Humor is Redefining Video Marketing

From the Dollar Shave Club to the Poo~Pourri, a new generation of web based businesses are taking advantage of the marketing benefits that humor has to offer. With mockumentary style videos, these brands are going viral and going from start-up to household names within just a few weeks. So how can your brand take advantage of this sarcastic trend without going to over the top?

Consider a Mockumentary Style Video

Poo~Pourri is an incredible example of the success that creative marketing can yield. Within its first week of release, the video already amassed an impressive 10 million views on YouTube. Made by the same people that created the Orabrush video (the company now generates over $1 million a year thanks to the video), Poo~Pourri showcases the power of humor on steroids. So why do mockumentary videos like this work?

• Unique content. Remember, it’s the content of the video that drives success. Mockumentary videos are unique, compelling, informative, and extremely entertaining in nature. This not only ensures that people watch the video all the way through, but it also increases the likelihood that they will share it.
• An immediate hook. Notice how the video captures your attention within the first 10-15 seconds, ensuring that you will sit to watch the rest of it. Because the video is so short, it’s easy to watch the whole thing at any time of day.
• Optimization. From a vibrant thumbnail to optimized metadata, the production team and marketing agency obviously took the time to ensure that this video was primed for video marketing success.

With so many benefits, it’s no wonder that so many businesses are using mainstream mockumentaries on YouTube to gain attention for their business and grow their marketing efforts.

Is a Mockumentary Video Right for You?

While Poo~Pourri and DollarShaveClubshowcase the success that mockumentary advertising can yield, the reality is that this type of marketing isn’t fit for every business. Most companies that invest in mockumentary videos promote novelty items that are humorous in nature. Even if the products that they promote are serious, though, the company itself isn’t fraught with an extremely professional or corporate image. In other words, the less serious your industry is, the more creative liberty that you have in marketing. For instance, a mockumentary video may certainly be inappropriate for a healthcare business, but would be perfect for an 80s themed bowling club.

But don’t worry! Just because a mockumentary video might not be the best fit for your business, that doesn’t mean that humor has to be ruled out altogether. There’s certainly room to implement humor in any marketing campaign. However, there’s a major difference between taking advantage of humor and engaging in sarcastic video marketing.

Still, even “serious” industries can have creative liberties for fun and humor in their videos. Let’s travel to Nashville, TN, where this local ad for a lawyer has taken off: