Comedy Marketing Case Studies
Real brands, real results: deep dives into campaigns that used humour to win attention, trust and sales.
The Smoothie Company That Talks to Its Bottles
I picked an Innocent smoothie over a dozen others because it was wearing a tiny knitted hat. The drink was identical. The personality was not. Here is the lesson.
5 November 2025 · 3 min read
The $300 Million Dollar Joke
Most businesses treat humour like a loaded gun. Meanwhile, Southwest Airlines built a $300 million company on jokes about oxygen masks and seatbelts. Here is what they understood that their competitors never did.
2 July 2025 · 3 min read
Comedy Travels. How one fashion brand 93x’ed their reach in 2019.
One product, two different Ads – the one that made us laugh has already had 93x as many eyeballs on it. And it’s almost certainly converted a higher percentage of those into sales, too.
20 December 2019 · 4 min read
The Gorilla That Saved Cadbury
In 2007 Cadbury put a gorilla behind a drum kit for 90 seconds and said almost nothing about chocolate. It worked. Here is why one funny moment is enough.
29 October 2025 · 3 min read
Funny Marketing: Dollar Shave Club’s Success (and Failure)
When Michael Dubin was offered a warehouse full of surplus razor blades in 2012, he had a bold idea. Once he’d had a shave, he had another, even bolder idea. He founded Dollar Shave Club. It was a str
29 July 2020 · 6 min read
How Batchelors made us buy more Mushy Peas - just by making us laugh
I often find myself wondering just how much the use of humour in advertising has changed over the years – and today, I stumbled upon an advert from 25 years ago that tells me the answer to that questi
6 December 2019 · 6 min read
Why Netflix Killed Blockbuster (and What It Means for Your Marketing)
Blockbuster had every film ever made, perfectly organised. Netflix had a fraction of the selection and made you wait days for a DVD. People chose Netflix anyway. Here is the reason, and what it means for your content.
18 September 2025 · 3 min read
Yorkshire Tea: A Masterclass in Social Media Marketing Damage Control
As comedy writers, we value laughter above nearly everything else. So yeah, we’ll admit it. Every now and again, we make a joke that takes aim at somebody specific — but we always think carefully abou
25 February 2020 · 5 min read
Honeypot shows that engaging content that travels > Paid Ads that doesn’t
As a marketer (and as a former single man) I’ve seen countless Dating Apps burst onto the scene with a huge fanfare telling us all that they’re the next big thing. Some of them (like Bumble and Hinge)
3 December 2019 · 5 min read