An eBook with insights from the experts on how to properly usehumor for brands

Winning with Wit Branded Entertainment and the Age of Viral Humor

How to Win with Wit in the Age

of Viral Humor

Our Experts in Viral Humor

3

4 4

6

9

11 10

12

7

5

How Branded Humor Works

8

Stephanie Agresta MSLGROUP

Damon Berger Whatrsquos Trending

Brian Janosch Cultivated Wit

Quinn Kilbury Newcastle Brown Ale

Jonah Minton Fullscreen

Jaco Peeringa VIMN North Europe

President Obama Musters the Courage to Create a Comedic Connection

WestJet Creates an Emotional Brand Experience that Makes You Laugh

Kids Provide a Funny Prism into an Alternate Reality

Comedy Central Offers A Second Screen for Comic Engagement

Table of Contents

13 Whats Trending Delivers an OnlineComedy Festival for Charity

DiGiornoPizza Newsjacks 14The Sound of Music

Power of Laughter from

Comedy Central

15

in the Age of Viral Humor How to Win with Wit

Come Prepared to Play

Find a Breakthrough Strategic Approach for Humor

Understand The Potential

Strong emotional

connection with

the target

Powerful tie to pop culture

Seen as a trend-setter and a conversation leader

Admired for

courage

Courage and confidence A brand must be willing to face the risk involved in order to take advantage of the great opportunity

Strong brand ldquosense of selfrdquo When a brand has a clear understanding what it is all about it is able to properly align its voice to the right notes of humor

Acute understanding of the target Since humor varies by audience segment the brand must possess a deep understanding of the targets sense of funny

Clear ethical guideposts Strong ethical guidelines are what keeps the brand on the rails

Talent with the skill to make clear smart real-time decisions Humor lives in the moment and funny reactions to events require those whose judgment is quick and trusted

Access to professional funny people Nothing is worse than a lame joke Humor must be professionally executed

Real-time content creation capability In todays fast-paced social world real-time content is what carries the joke

Ability to pick up the pieces when things go wrong What happens when things go wrong There needs to be some contingency planning Does the brand have the fortitude to resolve discontent and move on

FPac e- t o - f ac e wit h

o pul ar Co mic s

-

of Social Media Weber Shandwick She served as EVP Digital Strategy and Social Media for Porter Novelli before that

Our Experts in Viral Humor

Stephanie Agresta is MSLGROUPs Global Director of Social Media and Digital and has been recognized as both a thought leader and hands on counselor in social and digital media for 15 years In the course of her career Agresta has been instrumental in developing digital and social media initiatives for major brands such as Samsung Unilever PepsiCo Microsoft HP and PampG Prior to joining MSLGROUP Stephanie was the EVP Managing Director

Stephanie thinkShellip If you can make people laugh you can get them to engage and buy Viral humor requires a deep knowledge of the target a smart understanding of how they are plugged into pop culture and their sense of humor along with a feel for real-time cadence and a good dose of courage The reward is a powerful emotional connection with the audience

A key metric to measuring success in online video is to look at video shares How successful your brand is in incentivizing the audience to share videos with their own social network is the metric by which you were able to naturally create brand advocacymdashtrue earned social media Comedy content is among the easiest way to do this Comedy engages emotions quickly in an attention-starved online economy and crosses language barriers But of course first it has to be good Good branded comedy content has to have an authentic and unique voice where the brand is part of the story not the sole focal point And the content cannot lsquopull punchesrsquo which can be difficult for some brand marketing organizations to navigate

4 | Winning with Wit |

Stephanie Agresta Global Director of Social Media and Digital MSLGROUP

Damon Berger is the CEO of Whats Trending a primetime Emmy-nominated daily live center of the online video universe bringing audiences the hottest videos and personalities every day With major brand partners that include Samsung Radio Shack Virgin Mobile ATampT and distribution via YouTube Virgin America USA Today and many others Whats Trending is an exploding new media brand

Damon Berger CEO Whats Trending

Damon sayShellip

Brian points outhellip The potential for executing comedy extends far beyond a funny slogan goofy character or well-timed tweet Technology has exploded the number of touch points between message senders and receivers Comedy is not relegated to catchphrases or billboard copy it can rear its head in email newsletters website footers error pages YouTube annotations Facebook comments fake Yelp pages and the list goes on Hell comedy today can be executed using the computer code itself not just the copy and design The deeper you dig into any humor-based idea the more appreciation you can garner from anybody who discovers it

Brian Janosch is Creative Director and resident Midwesterner at Cultivated Wit a creative agency that combines comedy technology design and whiskey He has held several titles in media and comedy including writing editing project managing product developing and web strategizing Janosch is presently a writer at large for The Onion where he previously worked for five years as deputy managing editor

Quinn explains his in-your-face stylehellip According to Ad Weeks Andrew McMains under Quinn Kilburys leadership Newcastle Brown Ale has adopted an ldquoin-your-face no-apologies marketing approachrdquo including a spoof Super Bowl commercial that never aired with Anna Kendrick ldquoKendricks spoofmdashpart of a two-week all-digital marketing push around the Super Bowl dubbed ldquoIf We Made Itrdquomdashappeared five days before the game and obtained 52 million viewsrdquo

ldquoWere not competing with Anheuser-Buschmdashwere competing with Justin Bieber and cute kittensrdquo Kilbury told AdWeek He explained that he believes effective marketing takes more than just being funny ldquoIt has got to be interesting and compelling like you have to click on this versus clicking on the cute kittenrdquo he said Read the AdWeek story on Kilbury here

Brian Janosch

Creative Director Cultivated Wit

Quinn Kilbury is the Brand Director on Newcastle Brown Ale at Heineken USA Kilbury feels fortunate to be able to turn his love of beer into a profession having segued over to Heineken in August 2013 from PepsiCo where he had spent three years most recently as Senior Brand Manager Prior to that Kilbury held leadership roles at General Mills He spent his early career days working on the agency side

Quinn Kilbury

Brand Director Newcastle Brown Ale

| Winning with Wit | 5

in the Age of Viral Humor How to Win with Wit

Come Prepared to Play

Find a Breakthrough Strategic Approach for Humor

Understand The Potential

Strong emotional

connection with

the target

Powerful tie to pop culture

Seen as a trend-setter and a conversation leader

Admired for

courage

Courage and confidence A brand must be willing to face the risk involved in order to take advantage of the great opportunity

Strong brand ldquosense of selfrdquo When a brand has a clear understanding what it is all about it is able to properly align its voice to the right notes of humor

Acute understanding of the target Since humor varies by audience segment the brand must possess a deep understanding of the targets sense of funny

Clear ethical guideposts Strong ethical guidelines are what keeps the brand on the rails

Talent with the skill to make clear smart real-time decisions Humor lives in the moment and funny reactions to events require those whose judgment is quick and trusted

Access to professional funny people Nothing is worse than a lame joke Humor must be professionally executed

Real-time content creation capability In todays fast-paced social world real-time content is what carries the joke

Ability to pick up the pieces when things go wrong What happens when things go wrong There needs to be some contingency planning Does the brand have the fortitude to resolve discontent and move on

FPac e- t o - f ac e wit h

o pul ar Co mic s

-

of Social Media Weber Shandwick She served as EVP Digital Strategy and Social Media for Porter Novelli before that

Our Experts in Viral Humor

Stephanie Agresta is MSLGROUPs Global Director of Social Media and Digital and has been recognized as both a thought leader and hands on counselor in social and digital media for 15 years In the course of her career Agresta has been instrumental in developing digital and social media initiatives for major brands such as Samsung Unilever PepsiCo Microsoft HP and PampG Prior to joining MSLGROUP Stephanie was the EVP Managing Director

Stephanie thinkShellip If you can make people laugh you can get them to engage and buy Viral humor requires a deep knowledge of the target a smart understanding of how they are plugged into pop culture and their sense of humor along with a feel for real-time cadence and a good dose of courage The reward is a powerful emotional connection with the audience

A key metric to measuring success in online video is to look at video shares How successful your brand is in incentivizing the audience to share videos with their own social network is the metric by which you were able to naturally create brand advocacymdashtrue earned social media Comedy content is among the easiest way to do this Comedy engages emotions quickly in an attention-starved online economy and crosses language barriers But of course first it has to be good Good branded comedy content has to have an authentic and unique voice where the brand is part of the story not the sole focal point And the content cannot lsquopull punchesrsquo which can be difficult for some brand marketing organizations to navigate

4 | Winning with Wit |

Stephanie Agresta Global Director of Social Media and Digital MSLGROUP

Damon Berger is the CEO of Whats Trending a primetime Emmy-nominated daily live center of the online video universe bringing audiences the hottest videos and personalities every day With major brand partners that include Samsung Radio Shack Virgin Mobile ATampT and distribution via YouTube Virgin America USA Today and many others Whats Trending is an exploding new media brand

Damon Berger CEO Whats Trending

Damon sayShellip

Brian points outhellip The potential for executing comedy extends far beyond a funny slogan goofy character or well-timed tweet Technology has exploded the number of touch points between message senders and receivers Comedy is not relegated to catchphrases or billboard copy it can rear its head in email newsletters website footers error pages YouTube annotations Facebook comments fake Yelp pages and the list goes on Hell comedy today can be executed using the computer code itself not just the copy and design The deeper you dig into any humor-based idea the more appreciation you can garner from anybody who discovers it

Brian Janosch is Creative Director and resident Midwesterner at Cultivated Wit a creative agency that combines comedy technology design and whiskey He has held several titles in media and comedy including writing editing project managing product developing and web strategizing Janosch is presently a writer at large for The Onion where he previously worked for five years as deputy managing editor

Quinn explains his in-your-face stylehellip According to Ad Weeks Andrew McMains under Quinn Kilburys leadership Newcastle Brown Ale has adopted an ldquoin-your-face no-apologies marketing approachrdquo including a spoof Super Bowl commercial that never aired with Anna Kendrick ldquoKendricks spoofmdashpart of a two-week all-digital marketing push around the Super Bowl dubbed ldquoIf We Made Itrdquomdashappeared five days before the game and obtained 52 million viewsrdquo

ldquoWere not competing with Anheuser-Buschmdashwere competing with Justin Bieber and cute kittensrdquo Kilbury told AdWeek He explained that he believes effective marketing takes more than just being funny ldquoIt has got to be interesting and compelling like you have to click on this versus clicking on the cute kittenrdquo he said Read the AdWeek story on Kilbury here

Brian Janosch

Creative Director Cultivated Wit

Quinn Kilbury is the Brand Director on Newcastle Brown Ale at Heineken USA Kilbury feels fortunate to be able to turn his love of beer into a profession having segued over to Heineken in August 2013 from PepsiCo where he had spent three years most recently as Senior Brand Manager Prior to that Kilbury held leadership roles at General Mills He spent his early career days working on the agency side

Quinn Kilbury

Brand Director Newcastle Brown Ale

| Winning with Wit | 5

-

of Social Media Weber Shandwick She served as EVP Digital Strategy and Social Media for Porter Novelli before that

Our Experts in Viral Humor

Stephanie Agresta is MSLGROUPs Global Director of Social Media and Digital and has been recognized as both a thought leader and hands on counselor in social and digital media for 15 years In the course of her career Agresta has been instrumental in developing digital and social media initiatives for major brands such as Samsung Unilever PepsiCo Microsoft HP and PampG Prior to joining MSLGROUP Stephanie was the EVP Managing Director

Stephanie thinkShellip If you can make people laugh you can get them to engage and buy Viral humor requires a deep knowledge of the target a smart understanding of how they are plugged into pop culture and their sense of humor along with a feel for real-time cadence and a good dose of courage The reward is a powerful emotional connection with the audience

A key metric to measuring success in online video is to look at video shares How successful your brand is in incentivizing the audience to share videos with their own social network is the metric by which you were able to naturally create brand advocacymdashtrue earned social media Comedy content is among the easiest way to do this Comedy engages emotions quickly in an attention-starved online economy and crosses language barriers But of course first it has to be good Good branded comedy content has to have an authentic and unique voice where the brand is part of the story not the sole focal point And the content cannot lsquopull punchesrsquo which can be difficult for some brand marketing organizations to navigate

4 | Winning with Wit |

Stephanie Agresta Global Director of Social Media and Digital MSLGROUP

Damon Berger is the CEO of Whats Trending a primetime Emmy-nominated daily live center of the online video universe bringing audiences the hottest videos and personalities every day With major brand partners that include Samsung Radio Shack Virgin Mobile ATampT and distribution via YouTube Virgin America USA Today and many others Whats Trending is an exploding new media brand

Damon Berger CEO Whats Trending

Damon sayShellip

Brian points outhellip The potential for executing comedy extends far beyond a funny slogan goofy character or well-timed tweet Technology has exploded the number of touch points between message senders and receivers Comedy is not relegated to catchphrases or billboard copy it can rear its head in email newsletters website footers error pages YouTube annotations Facebook comments fake Yelp pages and the list goes on Hell comedy today can be executed using the computer code itself not just the copy and design The deeper you dig into any humor-based idea the more appreciation you can garner from anybody who discovers it

Brian Janosch is Creative Director and resident Midwesterner at Cultivated Wit a creative agency that combines comedy technology design and whiskey He has held several titles in media and comedy including writing editing project managing product developing and web strategizing Janosch is presently a writer at large for The Onion where he previously worked for five years as deputy managing editor

Quinn explains his in-your-face stylehellip According to Ad Weeks Andrew McMains under Quinn Kilburys leadership Newcastle Brown Ale has adopted an ldquoin-your-face no-apologies marketing approachrdquo including a spoof Super Bowl commercial that never aired with Anna Kendrick ldquoKendricks spoofmdashpart of a two-week all-digital marketing push around the Super Bowl dubbed ldquoIf We Made Itrdquomdashappeared five days before the game and obtained 52 million viewsrdquo

ldquoWere not competing with Anheuser-Buschmdashwere competing with Justin Bieber and cute kittensrdquo Kilbury told AdWeek He explained that he believes effective marketing takes more than just being funny ldquoIt has got to be interesting and compelling like you have to click on this versus clicking on the cute kittenrdquo he said Read the AdWeek story on Kilbury here

Brian Janosch

Creative Director Cultivated Wit

Quinn Kilbury is the Brand Director on Newcastle Brown Ale at Heineken USA Kilbury feels fortunate to be able to turn his love of beer into a profession having segued over to Heineken in August 2013 from PepsiCo where he had spent three years most recently as Senior Brand Manager Prior to that Kilbury held leadership roles at General Mills He spent his early career days working on the agency side

Quinn Kilbury

Brand Director Newcastle Brown Ale

| Winning with Wit | 5

Brian points outhellip The potential for executing comedy extends far beyond a funny slogan goofy character or well-timed tweet Technology has exploded the number of touch points between message senders and receivers Comedy is not relegated to catchphrases or billboard copy it can rear its head in email newsletters website footers error pages YouTube annotations Facebook comments fake Yelp pages and the list goes on Hell comedy today can be executed using the computer code itself not just the copy and design The deeper you dig into any humor-based idea the more appreciation you can garner from anybody who discovers it

Brian Janosch is Creative Director and resident Midwesterner at Cultivated Wit a creative agency that combines comedy technology design and whiskey He has held several titles in media and comedy including writing editing project managing product developing and web strategizing Janosch is presently a writer at large for The Onion where he previously worked for five years as deputy managing editor

Quinn explains his in-your-face stylehellip According to Ad Weeks Andrew McMains under Quinn Kilburys leadership Newcastle Brown Ale has adopted an ldquoin-your-face no-apologies marketing approachrdquo including a spoof Super Bowl commercial that never aired with Anna Kendrick ldquoKendricks spoofmdashpart of a two-week all-digital marketing push around the Super Bowl dubbed ldquoIf We Made Itrdquomdashappeared five days before the game and obtained 52 million viewsrdquo

ldquoWere not competing with Anheuser-Buschmdashwere competing with Justin Bieber and cute kittensrdquo Kilbury told AdWeek He explained that he believes effective marketing takes more than just being funny ldquoIt has got to be interesting and compelling like you have to click on this versus clicking on the cute kittenrdquo he said Read the AdWeek story on Kilbury here

Brian Janosch

Creative Director Cultivated Wit

Quinn Kilbury is the Brand Director on Newcastle Brown Ale at Heineken USA Kilbury feels fortunate to be able to turn his love of beer into a profession having segued over to Heineken in August 2013 from PepsiCo where he had spent three years most recently as Senior Brand Manager Prior to that Kilbury held leadership roles at General Mills He spent his early career days working on the agency side

Quinn Kilbury

Brand Director Newcastle Brown Ale

| Winning with Wit | 5

Our Experts in Viral Humor

Jonah sayShellip The best way a brand can get involved in comedy content online is through thematic alignment vs branded entertainment At Fullscreen we have seen some fantastic case studies with our top comedy and entertainment channel The Fine Brothers and their hit format ldquoReactrdquo which has garnered over a billion views for the series The Fines have mastered the art of thematic alignment with their brand partners by keeping the focus on their editorial and comedic voice while allowing the brand to be a hero through association of the storyline which ties into their marketing objectives in a fun and engaging way

Jonah Minton is SVP of Sales and Brand Strategy at Fullscreen a global youth media company representing the most influential content creators in social media Previously Jonah was Vice President of Sales at Ustream the leading live streaming interactive video platform where he oversaw the national sales team Prior to Ustream Jonah worked at MySpace Video where he developed original programming and branded entertainment for Fortune 500 clients Jonah received his BA in English literature at the University of California Berkeley and his Masters in Music from the University of Southern California In his spare time Jonah enjoys hanging out with his beautiful wife Jocelyn taking walks with his dog Sadie playing saxophone composing music and listening to Blue Note albums from the 1960s

Jonah Minton SVP Sales Fullscreen

| Winning with Wit |6

Our Experts in Viral Humor

Jaco Peeringa is responsible for brand PR amp Corporate Communications of all Comedy Central Channels in North Europe and other VIMN entertainment channels (VIVA Blink) Based in Amsterdam Jaco has been in his position since early 2012 He previously was manager of PR and sponsorships for UPC the second largest cable operator in The Netherlands Jaco has also held positions as the Manager of Marketing and Communications for AVRO (Algemene Vereniging Radio Omroep or General Association of Radio Broadcasting) a Dutch public broadcasting association operating within the framework of the Nederlandse Publieke Omroep system He has also held different Sales Marketing and Communications roles within SBS broadcasting (now 33 owned by John de Molrsquos Talpa and 66 by Sanoma Media) Early in his career he was production editor of ldquoBrutale Meidenrdquo (Cheeky Girls) the top show in The Netherlands among youth and kids 13-24

Jaco Peeringa Director Public Relations amp Communications Comedy amp Entertainment Viacom International Media Networks Northern Europe

According to Jacohellip Humor is serious business Comedy Central is the favorite comedy brand for young adults because we are always relevant slightly absurd easy accessible brutally honest worth sharing and always available wherever they want a good laugh

We do a lot of research on our consumers and with studies like the Power of Laughter and InfluenCCe me

Our Power of Laughter study is a multi-layer and multi-district investigation into how beneficial laughter can be The survey shows how much more involved the audience gets when subjected to fun and humorous content We confirm the theory that laughter really is the best medicine for the mind body and soul and that humor increases commitment in a positive way

In our latest multi-country study InfluenCCe me our research department took a closer look at consumersrsquo word-of-mouth potential and revealed major differences in the influencing power of TV channel audiences Across all countries the Comedy Central audience provides the biggest share of ldquoinfluential innovatorsrdquo ndash consumers that show a high social influence on others and adopt brands and services at a very early stage The multi-country study was conducted online in Germany Netherlands Poland and Sweden with 4000 respondents aged 16-49 and was enriched with a qualitative deep-dive via an online community

| Winning with Wit | 7

How Branded Humor Works

What makes the secrets to branded humor so elusive is that there is no single solution and hardly any firm rules But wersquove probed our expert panelists for their thoughts favorite examples and asked them to break it down ndash how does branded humor work We looked at some of the best examples and drew some insights

Branded humor certainly comes with its share of fear fear of a joke that will fall flat an unforeseen insult or anger among a critical constituency

Thatrsquos why the first step toward comedy requires mustering the courage to try it Thatrsquos no easy task for many brands Comedy comes with a willingness to lose a bit of control

It also needs to sync with deep knowledge of the target Humor changes from generation to generation To make it work a marketer needs to fully understand the underlying funny bone of who they are trying to reach Whatrsquos more much of humor plays off the real-time cadence in the world of the target the brand needs to live in the space and understand the dynamics the subtleties and subtext

Like other contemporary communications campaigns most of the humor campaigns we looked at ran across disciplines channels and screens The jokes didnrsquot

necessarily exist in one place Instead they became an ongoing gag that surrounded the target making memorable connections points throughout his or her day

Humor is an emotional connection and when properly developed the bond between the comedy and the target is often stronger than other communications In many cases the humor itself steps out in front of the brand pulling it along into a strong relationship with the consumer

Across these best examples the humor took on a variety of forms generally customized to meet the brand needs Children were sometimes used to provide a transparent view of an unacceptable alternate reality Second screens were used Pranks were played Events were famously newsjacked and parodied in social media Of course epic mistakes have been made as well

What does ring through is that in nearly all cases the viral humor campaigns drove outstanding results

We asked our experts for some their favorite humor campaigns

| Winning with Wit |8

President Obama on Between Two Ferns

President Obama Musters the Courage to Create a Comedic Connection President Obamarsquos interview segment on the ldquoBetween Two Fernsrdquo web series from ldquoFunny or Dierdquo was certainly the most high-profile marketing-oriented comedy segment produced in 2014 The interview was conducted in March by Zach Galifianakis best known from The Hangover films The episode promoted the government website healthcaregov to millennials

The marketing need was to drive young healthy people to sign up with the insurance exchanges and make the exchanges financially viable Against a backdrop of the failing website the White House made an out-of-theshybox and unexpected choice -- comedic influencer Zach Galifianakis to help it abruptly stem the tide in public criticism and millennial inaction

ldquoThis was a pretty monumental video for a couple reasonsrdquo Brian Janosh the Creative Director of Cultivated Wit said ldquo1) The President chose to do an internet video over something similar on TV which tells you something 2) They chose to do something rooted in comedy rather than something sincere 3) The video is funny first They realized the value in

putting the comedy part over the branded part which ultimately made the whole effort more endearing watchable and memorablerdquo

But the effort required a bold conviction that building a comedic connection was the best connection not to mention a large dose of both courage and rehearsal time on the part of President Obama

But the results underscore the smart strategy The spot reached about a quarter of the young Americans that the White House was targeting Literally overnight FunnyorDiecom became the leading source of referrals to healthcaregov And the healthcaregov website saw a 40 increase in traffic the day after the event

Not only did the effort have an immediate impact on the business at hand but the viral humor video softened Mr Obamarsquos image with a public losing patience

| Winning with Wit | 9

Our Experts in Viral Humor

Jaco Peeringa is responsible for brand PR amp Corporate Communications of all Comedy Central Channels in North Europe and other VIMN entertainment channels (VIVA Blink) Based in Amsterdam Jaco has been in his position since early 2012 He previously was manager of PR and sponsorships for UPC the second largest cable operator in The Netherlands Jaco has also held positions as the Manager of Marketing and Communications for AVRO (Algemene Vereniging Radio Omroep or General Association of Radio Broadcasting) a Dutch public broadcasting association operating within the framework of the Nederlandse Publieke Omroep system He has also held different Sales Marketing and Communications roles within SBS broadcasting (now 33 owned by John de Molrsquos Talpa and 66 by Sanoma Media) Early in his career he was production editor of ldquoBrutale Meidenrdquo (Cheeky Girls) the top show in The Netherlands among youth and kids 13-24

Jaco Peeringa Director Public Relations amp Communications Comedy amp Entertainment Viacom International Media Networks Northern Europe

According to Jacohellip Humor is serious business Comedy Central is the favorite comedy brand for young adults because we are always relevant slightly absurd easy accessible brutally honest worth sharing and always available wherever they want a good laugh

We do a lot of research on our consumers and with studies like the Power of Laughter and InfluenCCe me

Our Power of Laughter study is a multi-layer and multi-district investigation into how beneficial laughter can be The survey shows how much more involved the audience gets when subjected to fun and humorous content We confirm the theory that laughter really is the best medicine for the mind body and soul and that humor increases commitment in a positive way

In our latest multi-country study InfluenCCe me our research department took a closer look at consumersrsquo word-of-mouth potential and revealed major differences in the influencing power of TV channel audiences Across all countries the Comedy Central audience provides the biggest share of ldquoinfluential innovatorsrdquo ndash consumers that show a high social influence on others and adopt brands and services at a very early stage The multi-country study was conducted online in Germany Netherlands Poland and Sweden with 4000 respondents aged 16-49 and was enriched with a qualitative deep-dive via an online community

| Winning with Wit | 7

How Branded Humor Works

What makes the secrets to branded humor so elusive is that there is no single solution and hardly any firm rules But wersquove probed our expert panelists for their thoughts favorite examples and asked them to break it down ndash how does branded humor work We looked at some of the best examples and drew some insights

Branded humor certainly comes with its share of fear fear of a joke that will fall flat an unforeseen insult or anger among a critical constituency

Thatrsquos why the first step toward comedy requires mustering the courage to try it Thatrsquos no easy task for many brands Comedy comes with a willingness to lose a bit of control

It also needs to sync with deep knowledge of the target Humor changes from generation to generation To make it work a marketer needs to fully understand the underlying funny bone of who they are trying to reach Whatrsquos more much of humor plays off the real-time cadence in the world of the target the brand needs to live in the space and understand the dynamics the subtleties and subtext

Like other contemporary communications campaigns most of the humor campaigns we looked at ran across disciplines channels and screens The jokes didnrsquot

necessarily exist in one place Instead they became an ongoing gag that surrounded the target making memorable connections points throughout his or her day

Humor is an emotional connection and when properly developed the bond between the comedy and the target is often stronger than other communications In many cases the humor itself steps out in front of the brand pulling it along into a strong relationship with the consumer

Across these best examples the humor took on a variety of forms generally customized to meet the brand needs Children were sometimes used to provide a transparent view of an unacceptable alternate reality Second screens were used Pranks were played Events were famously newsjacked and parodied in social media Of course epic mistakes have been made as well

What does ring through is that in nearly all cases the viral humor campaigns drove outstanding results

We asked our experts for some their favorite humor campaigns

| Winning with Wit |8

President Obama on Between Two Ferns

President Obama Musters the Courage to Create a Comedic Connection President Obamarsquos interview segment on the ldquoBetween Two Fernsrdquo web series from ldquoFunny or Dierdquo was certainly the most high-profile marketing-oriented comedy segment produced in 2014 The interview was conducted in March by Zach Galifianakis best known from The Hangover films The episode promoted the government website healthcaregov to millennials

The marketing need was to drive young healthy people to sign up with the insurance exchanges and make the exchanges financially viable Against a backdrop of the failing website the White House made an out-of-theshybox and unexpected choice -- comedic influencer Zach Galifianakis to help it abruptly stem the tide in public criticism and millennial inaction

ldquoThis was a pretty monumental video for a couple reasonsrdquo Brian Janosh the Creative Director of Cultivated Wit said ldquo1) The President chose to do an internet video over something similar on TV which tells you something 2) They chose to do something rooted in comedy rather than something sincere 3) The video is funny first They realized the value in

putting the comedy part over the branded part which ultimately made the whole effort more endearing watchable and memorablerdquo

But the effort required a bold conviction that building a comedic connection was the best connection not to mention a large dose of both courage and rehearsal time on the part of President Obama

But the results underscore the smart strategy The spot reached about a quarter of the young Americans that the White House was targeting Literally overnight FunnyorDiecom became the leading source of referrals to healthcaregov And the healthcaregov website saw a 40 increase in traffic the day after the event

Not only did the effort have an immediate impact on the business at hand but the viral humor video softened Mr Obamarsquos image with a public losing patience

| Winning with Wit | 9

How Branded Humor Works

What makes the secrets to branded humor so elusive is that there is no single solution and hardly any firm rules But wersquove probed our expert panelists for their thoughts favorite examples and asked them to break it down ndash how does branded humor work We looked at some of the best examples and drew some insights

Branded humor certainly comes with its share of fear fear of a joke that will fall flat an unforeseen insult or anger among a critical constituency

Thatrsquos why the first step toward comedy requires mustering the courage to try it Thatrsquos no easy task for many brands Comedy comes with a willingness to lose a bit of control

It also needs to sync with deep knowledge of the target Humor changes from generation to generation To make it work a marketer needs to fully understand the underlying funny bone of who they are trying to reach Whatrsquos more much of humor plays off the real-time cadence in the world of the target the brand needs to live in the space and understand the dynamics the subtleties and subtext

Like other contemporary communications campaigns most of the humor campaigns we looked at ran across disciplines channels and screens The jokes didnrsquot

necessarily exist in one place Instead they became an ongoing gag that surrounded the target making memorable connections points throughout his or her day

Humor is an emotional connection and when properly developed the bond between the comedy and the target is often stronger than other communications In many cases the humor itself steps out in front of the brand pulling it along into a strong relationship with the consumer

Across these best examples the humor took on a variety of forms generally customized to meet the brand needs Children were sometimes used to provide a transparent view of an unacceptable alternate reality Second screens were used Pranks were played Events were famously newsjacked and parodied in social media Of course epic mistakes have been made as well

What does ring through is that in nearly all cases the viral humor campaigns drove outstanding results

We asked our experts for some their favorite humor campaigns

| Winning with Wit |8

President Obama on Between Two Ferns

President Obama Musters the Courage to Create a Comedic Connection President Obamarsquos interview segment on the ldquoBetween Two Fernsrdquo web series from ldquoFunny or Dierdquo was certainly the most high-profile marketing-oriented comedy segment produced in 2014 The interview was conducted in March by Zach Galifianakis best known from The Hangover films The episode promoted the government website healthcaregov to millennials

The marketing need was to drive young healthy people to sign up with the insurance exchanges and make the exchanges financially viable Against a backdrop of the failing website the White House made an out-of-theshybox and unexpected choice -- comedic influencer Zach Galifianakis to help it abruptly stem the tide in public criticism and millennial inaction

ldquoThis was a pretty monumental video for a couple reasonsrdquo Brian Janosh the Creative Director of Cultivated Wit said ldquo1) The President chose to do an internet video over something similar on TV which tells you something 2) They chose to do something rooted in comedy rather than something sincere 3) The video is funny first They realized the value in

putting the comedy part over the branded part which ultimately made the whole effort more endearing watchable and memorablerdquo

But the effort required a bold conviction that building a comedic connection was the best connection not to mention a large dose of both courage and rehearsal time on the part of President Obama

But the results underscore the smart strategy The spot reached about a quarter of the young Americans that the White House was targeting Literally overnight FunnyorDiecom became the leading source of referrals to healthcaregov And the healthcaregov website saw a 40 increase in traffic the day after the event

Not only did the effort have an immediate impact on the business at hand but the viral humor video softened Mr Obamarsquos image with a public losing patience

| Winning with Wit | 9

President Obama on Between Two Ferns

President Obama Musters the Courage to Create a Comedic Connection President Obamarsquos interview segment on the ldquoBetween Two Fernsrdquo web series from ldquoFunny or Dierdquo was certainly the most high-profile marketing-oriented comedy segment produced in 2014 The interview was conducted in March by Zach Galifianakis best known from The Hangover films The episode promoted the government website healthcaregov to millennials

The marketing need was to drive young healthy people to sign up with the insurance exchanges and make the exchanges financially viable Against a backdrop of the failing website the White House made an out-of-theshybox and unexpected choice -- comedic influencer Zach Galifianakis to help it abruptly stem the tide in public criticism and millennial inaction

ldquoThis was a pretty monumental video for a couple reasonsrdquo Brian Janosh the Creative Director of Cultivated Wit said ldquo1) The President chose to do an internet video over something similar on TV which tells you something 2) They chose to do something rooted in comedy rather than something sincere 3) The video is funny first They realized the value in

putting the comedy part over the branded part which ultimately made the whole effort more endearing watchable and memorablerdquo

But the effort required a bold conviction that building a comedic connection was the best connection not to mention a large dose of both courage and rehearsal time on the part of President Obama

But the results underscore the smart strategy The spot reached about a quarter of the young Americans that the White House was targeting Literally overnight FunnyorDiecom became the leading source of referrals to healthcaregov And the healthcaregov website saw a 40 increase in traffic the day after the event

Not only did the effort have an immediate impact on the business at hand but the viral humor video softened Mr Obamarsquos image with a public losing patience

| Winning with Wit | 9

WestJet Christmas MiracleReal-Time Giving

WestJet Creates an Emotional Brand Experience that Makes You Laugh In December 2013 WestJet created ldquoChristmas Miracle Real-time Givingrdquo The Canadian airline brand later described how it ldquoaspired to spread the joy of the season by activating something remarkable sentimental and interactive for its guests and employeesrdquo The airline ldquodelighted unsuspecting travelers with a real-time holiday surprise that delivered personalized gifts to guests arriving in Calgary as part of a true lsquoChristmas Miraclersquordquo it explained in a Shorty Award entry The result was a viral ad that captivated the Canadian public and others around the world and rode the crest of its popularity to rank among the top five global viral ads in 2013

According to Quinn Kilbury the ad projects a combination of emotion and humor in a completely brand-appropriate tone ldquoI had never heard of WestJet and now would love to fly them So humanrdquo said Kilbury

The ad increased WestJetrsquos sales by 86 compared to the same period last year despite no media dollars spent

Based around a parody of the ldquoGrinch Who Stole Christmasrdquo this story delivered exactly the opposite result The video was highlighted by the surprising and delightful reaction of children elderly passengers and others to the digital Santa calling out their name along with the slapstick rush of employees shopping for the presents The story culminated in the reaction of the passengers seeing the stream of presents coming down the conveyer belt only to realize the gifts were for them

To Kilburyrsquos point throughout the story elements were meticulously branded ndash from a Santa dressed in blue to packages carefully wrapped in the brandrsquos colors

| Winning with Wit |10

Kids React to OldComputers

Kids Provide a Funny Prism into an Alternate Reality The pure transparency in the reaction of children works especially well as a comedic technique

Jonah Minton SVP Sales Fullscreen points to The Fine Brothersrsquo ldquoKids React to Old Computersrdquo which spotlights the pure reaction of children forced to step out of their element In this case the tech-savvy kids are asked to step back three decades and test the old Apple II computers with their green-on-black screens floppy discs oversized casing and multiple switches The video promoted AMCrsquos TV series ldquoHalt and Catch Firerdquo about an insiderrsquos view of the personal computer revolution set in 1983

In what is a time travelogue at its core the video uses the childrenrsquos shocking reactions to a different reality to underscore how much has changed in computing over the course of thirty years

Minton points to the results for the promotional marketing strategy ldquoAMC sponsored the video a few days before the launch of their show and it quickly became a viral video out of the gate with some of the highest levels of engagement we have seen for a brand alignment including 110k Likes 33k comments and 23k+ sharesrdquo Minton said The video received over 13 million organic views

| Winning with Wit | 11

Comedy Centrals CC24 -The 24 Hour Marathon

Comedy Central Offers A Second Screen for Comic Engagement TV network Comedy Central home of shows such as South Park and The Daily Show asked MSLGROUP to come up with a smart inexpensive way of announcing the premiere of the channelrsquos new 247 local broadcasting in Sweden They also wanted to connect their brand further with comedy creativity and fun

And what better way to demonstrate that you now can tune in to Comedy Central for a laugh anytime you want than to actually have someone watch it for 24 straight hours So MSLGROUP invited two favorite Swedish comedians to watch Comedy Central nonshystop from noon to noon while being broadcast live on the web Based on the new way of watching traditional TV with the integrated experience of a second screen the comedians commented on the shows together with the viewers and engaged with them through social media and the live broadcast All unrestricted unscripted and improvised

The budget was minimal with no funds to buy advertising and instead of renting a studio the team built a makeshift one themselves ndash in a standard conference room down the hall at its office The event included a number of crazy challenges for the comedians a number of surprise guests to keep them awake a few cases of energy drinks as life-support and the fun began

There were only two rules no sleeping and no leaving the room Other than that the comedians were given full liberty to do say and come up with anything they wanted And during 24 hours we learned that really anything can happen

The results Comedy Central had its best month ever in the main target group of 18-34 year olds with a 118 increase in viewer ratings Visitations to the Comedy Central website increased by over 500 The hashtag CC24 was the top trending hashtag in Twitter in Sweden during 3 of the 24 hours

| Winning with Wit |12

2nd Annual Tubeathon Returns 1212 As YouTubes Modern Day Telethon

Whatrsquos Trending Delivers an Online Comedy Festival for Charity Whatrsquos Trending created a holiday charity Tube-a-Thon two years ago with the worldrsquos biggest YouTube stars performing a mix of comedy and music essentially the online version of what happens when a holiday comedy special meets a charity telethon In 2012 the event was sponsored by Virgin Mobile and in 2013 by the Ford Fiesta movement

The event was a livestreamed holiday party featuring the biggest YouTube stars and Hollywood celebrities

In 2012 according to the Huffington Post ldquothe show included the Epic Meal Time gang uniting with Doug Benson to build a gingerbread house a holiday medley from Pentatonix eggnog making with DailyGrace and Hannah Hart the magic of Justin Willman and a hilarious Shaytards gift exchange The show itself was the 3 Twitter trend in the US and raised thousands of dollars for Covenant Houserdquo

During the annual two-hour holiday themed livestream in December 2013 millennial audiences were engaged to share branded social media Ford donated $1 for every tweet with the hashtag Tubeathon or FiestaMovement to the Covenant House (a charity dedicated to fighting youth homelessness) The event was a smash hit generating over 167 million social impressions

In exchange for making the donations the brand was positioned as the charity hero and was fully integrated into promotional content The brand hashtag enabled branded engagement with the millennial target audience allowing them a means to participate themselves by donating to a relevant cause

| Winning with Wit | 13

HEAVY LAUGHERS

Laughing doesnlsquot seem to be

related to the economic or political

situation

43

61 58

56

POWER OF LAUGHTER

HEAVY LAUGHTER LEADS

TO HAPPIER HEALTHIER

MORE SEX-FILLED

LIVES

Physical benefits

Emotional benefits

Social benefits

POSITIVE POWER

OF LAUGHTER

63 describe

their weight

as ldquotarget

weightrdquo

51 more likely to

have a positive

outlook onlife

37 say watching a

funny TV show

improves their

mood

72 are excited

about their

future68

are satisfied

with their job

28 more likely to

exercise

+32more likely to

describe their

sex life as good

just right

+28more Facebook

friends than

light laughers

Funnycontent

Advertising

receptivity

Positively-

minded

consumers

High

engagement

COMEDY CENTRAL

VIEWERS ARE MORE

LIKELY TO BE HEAVY

LAUGHERS

Heavy

laugher

Occasional

laugher

Watch Comedy Central

Do not watch Comedy Central

52

61 39

48

Average

55 45

VIMNINSIGHTSVIACOMCOM

DiGiornoPizza ldquoNewsjacksrdquo The Sound of Music DiGiornoPizza made its splash into the Twitter sphere of comedy in 2014 by live tweeting the much heralded live television event ndash The Sound of Music with Carrie Underwood Each of the tweets famously spun one of the iconic musicalrsquos moments with a pizza theme The event helped make the DiGiorno Pizza branded Twitter feed one of the most hilarious in the world

Dough Ray Me = Pizza party with me and a guy named Ray TheSoundOfMusicLive

THE KITCHEN IS ALIVE WITH THE SMELL OF FRESH-BAKED PIZZA TheSoundOfMusicLive

Hey guys next time yoursquore scared of a storm make a few pizzas instead of waking up the whole house yodeling TheSoundOfMusicLive

SO LONG FAREWELL THE PIZZArsquoS GONE NO REASON TO BE HERE ANYMORE TheSoundOfMusicLive

14 | Winning with Wit |

Zach Basner the founder of Wild Boy overviewed the success of the campaign ldquoLarge captive audience Check Controversial topic Check Add in a little humor and yoursquove gone viralrdquo

Of course therersquos a dangerous edge to the strategy and DiGiorno has fallen prey On September 8 the DiGiorno twitter feed accidentally newsjacked the hashtag WhyIStayed which was being used by womenrsquos groups to explain why they stayed in relationships with domestic violence in the aftermath of the Ray RiceNFL domestic violence incident The brand tweeted ldquoYou had pizzardquo to the trending hashtag WhyIStayed sparking outrage from the women telling their stories It was an epic Twitter fail the brand apologized individually on Twitter to those it offended admitting it neglected to read what the hashtag was all about

As more brands move into the humor space the lessons from DiGiorno and others that accidentally mis-step are an important part of the collective learning that must be considered

HEAVY LAUGHERS

Laughing doesnlsquot seem to be

related to the economic or political

situation

43

61 58

56

POSITIVE POWER

OF LAUGHTERFunny

content

Advertising

receptivity

Positively-

minded

consumers

High

engagement

COMEDY CENTRAL

VIEWERS ARE MORE

LIKELY TO BE HEAVY

LAUGHERS

Heavy

laugher

Occasional

laugher

Watch Comedy Central

Do not watch Comedy Central

52

61 39

48

Average

55 45

VIMNINSIGHTSVIACOMCOM

POWER OF LAUGHTER

HEAVY LAUGHTER LEADS

TO HAPPIER HEALTHIER

MORE SEX-FILLED

LIVES

Physical benefits

Emotional benefits

Social benefits

63 describe

their weight

as ldquotarget

weightrdquo

51 more likely to

have a positive

outlook on

life

37 say watching a

funny TV show

improves their

mood

72 are excited

about their

future68

are satisfied

with their job

28 more likely to

exercise

+32 more likely to

describe their

sex life as good

just right

+28 more Facebook

friends than

light laughers

High

engagementFunnycontent

POSITIVE POWER

OF LAUGHTER

Positively-

Advertising minded

consumers receptivity

POWER OF LAUGHTER

Occasional

Heavy laugher

COMEDY CENTRALlaugher

VIEWERS ARE MORE

Watch Comedy Central

LIKELY TO BE HEAVY

3961

HEAVY LAUGHTER LEADSLAUGHERS

TO HAPPIER HEALTHIER

28 Do not w

52 atch Comedy Central

48

MORE SEX-FILLED

more likely toLIVES 63

exercise Average 45

describe

Physical benefits their weight 55

as ldquotarget

weightrdquo

3751 say watching a

HEAVY LAUGHERS 43

more likely to funny TV show

56Emotional benefits

have a positive improves their

Laughing doesnlsquot seem to be

outlook on mood

related to the economic or political

lifesituation

5861

7268 are excited

about their are satisfied

with their job future

VIMNINSIGHTSVIACOMCOM

+28more Facebook

+32 friends than

more likely to

describe their light laughers

Social benefits

sex life as good

just right

DE

SIG

N B

Y

MS

LGR

OU

P C

RE

ATI

VE

+

For more information please contact

Stephanie Agresta Global Director Social Media and Digital

stephanieagrestamslgroupcom

DE

SIG

N B

Y

MS

LGR

OU

P C

RE

ATI

VE

+

For more information please contact

Stephanie Agresta Global Director Social Media and Digital

stephanieagrestamslgroupcom