The power of creative wit.

I recently commented on a LinkedIn post which highlighted IKEA’s slightly puzzling headline for garden furniture. The post pointed out that the limited dwell time might leave viewers confused. It was a spot-on assessment – at first glance it looks like a typo. But after a little more dwell time came the rewarding moment of realisation… it’s a clever play on words (something IKEA does brilliantly).

I’m a big fan of creative wit; I adore double entendres, puns, and genius graphic design. I love designing and writing too – you can get real satisfaction from it, like making someone laugh. In fact, a lot of creative advertising follows the comedy principle; the set-up leads the audience down a familiar path, only for the punchline to take them in a different direction. It often works in reverse by starting with the punchline (the IKEA ad). But for this to be successful, the viewer must be given the opportunity to find their way back to the familiar. When it’s done well, such wit is hugely memorable because of the journey the viewer takes in their mind. Whether it’s humorous or thought-provoking, the creative needs to find balance by adding cues that make comprehension easier; not too obvious – they need to work a little (where’s the reward otherwise?) and not too baffling – they’re not applying to join Mensa. If the audience feels excluded by creative that’s “too clever”, it will have the opposite effect and alienate rather than draw customers in. Conversely, if the cues are too easy, the audience isn’t engaged.

But the Designer’s satisfaction I mentioned is a danger; there’s a temptation to simply appear clever and add unnecessary difficulty to the audience’s journey. I often need to check myself, especially when having a go at the Wash-a-Pig Wednesday headline writing challenge on LinkedIn – there’s a competitiveness when answering; can I write the best headline? Am I trying to be too clever? There’s no harm starting with something too clever, the fun comes from developing the idea so the leap to understanding is smaller, signposted for everyone to follow.

I don’t see as much wit in creative these days (although it's true I don’t get out much). To me it seems that the clever idea rarely gets past the boardroom, perhaps because there’s a fear of trying something new or different with their budgets. Everything is focused on a clear call to action, and how many million impressions each digital platform can conjure by pitting ads against each other in a 3-second fight for attention. Why not try something different? Give your creative stand out... Be more like IKEA... Appeal to your audience with relevancy... Integrate your campaigns with a mix of shouty attention grabs and print (yes, print)... Develop radio ads written by a human and pair it with well-placed, high footfall OOH... Watch our webinar on maximising your reach using smart creative and even smarter tactics!