Here's my second favorite ad from last weekend's Super Bowl:
What is it that makes this ad funny? Yeah, there's the back theme of a guy who is powerless, (I'm sure the fact that I'm noticing this stuff has nothing to do with the fact that I'm currently unemployed) but what is it that makes this commercial memorable? Exactly where is the humor based?
It's based in Jim Nance. Is Nance a famous comedian? No. And that's my point. Jim Nance is a world class sports broadcaster for CBS. And although is incredibly talented (and has arguably one of the best gigs in the world) he is not known for being funny. That's why the commercial works.
One of the things that makes any joke funny is the surprise. You thought that the joke was going to go this way and then the punchline came and it surprised you and made you laugh. The same thing goes with copy. What makes copy interesting is the surprise. And the surprise makes it memorable.
Because all of us are flooded with so many marketing messages every single day, our brains have become very good at filtering out irrelevant or uninteresting messages. We've gotten so good that we don't even see or hear them. If we had to process every message that came our way, we'd go crazy by 8:00 in the morning.
So our brains set up filters that keep out those messages that don't hit home or that are not interesting or funny. Because it is Jim Nance in the commercial and not Jerry Seinfeld, the spot gets through the filter.
So, what's the lesson of this spot? Surprise your audience by being interesting. When your web copy begins with "Welcome to our web site!" you are immediately ignored. That message will never make it through the filter. Be different. Be unique. Surprise your audience and your message will stick.
Tomorrow…the best spot from the Super Bowl and what we can learn from it.
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