Woof. That commercial was so much fun that it almost made me turn off the road and find a flock of ducks waiting to cross the street. Thank goodness there was a stop sign there to prevent my car from hitting an innocent man. charlatans.
For some, that situation can evoke a feeling of dread and horror. For others, the absurd setting and situation are really funny. Humor is in the eye of the beholder when it comes to radio commercials. What is fun for some will not be fun for others. The problem with most commercials designed to be funny is the fact that they are not “funny” at all.
The process is often like this.
- A professional scriptwriting team creates a really fun concept or theme for a commercial.
- It is then translated into a fun radio commercial script.
- The script is sent to the company requesting the funny commercial for their review and comments.
- The business is passed on to EVERYONE in the office, close family members, second cousins, and someone, “Aunt Mary,” who made an amazing taco dip for July 4, 1993.
- The 30-second script is returned to the radio commercial production company with enough additions to make it last three minutes and look nothing like its original start.
- The radio commercial production agency informs the client that it cannot change the laws of physics and needs to “edit the script by time.” The new edition lacks humor because the client wants the 32 points made by the staff and the teenage daughter in the final commercial.
- The ad is approved, recorded and not funny at all.
How do you prevent this from happening to your radio ad?
Keep the “feedback” loop small and limit it to the target demographic of the people you want to reach in the commercial. So if your message is going after a 35-year-old woman with 3 kids, ONLY get the message out to someone who fits that demonstration. If you are going after a 42 year old male hunter ONLY pass him by that type of person.
Getting feedback on a funny radio commercial from people who don’t intend to find it funny will be of no value to you. It will only put doubts in your mind about the humor level of the commercial. Keep the feedback on target and your commercial will be on target.
