In this presentation, Jonny Excell from O2 and Stuart Yeardsley from 3 Monkeys take us through their experiences of how brands are using humour.

1. In partnership with:
#lolcomms

2. Jonny Excell
Social Media Manager
O2
In partnership with:

3. Funny business in
engagement
Jonny Excell @jonnyexcell

4. What we do…
Where it all began and
how our approach has
evolved…
How we get funny when
the time’s right…
But not too funny…

5. Across all our channels we
probably have on average ten
thousand incoming messages
every week.
All people *seeking solutions
*complaining

6. This is how we do it…
Head of social
Social media marketing
Community management
Customer service through social
Press team
Directors
High level
complaints
Business HR
Marcomms
Online
CSR

7. Helpful
Funny
Informative
*Our philosophy
*borrowed from Twitter
Try to be
more than
one of these
at once

8. It started with a network outage…

9. What happened when our network didn’t work…
200,000 angry people
*seeking solutions
*complaining
**very 
A lot of them were
**pretty mean 
We didn’t realise it’d
be a social media
opportunity

10. How we turned the tide using humour
Answer like a human being
Judge the situation for what it is.
Respond formally when needed
Don’t come across cocky or arrogant
This was nothing new. It was just
done in a more high profile setting

11. Best. Graph. Ever.

12. Every interaction is an opportunity to entertain

13. Enter Tunde
Helpful + funny
Speaking to people in the way they
speak to us
Allowing our people to have the
freedom to act on the opportunity

14. Enter Alexa
Seeking out these
opportunities proactively
The whole team looks out
for these

15. Enter Ashleigh
We aim to be with you
within fifteen minutes
Given the public nature,
these things happen all the
time
Customers can come and
go because of them

16. Proactively using humour

17. Sometimes it’s a dangerous world out there

18. Knowing when and when not to
Gets away with it
Doesn’t get away with it
Gets away
with it
Doesn’t get
away with it
Low post
sensitivity
High post
sensitivity
Low post
sensitivity
High post
sensitivity

19. At the end of the day. No brand would
want to be seen as the playground bully.
Playful and mischievous, yes. But there’s
no need to be mean.

20. The secret to humour is surprise - Aristotle

22. Takeaways
Give your people the creative freedom to interact in
the way they think’s right in the moment
Be funny. But be helpful.
Try to be surprising and do something unexpected.
Don’t pick on people.

23. Thanks
@jonnyexcell

24. Stuart Yeardsley
Creative Director
3 Monkeys Communications
In partnership with:

25. HELLO!
#LOLcomms
Stuart Yeardsley
3 Monkeys Communications

26. Brands and banter: The science and art of using humour to engage
and entertain
Why brands need to get more creative to engage audiences
How emotion (humour) kindles the fire
How brands are using humour (emotion) to connect with audiences

27. EXPECTATION ECONOMY

28. HEDONIC TREADMILL

29. BLADE RUNNER EFFECT

30. “Surrounded by unpleasant world events, people
are jumping at the first opportunity to escape.”
Trends theorist Jeffrey Miller

31. Satire
Slapstick
Surreal
Surprise
Soft

32. Great examples of humour past and present

33. And more recently…

35. Kindling the fire: the science of physiological arousal

36. “I’ve learned that people will forget what you
said, people will forget what you did, but people
will never forget how you made them feel.”
Maya Angelou

37. CONTAGIOUS CONTENT

38. Multi award winning @ Cannes Lions: Humour to communicate a serious
message

39. Humour to make an otherwise dry subject engaging

40. Real time humour: an alternative perspective

41. Real time humour: News creation

42. Real time humour: Engaging with your audience

43. Driving reappraisal through humour

44. Turning the everyday on its head with humour

45. Madame Tussauds hires first
tissue attendant
Humour: Become an entertainment brand

46. Humour: Tell your story visually

47. When humour isn’t funny…

48. When humour isn’t funny…

49. When humour isn’t funny…

50. What are the lessons here?
Understand your audience
Be careful with humour: most things that are funny can offend someone
Quite funny doesn’t cut it – does it pass the ‘banter’ test?
Be joined up across communications
Be authentic
If unsure, chuck it out
Remember entertainment can take many forms

51. Entertain me and I’ll spend time with you