social media route and spread the message via viral videos. 

Then in May, Lipton, as part of its ‘A Sip of Inspiration’ campaign, launched a TV show called Lipton Light On Hai (LLOH).

Ammar Anwar, Account Manager, Blitz DDB (Lipton’s creative agency) says that LLOH is an improv stand-up comedy show, inspired by the international show, ‘Whose Line Is It Anyway?’.

Lipton defines its primary target consumer as 18-32 year-old men and women. LLOH is based on the insight that tafreeh lagana (having a good time) is important to young people and the coolest in the group is always the person who is most fun to hang out with.

Looking at a wider audience, Arun Parwani, Head of Strategy, ESP (the agency that worked on LLOH) also believes that “comedy is a universal format” and anyone who appreciates humour will be amused by the show. He adds that “improv comedy is spur-of-the-moment. It’s not scripted, or rehearsed, and tied with Lipton’s proposition ‘sip of inspiration’, it gelled in very well.”

One of the great advertising pioneers, Claude Hopkins once said “People don’t buy from clowns.” However, keeping in mind changing media consumption habits and increasing media clutter, especially on TV, a bit of clowning around seamlessly woven in the brand’s USP, certainly does no harm.

Both UoF and LLOH are using comedy not as a deliberate strategy, rather as a part of the process where the brand idea is fused into a creative execution.

As Anwar points out, “LLOH is one of the many executions we have adopted as part of our ‘A Sip of Inspiration’ campaign. The common thread running through these activities is inspiration not comedy.”

He points out that LLOH is “the embodiment of Lipton’s brand attributes, including youthfulness, wit and sharp minds,” and that the idea is an emotive extension of the previous, more functional ‘Theanine Clears Your Mind’ campaign.

For Sprite, UoF marks a change in terms of its advertising approach, with humour introduced for the first time as a means to encourage young people to take a fresh perspective on their everyday problems; as Qureshi puts it, “Fresh thinking is rooted in humour. Comedians always look at situations from a fresh perspective.”

Anwar adds that “although humour may have a short-lived appeal, if you can choose the outlets to take the appeal to, how to make it interactive and accessible to the audience, you will definitely get results.”

Humour within the 30-second spot advertising context may help garner greater recall; however brands are going for more than mere recall; humour is being looked at as something which young people like to share, it is free publicity, it is viral and both companies have taken care to ensure they have a digital presence as well. For example, every episode of LLOH is updated on the Facebook page and Lipton’s fan page.

“Humour has what we call ‘share-value’.” says Anwar.

Sprite UoF is no different, and according to Qureshi, “The three viral videos had an impact on the internet; we had 60,000 plus hits, 100,000 text messages and so far we have 17,000 Facebook members.”

It is interesting to note that the message contained in both the campaigns seem to converge – i.e. the brand invigorating the mind. The similarities may perhaps be attributed to the fact that both brands fall under the beverage category.


Another key takeout from both campaigns is that marketing to young people doesn’t have to be a very expensive proposition. There are plenty of cost effective ways to get a message across, and if the message resonates, the rest of the work will be done by the target audience.

Anam Hakeem is Creative Executive, Manhattan Leo Burnett. anam_hakeem@khi.leoburnett.com.pk

First published in the September-October 2011 issue of Aurora.