Ad Doctor: What to Expect with the Unexpected?

Commercials try a bunch of different tactics to make viewers laugh. Because one of the most effective ways to cut through the clutter is proper use of humor. Make a funny commercial, and people will talk about it for a good while. And if they're talking about your commercial it means they're at least aware of your product--a feat not so easy to achieve when you're exposed to anywhere from 150-3,000 advertisements a day (quite a wide range.)

Now, humor advertising can be risky, because many people have terrible senses of humor (as evidenced by Jay Leno's good ratings), and if someone doesn't get the joke, it's the waste of an advertisement. Or if it's the slightest bit offensive, overly-sensitive people could get turned off. Now to counter that, if it's a boring attempt at being funny, people with a good sense of humor could cringe (like I do every time Flo the irritating Progressive Insurance girl comes on the screen, or any Geico Caveman.)

But one of the greatest ways to produce humor is for the unexpected to happen. Not only does it grab the attention of anyone who was half-watching, but it also generates some laughs and spurs the viewer to watch the commercial again for anything they might have missed.

A perfect example of an excellent use of the unexpected for humor is this Old Spice commercial everyone loves so much. I've seen it plenty of times and it still hasn't gotten old. Then again, some people don't understand it at all--but I'd like to think these people aren't part of Old Spice's target demographic anyway. Nothing about it is funny in particular at first (except for the man's excellent delivery of the lines). It looks to be just a typical man talking about a shower gel, but then random unexpected stuff happens and it turns into hilarity.

Anytime a major celebrity invites an actor from a commercial onto their show, you know you made a good spot. Isaiah Mustafa, the actor from the commercial, was on Ellen DeGeneres' show explaining that the entire commercial was one long take that took over 80 tries to get right--giving me even more respect for the ad.

The moral of the story is that Old Spice took a chance on a commercial that some people might not understand, incorporating heavy use of the unexpected, and it has been a huge success. Does this mean that anytime something ridiculous happens in a commercial it will generate laughter? No. As with every advertisement, it must be well-made. But perhaps instead of focusing on corny jokes that are safe and forgettable, more advertisers should incorporate the unexpected. If done right, it makes for a far more effective spot.

Here's another excellent commercial that relies a bit on the surprise factor to create laughs. If you're a sports fan you'll get...if not, well, it's not targeted toward you anyway, so don't feel left out.