Humour. When done right, it can revolutionise a brand. Look no further than the now infamous Hans Brinker Budget Hotel, which unashamedly advertised itself as ‘The worst hotel in the world’. Its campaign message, including witticisms such as drying yourself with a curtain being ‘Accidentally eco-friendly’ and apologies for ‘being the best in ignoring your complaints’ have gone viral and undoubtedly driven many a masochistic traveller their way.
On the other hand, if implemented in the wrong manner, attempted humour can spark controversy. Look at Powwownow’s London underground billboards, which depicted a businessman claiming he liked his ‘coats mink, truffles white and secretaries Swedish.’ This prompted serious backlash, with one commuter understandably pointing out, via graffiti on said billboard, that ‘women are not a commodity’.
Humour in a marketing campaign
Not all humour has to be so obnoxious and ostentatious, as Workfront’s ‘War on email and spreadsheets’ campaign demonstrates. It’s certainly not as self-deprecating as the Hans Brinker Hotel, or as provocative as Powwownow’s billboards, but the Utah-based work management company succeeds in treading the delicate line between witty and crass, which can often spell disaster for B2B brands trying too hard to be ‘funny’.
Joe Staples, CMO at Workfront, acknowledges humour-led campaigns can be a challenge, but says the reward is more than worth the risk: “So many people attempt humour in marketing. It can be flat and it ultimately would have been better if they’d not used humour at all.
“Fearing this, a lot of B2B companies will just go to the safe zone. But, if you don’t take that risk, then you just blend in with the masses: people don’t notice you and you don’t attract those all important top-of-funnel leads.”
Instagram in B2B marketing?
Social media will form a huge part of driving engagement and generating leads, as Staples explains: “This type of campaign is a perfect candidate for social media. These are the kind of things that get shared.”
However, Workfront has also identified Instagram as an ideal platform for investment, given the visually-arresting nature of the campaign.
A growing channel for B2B marketers, Staples explains the thought process behind employing the photo-sharing platform: “In our experience it is a growing B2B platform. Certainly LinkedIn and Twitter are well established. But more and more, we’re seeing people going to Instagram and we’ve started to focus on it at our live events and seen a nice pick-up in followers and traction.”
Cutting through the clutter
Cutting through the noise was the main inspiration behind the campaign. In order to promote its own work management solutions, the campaign’s main message is a sarcastic endorsement of antiquated work management techniques.
"We need to be bold... If you’re not bold, your campaign will just become background noise in the landscape”
To achieve this, Workfront created a fictitious organisation called ‘The centre for honouring ancient office solutions’ (CHAOS) – headed by a stereotypically non-progressive marketer named Burt Younker (pictured above). CHAOS promotes the use of archaic office solutions and old-fashioned marketing tools in order to highlight their inefficiency in the workplace.
It’s a bold approach, as Workfront has essentially created a campaign that actually advocates the use of antiquated work management tools. But then again, Workfront has a history of injecting humour, wit and slapstick into its campaigns. Its ‘Email in real life’ video with YouTube comedy duo Tripp and Tyler has over two million views, and at its annual conference in 2014 delegates were treated to a zombie-themed live escape event.
As part of its recent campaign, Workfront created a website dedicated to CHAOS, social media accounts for the fictional organisation as well as Burt Younker, and a number of videos starring Younker endorsing ancient office solutions.
Staples explains: “We want people to pause amidst all the mundane messages and really cut through the clutter, which is where the humour comes in. But obviously there’s still a punch line behind it all, where we step back and explain there really is a cost behind using emails, spreadsheets and antiquated tools.”
Campaign objectives
The campaign will run throughout 2016, with Workfront aiming to drive traffic to the CHAOS website, spark reaction and industry debate and generate views on YouTube and Slideshare. However, the company’s main objectives will be to increase its top-of-funnel leads and develop prospect engagement.
Workfront predicts it will spend around $180,000 over the next 12 months, which includes production of the videos, the development and deployment of the CHAOS website, as well as the creation of various other aspects. The company has also created an eBook titled 7 reasons you should not invest in marketing work management and is launching a direct mail campaign – both purposefully ironic considering the campaign’s condemnation of archaic marketing techniques.
It’s a bold and ambitious campaign, yet, as Staples neatly summarises: “We need to be bold, we need to be creative and not retreat back to a safe zone, because it just doesn’t work. If you’re not bold, your campaign will just become background noise in the landscape.”
