“內容為王?！?/p>

這句話現在說濫了。當然它基本上是正確的——尤其是在2016年這個信息爆炸的年代，我們每天都在消費大量的內容。

只要想想各路媒體為吸引眼球而做出的各種秀下限的行徑，你就明白了。

如今，普通人每天要花8小時的時間消費某種形式的媒體。每周都有數以萬計的各種廣告將我們包圍。

就在你看完這篇文章之后，你可能又要去刷刷朋友圈，上上微博，收收電子郵件，然后上Netflix之類的視頻網站看看小電影。所有這些都是我們所說的“內容”。然而對于我們消費者來說，最可憐的是，大多數的內容都爛到家了。

首先是愛“搞一個大新聞”的標題黨，看完全文往往讓人氣不打一處來。其次是軟文黨，很多品牌都想風搞一個內容營銷，結果無非是被群眾狠狠地批判一番?？梢哉f當前市面上的每一條廣告都差得要命，我們的大腦已經修煉出了只消掃一眼就自動忽略之的技術。

所以，我們現在要對“內容為王”的口號改上一改了?！昂脙热轂橥酢笔遣皇歉_些呢？

或者也可以改成“搞笑的內容為王”。這才對嘛！21世紀什么最重要？搞笑！

明白了嗎？好，現在我們就來教你怎樣搞笑。

如何在廣告里加入幽默感？

DJ·奧尼爾是舊金山的一家名叫哈布戰略交流公司（Hub Strategy & Communication）的廣告公司的CEO，奧克蘭運動家隊、視靈寶（Slingbox）、Eat24、耐克、Dropcam和Jawbone等知名品牌都是他的客戶。

這些知名品牌為何信任奧尼爾和他的團隊？因為哈布公司的廣告充滿了個性和幽默感，效果非常好。

“Content is king.”

It’s a phrase you hear all the time. And it’s mostly true — especially in 2016 when we’re consuming so damn much of it.

I mean, just think about the battle for our attention…

The average person spends 8 hours a day consuming some form of media. We’re exposed to tens of thousands of ads every week.

And let’s be honest, after you’re done reading this you’ll probably go check your ad-filled Facebook feed. Then Instagram. Then Snapchat. Then email. Then Netflix NFLX 0.08% .

All of that is content. Every last bit. But, unfortunately for all us hapless consumers, most of it sucks.

Clickbait articles? Awful. Brands trying to be edgy with their “content marketing” and failing miserably? The worst. Pretty much every ad in existence? So bad that our brains are literally trained to glaze over and tune them out.

So maybe it’s time we made an adjustment to that whole “Content is king” thing. Maybe “Good content is king” would be more accurate?

Or perhaps it’s “Funny content is king.” Yeah, that’s it. That’s the one. BE FUNNY.

Got it? Good. Now let’s teach you how to do it.

Using humor in advertising

DJ O’Neil is the CEO of Hub Strategy & Communication, a San Francisco-based ad agency who works with (or has worked with) the Oakland Athletics, Slingbox, Eat24, Nike NKE 0.25% , Dropcam, and Jawbone.

Why do these well-known brands trust DJ and his team? Because Hub’s work is injected with a ton of humor and personality. And it works.

奧尼爾對我說過：“你可以纏著人們賣產品給他們，也可以通過娛樂他們的方式賣產品給他們，我們選擇了后者——特別是通過幽默感，因為它簡潔明快，效果無可比擬?！?/p>

他說得非常對。比如你可以看看下面這些哈布公司為一家名叫Lombardi Sports的體育用品公司設計的廣告：

“You can either annoy people to sell products or you can entertain them to sell products,” DJ told me. “We take the latter route — specifically humor — because it cuts through the clutter. There’s nothing else like it.”

It’s so true. Just take a look at these advertisements Hub created for Lombardi Sports, a sporting goods store:

不管你想買的是滑雪板還是跑鞋，只要一看到這兩則語意雙關的廣告，作為一個老司機的你，自然會會心一笑，秒懂其中的幽默。不管出于任何原因，只要一則廣告能讓人們笑出來，消費者自然會想：“你真懂我。”

換句話說，幽默感能讓你的目標用戶聽進去你的話。

“你看，我們都知道這個游戲是怎么玩的。我們掏錢給你看廣告，目的是為了讓你給我們錢?？赡苣銜湾X，可能你不會掏錢——當然我們還是希望你會掏錢。但是你的時間是寶貴的，所以至少讓我們逗你笑一笑，對吧？”

大家都不蠢。一年三百六十五天，天天都不斷地有人朝我們賣東西。對于商家心里的那點小九九，誰心里不跟明鏡似的。

如果能把廣告做到“銷售”以外的水平，你就是廣告界的大拿。如果你的廣告平平無奇，八成就要悲劇。

所以你要讓你的品牌處處體現幽默感（尤其是在人們意想不到的地方）。

“關于幽默最好的一點，就是你可以把它灑在任何地方。哪怕是在壓力山大的情形下，效果也是很好的。比方說某個人的信用卡在你的網站上被拒了，你可以設計這樣一條自動回復：“往好處想想吧，至少不是你的護照被拒了?！眾W尼爾說。

這個世界充滿了千篇一律、看了上句就能猜到下句的廢話。如果你足夠聰明，你就應該能夠充分地利用你的優勢。

人們已經習慣了乏味和死氣沉沉的品牌互動。如果你能搞出些新意來，就能起到20倍的效果。

我們來舉個例子。

很多單位的洗手間都掛著這樣一條標語：“員工在回到工作崗位前必須先洗手”。我猜很多公司也把這當成一條內容，考慮到每天要面對這條標語的人著實不少，它也勉強算一條內容吧。

而哈布公司為一家名叫Chevy’s Fresh Mex餐廳制作的標語是這樣的：

Whether or not you need a new snowboard and a pair of running shoes, you can appreciate the humor. And for whatever reason, when an ad makes people laugh, it gives off this vibe of “Oh okay, this company gets it.”

In other words, using humor allows you to say to your target audience,

“Hey! Look, we both know how this game works. We paid money to get this ad in front of you, and our goal is to get you to give us money. Maybe you will, maybe you won’t — hopefully you do! But your time is valuable, so hey, let’s at least make you laugh, right?”

People aren’t stupid. We’re being sold to all day, every day, to the point where we know exactly what’s going on.

Connect on a level beyond the “sale” and you’re golden. Keep it vanilla and you’re toast.

Using humor across your brand (and in unexpected places)

“The great thing about humor is that you can sprinkle it everywhere. Even in stressful situations, it works great. For example, say someone’s credit card is declined on your site. Throw in an automated response that says, ‘Look on the bright side! At least it wasn’t your Passport.’”DJ O’NEIL

The world is full of generic, predictable crap. And if you’re smart you can use that to your advantage.

See, people become so accustomed to bland, lifeless brand interactions, that doing something different in those situations makes 20x the impact.

FOR EXAMPLE

You know those boring “Employees must watch hands before returning to work” bathroom signs? I doubt many businesses view that as a piece of content, but considering how many customers see it, maybe they should.

Here’s what Hub did for Chevy’s Fresh Mex:

由于你的大腦并沒有預料到會在這里看到任何有創意的內容，因此當你看到它時，你就會更傾向于接受它所傳達的信息，而且效果會比較持久。而且它會再次向受眾傳達一種“這個地方真懂我，我們說不定可以做朋友”的感覺。從而我們就會自發地這樣去做。

所以你要站在獨特的角度上——也就是你的競爭對手從沒想過的角度，這樣你就會收獲到利益。

你在Facebook的評論區里要學會耍怪賣萌，你的常見問題解答頁面上要足夠搞笑，電子郵件的自動回復里也可以放幾個GIF動圖。

一旦你意識到“一切皆是內容”，用戶與你的每一次互動都是“廣告”，你就漸入佳境了。

那么，幽默是否有無效的時候呢？

這是個好問題，你真是個聰明的讀者。奧尼爾對我表示：“如果你是搞殯葬業的，這個領域可能沒有什么發揮幽默感的空間。除了這個行業，幽默幾乎百試百靈。”

就算你是一家銀行、一家律師事務所，或者經營的是任何“無趣”的業務，也沒有什么能阻止你使用幽默。哈布公司就曾為藍盾（Blue Shield，一家保險公司）設計過廣告，而且設計得極為搞笑。

當然，如果顧客已經對你產生了相當專業且一絲不茍的印象，這時再想玩幽默就要困難得多了。然而那又怎樣？生活已經如此艱難，有些事就不要抱怨太多。

而且，你所從事的行業越嚴肅，你偶爾幽上一默，效果就越突出。

比如美國政府雇員保險公司（GEICO），自從他們發布了幾則搞笑廣告之后，銷售額就像坐火箭似的蹭蹭往上漲。從此以后，電視上的所有汽車保險廣告都成了喜劇小品。

沒有人會看了搞笑廣告后就對自己說：“我擦，這家銀行太不嚴肅不專業了，看得我尷尬癌都犯了?！倍菚耄骸拔也粒@些家伙非常擅長他們的業務，而且還能幽上一默。真厲害！”

總結：

使用幽默可能會令人感到風險。由于大多數人都傾向于規避風險，所以他們往往會拒絕幽默。這一點我懂。

但就像奧尼爾所說的那樣：“幽默并不等于風險，人人都希望大笑一場。如果你總是把事情說得很直白死板，這才有風險。為什么？因為沒人愿意看?！?/p>

是幽默并鶴立雞群，還是無趣且泯然眾人，選擇權就在你手中。(財富中文網)

譯者：樸成奎

Since your brain’s not expecting any creativity here, you’re all the more receptive when you see it. It sticks with you. And again, it says, “This place gets it. We’d probably be friends.”

We try to do this, ourselves, actually.

Stand out in unique places — places your competitors aren’t even thinking about — and you will reap the benefits.

Get weird in the Facebook comments section. Make your FAQ page hilarious. Send GIFs as a part of your automated email responses.

Once you realize that everything is content and that every single interaction a user has with your brand is technically “advertising,” you’re getting places.

Is humor ever not effective?

Good question, intelligent reader. As DJ told me, “If you run a chain of funeral homes, there might not be room for humor. But outside of that, there almost always is.”

If you’re a bank, a law firm, or any other “boring” business, nothing’s stopping you from being funny. Heck, Hub did some work for Blue Shield (an insurance company) and it’s hilarious.

Sure, it’s definitely harder to be funny when customers are expecting you to be super professional and boring but, guess what? Life is hard. Stop complaining.

Plus, the less “funny” your industry is, the more you’ll stand out when you make people laugh.

Just look at GEICO. Sales rocketed when they started making ridiculous ads, and next thing you know, every auto insurance commercial on TV is a comedy fest (not gonna lie, I hate Flo, though).

Nobody’s ever going to think to themselves, “Wow, this bank is not being very serious or professional! How embarrassing.” Rather, they’ll think, “Wow, these guys are so good at what they do that they can even add a level of humor! How impressive.”

In conclusion

Using humor can feel risky. And since most people are risk averse, they shy away from it. I get that.

But as DJ says, “Humor isn’t risky. Everyone appreciates a good laugh. Keeping things super straightforward and bland? Now that’s risky. Why? Because nobody’s going to see it.”

Be funny and stand out or be boring and fall through the cracks. The choice is yours.