Did you hear the one about the family in Ohio who sits down to dinner and all of a sudden the little sister finds a grasshopper leg in the salad?
I don’t hear you laughing. You can bet the little girl didn’t. Or the supermarket that sold the packaged greens. Or the grower to whose field the lettuce was traced.
The seriousness of food industry issues — safety, nutrition, heart health, obesity, government regulations — doesn’t make its business-to-business trade press a hotbed of funny ads.
However, are we to assume that all industry marketing has to be buttoned up and wearing a tie? That food scientists, engineers and executives leave their humanity and senses of humor out in the parking lot? That you’re only entitled to wit when you’re a consumer?
As a business-to-business writer, it’s my contention that we’re all consumers, all of the time. The point is that … well, there has to be a point, if humor is to be used successfully. Food industry people don’t have the stomach — or the time —for irrelevance.
“People can be entertained and amused by marketing,” says Jay Conrad Levinson, author of Guerrilla Creativity. “But when they have a problem, the last thing they want is a belly laugh. They want a solution, and they want it fast.”
Sometimes you can point to that solution in a way that elicits a grin of recognition along with a reason to buy. Teri Johnson, an industry manager at Key Technology, a developer of food inspection systems, says, “We don’t overuse it, but we’re not scared of using humor in appropriate situations. We know we need to get a reader’s attention first if they’re going to get our message.”
Key got attention for a trade show exhibit with an e-mailer and large booth graphic that featured a ladybug in gag glasses, nose and mustache and the line, “Foreign material will try anything to get into your produce.” Right beside the graphic of the blatant imposter was Key’s new laser sorting solution. Light? On the surface. Relevant? To the fresh produce market, reeling from a recent contamination crisis, very.
That’s the beauty of business-to-business ads — you can appeal to a targeted audience of fellow travelers within a specific industry niche; an audience who “gets” the set-up and has reason to respond to your offer.
Consider a recent ad in Food Processing that shows a less-than-counter-high child reaching stealthily for a plate of cookies. “We found a way to remove the sugar without removing the temptation,” says the advertiser, Cargill. It’s a “lite” lead-in with implied solutions for bakery product designers who face an increasingly health-conscious market. Humor done through visuals and backed up with a solution in copy usually works best.
The tightrope between funny and obnoxious can be slippery. Humor for the sake of humor is a waste of everyone’s time and your money. Be sure that your humor is appropriate both to your customer and to your product before you step out there. Don’t let the tail wag the dog.
• Be aware that some attempts at humor won’t translate across age levels, cultures or, certainly, languages.
• Avoid the risqué or double-entendre. You’re in someone’s office, for Pete’s sake.
• Don’t demean or disparage.
• Use humor to move the reader to your big selling point.
And make sure that selling point is unmistakably linked to you. Keep in mind the horror story about the millions spent on a hilarious Super Bowl ad for a soft drink. Polls showed it to be one of the highest recalled after the game. Unfortunately, another survey showed that the majority of respondents named another brand as the advertiser.
While food processing is no joke, humor doesn’t need to be banned from the premises. If you remember that you’re aiming for a smile of recognition and a sale, not a huge laugh, a light touch can be used to serious advantage.
Contact us if you’d like help putting thought and strategy to your B2B food marketing.
Topics: business-to-business, Naming
Thanks, Teri. Great to have you following us.