How Making People Smile, Think Or Even Dislike You Can Be Good For Your Brand.

Someone told me a long time ago that “people buy from people” and so when selling your products and services you should be yourself. So what if you are a quirky individual with a wicked sense of humour who runs a shoe shop, restaurant, flower shop, etc.? Well traditional views would have you acting in a friendly, professional demeanour at all times, which of course is correct, but that same view would strip you of all your personality too.

Those old enough will remember a very famous ad that Apple ran on television. It was based on Orwell’s book “1984” and its only daytime airing was on Sunday 22nd of January 1984. The ad portrayed the then leading partnership of IBM and Microsoft as the soul-crushing Big Brother, stifling creativity and individualism.

Back then this was seen as an incredible advance in advertising and branding, but it barely touched the approach taken by modern companies like Google, Facebook, Starbucks, Ben & Jerry’s and T.G.I. Friday, to name a few. These companies don’t just portray themselves in a quirky and unique way, they are the total embodiment of thinking and acting differently. They even interview differently in order to hire the right type of person that will help them to maintain their quirky eco-system. Imagine going for an interview at Google and being asked “You have a closet full of shirts. It’s very hard to find a shirt. So what can you do to organize your shirts for easy retrieval?” or “How many golf balls can fit in a school bus?” or famously “How much should you charge to wash all the windows in Seattle?”

So you are wondering whether this kind of thing can apply to any company, large or small. The answer is yes. The only difference is the amount of quirkiness involved. Obviously if you are a funeral director or investment bank, your opportunity to be quirky will be somewhat curtailed (although it’s still possible); but for everyone else you can explore the realms of possibilities in order to make people laugh or think.

And yes, even making people dislike you can work, but you have to really know what you are doing. Ryanair is a prime example of this with CEO Michael O’Leary going out of his way to reinforce the no-frills nature of his cheap flights ethos. There is no denying that the approach of (and I am paraphrasing here) “if you want the cheapest flight book with us, if you want anything more f*** off!” has certainly worked. But remember that they also have the deep pockets to pay for the times when their ads or statements back-fire.

But as much as I am advocating for you to be quirky, witty or controversial, remember that you can’t force this. If you are a conservative individual/company that tries to be quirky you’ll get found out and ultimately it could damage your business. It has to be you or you have to fully embrace the change for it to become a successful strategy.

I had two really good examples of this where I was once asked to review a website for a potential client. They sold printer cartridges and toner. Their site was pretty conservative and basic, but one of the menu items was “Humour”. On that page was a series of rather risqué jokes. The whole thing was simply inappropriate and executed badly. There was no reason for it, it was just there, like a guy standing at the back of a funeral in a Spider-Man outfit! Furthermore, the owner of the business was not a funny guy, if anything he was rather dour, which made the disconnect even more jarring.

The second example, on the other hand, was an email I received from a business coach. It was around Valentine ’s Day and he closed off the email with three Valentine related jokes. They were innocent but very funny. However, the whole email, including the business part of it was written in a familiar and disarming way, so that by the time I reached the jokes I was kind of “ready” for them. There was no disconnect. I had also previously met this person and although he was very professional, he did his business with a glint in his eye and a wit that had you laughing as much as thinking.

So, embrace you quirkiness and free your humour. It doesn’t have to be about full-page ads in national magazines. It might just be a single line on a product label, an image or tagline on your vans or a daily witty comment on your street sign. It can all work to make you memorable.