Maybe you’ve been lucky enough to have been flying Southwest Airlines when a flight attendant broke into an in-air comedy routine. Or perhaps you’re a fan of those hilarious Old Spice commercials. Either way, humor grabbed your attention. 

The good feeling you got from the humor expanded into a good feeling about the company. And that’s just one of the reasons to use humor in your brand, says CMC Comedy Keynote Andrew Tarvin. 

Andrew kicked off the Comedy sessions for Content Marketing Conference 2021 with his presentation Now That’s Funny: It’s All About Your Brand’s Personality. It focused—not surprisingly—on different brand personalities with relation to humor. 

Those humor personalities are: 

  • Appreciator
  • Curator
  • Creator
  • Performer
  • Engineer
  • Advocate

Appreciator 

Appreciator brands enjoy and celebrate the humor of others. They’re big on taking a moment to enjoy a bit of joy. And multiple people can benefit from just a little appreciation. 

Curator 

Curator brands excel at finding existing humor, and then sharing or re-using it to build the image of their own brand. Just make sure you give proper credit and don’t violate any copyrights. 

Think: “The Hustle” newsletter sharing Friday shower thoughts, curated from Reddit. Or those sidewalk chalkboard signs outside of restaurants sharing a well-known, chuckle-provoking quote. 

Creator 

Creator brands rock at crafting humorous material that works on the page as copy. You can go small, with humorous posts in your social feed, or go large, making humor a part of your brand’s character. 

Think: Wendy’s social media feed. Or the stand-out toilet paper company WhoGivesACrap.com

Performer 

Performer brands are also terrific at crafting humorous material, but it’s the type you’ll find being performed. As masters of setup and delivery, they’re not shy about showcasing their own talent. 

Think: Geico, definitely Geico. Old Spice commercials fall into this category, too. 

Engineer 

Engineer brands are great at creating humorous material, too—but they use it as a way to solve problems for their consumers. 

Think: Andrew’s brand of HumorThatWorks.com aces this one. So does Ikea, with humorous side notes woven into their furniture assembly instructions. 

Advocate 

Advocate brands create a space for other people to create humor, building a community. 

Think: Southwest Airlines, which gives employees the space to let loose and have fun. Customers have been enjoying things like on-air comedy routines and layover “gate games” for years. 

Extra Credit: Skeptic 

One last type of brand made the list at the last minute. Skeptic brands thumb their noses at the use of humor. 

They’re great at creating boring content. 

Additional perks of Andrew’s session included a rundown on creating humor styleguide to keep your brand’s use of humor consistent, along with tons of examples and tidbits for even greater success. 

Definitely a must-see for brands that want to dabble in humor to grab attention and score big points with customers. Check out Andrew’s keynote.CMC 2021 runs from April 27 to 29. If you miss any live keynotes, their recordings will be posted shortly after their presentations. You also get a jam-packed agenda with more than 50 sessions from marketing pros covering the six pillars of content marketing. Start learning now.