blogHard to believe that you could rank something so subjective as humor, but researchers have done it, the following is considered to be the 2nd funniest joke in the world.
Some hours later, Holmes wakes up and nudges his faithful friend. “Watson, look up at the sky and tell me what you see.”
“I see millions and millions of stars, Holmes” exclaims Watson. “And what do you deduce from that?”
Watson ponders for a minute.
“Well, astronomically, it tells me that there are millions of galaxies and potentially billions of planets. Astrologically, I observe that Saturn is in Leo. Horologically, I deduce that the time is approximately a quarter past three. Meteorologically, I suspect that we will have a beautiful day tomorrow. Theologically, I can see that God is all powerful, and that we are a small and insignificant part of the universe. What does it tell you, Holmes?”
And Holmes said: “Watson, you idiot, it means that somebody stole our tent.”
The basic premise of a joke is establishing an expectation or belief, then revealing a fact or a revelation that the person does not expect.
The same occurs in marketing. You play a role in creating an expectation in a customers mind, which you then exceed, or fail to meet. A well executed customer experience is analogous to a well told joke. It wouldn’t be surprising if they both lit up the same pleasure centers of the brain.
However, a more important lesson is distinguishing what makes a good joke versus a remarkable one. Although it will garner quite a few chuckles, the Holmes and Sherlock example is generic, meant to apply to the broadest sense of humor possible. If it were a marketing campaign, I would say it lacks any form of targeting.
Here’s a joke designed for a narrower audience:
This little gem courtesy of Crowcombe Al
The comedy in this joke may polarize a general audience. It will likely appeal to a broad swath of men, whereas some women may consider the humor questionable, or downright offensive. Yet, for those people who find it appealing, I will wager it has more impact than the Holmes-Sherlock example, you’re more likely to get a full throated warble than a meager chuckle.
What separates the mediocre from the remarkable comedian, is the tailoring of subject matter and delivery to different audiences. The same idea applies to marketing. Your marketing is not effective if it does not turn some people away from your product or service.
After reading this post, why do you think most marketing tends to error toward the generic, and not the remarkable?
What problems might marketers encounter if they choose to both delight and offend?
Update 6-3-08: Found an insightful post at Marketing with Meaning that relates to this post. Here’s a snippet, “in catering to your target audience, make sure you’re not destroying the rest of the world around you.”
Tags: humor
I liked the tent joke better although i did laugh but not as much at the laundry joke probably cause i just got done loading your “fathers” clothes into the washing machine!! funny how he can put them on top of the machine but can’t figure out how to put them in it and turn it on-can you tell i’m amused-NOT!
Mom,
Maybe you could try training Dad to do the laundry using operant conditioning. Skinner was able to train rats and pigeons to press a lever in order to obtain a food reward. Albeit, getting Dad to do the laundry is a more complicated operation, but maybe this is an experiment worth attempting. Or you could just resort to giving him a whack with the frying pan.
Well, the previous two comments confirm that mine was the best joke – if only it was an original!
And as for the marketing aspect, if men are my target audience then jokes like this are perfectly acceptable. Not that I would ever do anything like this in real life …..