In 2007, Cadbury aired a 90-second ad featuring a man in a gorilla suit hammering out Phil Collins’ In The Air Tonight — and not a single mention of chocolate. But it didn’t matter. Dairy Milk sales shot up by 9%, all because it made people smile.
And that’s the thing: humour works.
Insurance price comparison is famously dull. So Comparethemarket.com injected Aleksandr Orlov, a pompous Russian meerkat with a monocle and a catchphrase: “Simples.” The result?
Website traffic up 400% Market share tripled. Acquisition costs down 73%.
Aleksandr became a plush toy, a meme, and a mascot. And all because they dared to have fun with it.
John West, a humble canned salmon brand, made waves with a spoof wildlife documentary showing a fisherman kicking a bear right in its necessities. It went viral before “going viral” was a thing.
Quarterly market share: +21.7%. Peak season sales: +12.2%. Ad recall and brand recognition in the top 1% of Millward Brown’s entire database
A tin of fish. A kung-fu fight. Marketing genius.
Budweiser’s late-90s ad campaign featured a bunch of lads yelling “Whassup?!” down the phone at each other.
Sales volume +2.8% in one year. 85% ad recall. Over $100 million in earned media.
It became a cultural phenomenon. If you weren’t quoting it at school or down the pub, were you even there?
Old Spice took a dusty, Dad-like brand and gave it an absurd, confident, surreal facelift with “The Man Your Man Could Smell Like.”
Sales up 107% in a single month. 186 personalised video replies to fans = 11 million extra views. Became #1 men’s body wash in the US.
Proof that even the driest category can dazzle with a bit of humour.
Dollar Shave Club had no budget. Just a funny, low-fi video in which the founder mocked expensive razors and walked through a warehouse full of bear suits and leaf blowers.
12,000 orders in 48 hours. 25M+ YouTube views. Sold to Unilever for $1 billion.
One sharp script. One sharper brand.
When KFC ran out of chicken, they turned disaster into delight with a simple print ad: an empty bucket, and the logo rearranged to read “FCK.”
800 million media impressions. 8.6M Twitter impressions in 3 days. Positive brand sentiment increased post-crisis.
A masterclass in corporate humility, timing — and knowing when to laugh at yourself.
But why does this stuff work?
Beyond the anecdotes and viral videos lies some pretty solid psychology.
According to Oracle’s global study, 91% of consumers prefer brands that are funny, 72% would choose a brand that uses humour over one that doesn’t, and 63% would spend more with a brand that makes them laugh.
Why? Because humour creates connection. It builds trust. It cuts through the noise and — crucially — it’s memorable. A funny ad is 90% more likely to be recalled than a serious one.
As consumers, we share the content that makes us smile. We talk about it. We feel more positively toward the brand. And when it comes time to buy, we’re more likely to go with the business that gave us a chuckle, not the one that bombarded us with slogans.
What does this mean for estate agents?
Well, here’s the good news: property is full of funny moments already.
The dog that photobombed every single listing shot.
The Elvis mural in the spare bedroom.
The video tour that needed 100 takes.
You don’t need to invent a meerkat. You just need to embrace sharing the personality you already have.
Final word: funny doesn’t mean unprofessional.
It means memorable and engaging.
In an industry obsessed with “trusted, local experts,” the ones who dare to be trusted and entertaining might just have the edge.
Because as it turns out, humour isn’t just a nice-to-have… It’s a seriously effective business tool.
Simples.
Toby Martin is a trainer, consultant, and failed stand-up comedian.
