Humour in marketing: Ryan Reynolds feat. Peloton example

Our last blog post was on humour, and come on now, who does humour better than sarcastic-enthusiast, Deadpool-actor Ryan Reynolds? Nobody, that’s who.

You might have heard this Hollywood star mention it once or twice in Deadpool “maximum effort” – which is also the name of his agency company.

(“Maximum Effort makes movies, tv series, content, ads and cocktails for the amusement of Hollywood Star Ryan Reynolds.”)

One of his latest advertising campaigns features plenty of humour and scenes of nudity – because everything is more creative when it includes nude men or women, right?

The ad for Peloton features a nude 61-year-old Law and Order actor, Christopher Meloni. Which came about after Meloni had previously said that he likes to work out at his home in the nude.

But what’s really great (and such a classic Reynolds move) is that the ad doesn’t take itself seriously at all. It’s not funny because Meloni is nude, it’s funny because it presents something quite mundane (the Peloton workout app) and it casts it in an unforgettable light.

Watch the video below:

Humour makes it more memorable

And shouldn’t all marketing campaigns and ads be memorable?

If you want your marketing campaign to stand the test of time (or even just be talked about for the next couple of weeks) then you need to do something different; stand out from the crowd and create something from a different angle (as is literally seen in this ad, when Meloni bends down and the audience gets a still-blurred-out eyeful of his under section.)

But remember, humour doesn’t always suit all marketing campaigns, so make sure you think about your audience before you go ahead and hit publish.