An eBook with insights from the experts on how to properly mix humor with brands. What makes the secrets to branded humor so elusive is that there is no single solution and hardly any firm rules. But we’ve probed our expert panelists for their thoughts, favorite examples and asked them to break it down – how does branded humor work? We looked at some of the best examples and drew some insights. Read on to learn how brands can step past the fear of using comedy and learn to better engage with their consumers.

1. An eBook with insights from the
experts on how to properly usehumor for brandsWinning with Wit Branded Entertainment and the Age of Viral Humor

2. Ho
w to Win with Wit in the Age of Viral Humor Our Experts in Viral Humor 3 4 4 6 9 11 10 12 7 5 How Branded Humor Works 8 Stephanie Agresta, MSLGROUP Damon Berger, What’s Trending Brian Janosch, Cultivated Wit Quinn Kilbury, Newcastle Brown Ale Jonah Minton, Fullscreen Jaco Peeringa, VIMN North Europe President Obama Musters the Courage to Create a Comedic Connection WestJet Creates an Emotional Brand Experience that Makes You Laugh Kids Provide a Funny Prism into an Alternate Reality Comedy Central Offers A Second Screen for Comic Engagement Table of Contents
13 What's Trending Delivers an OnlineComedy Festival for Charity
@DiGiornoPizza "Newsjacks"
14
The Sound of Music
P
ower of Laughter from Comedy Central 15

3. How to win with wit
How
to Win with Wit Come Prepared to Play Find a Breakthrough Strategic Approach for Humor Understand The Potential Strong emotionalconnection withthe target Powerful tie to pop culture Seen as a trend-setter and a conversation leader Admired forcourage Courage and confidence A brand must be willing to face the risk involved in order to take advantage of the great opportunity. Strong brand “sense of self” When a brand has a clear understanding what it is all about, it is able to properly align its voice to the right notes of humor. Acute understanding of the target Since humor varies by audience segment, the brand must possess a deep understanding of the target's sense of funny. Clear ethical guideposts Strong ethical guidelines are what keeps the brand on the rails. Talent with the skill to make clear, smart real-time decisions Humor lives in the moment and funny reactions to events require those whose judgment is quick and trusted. Access to professional funny people Nothing is worse than a lame joke. Humor must be professionally executed. Real-time content creation capability In today's fast-paced social world, real-time content is what carries the joke. Ability to pick up the pieces when things go wrong What happens when things go wrong? There needs to be some contingency planning. Does the brand have the fortitude to resolve discontent and move on. FPace-to-facewith opular Comics

4. -
of Social Media, W
eber Shandwick. She served as EVP, Digital Strategy and Social Media for Porter Novelli before that. Our Experts in Viral Humor
Stephanie Agresta is MSLGROUP's Global Director of Social Media and Digital and has been recognized as both a thought leader and hands on counselor in social and digital media for 15 years. In the course of her career, Agresta has been instrumental in developing digital and social media initiatives for major brands such as Samsung, Unilever, PepsiCo, Microsoft, HP and P&G. Prior to joining MSLGROUP, Stephanie was the EVP, Managing Director Stephanie thinkS…
If you can make people laugh, you can get them to engage and buy. Viral humor requires a deep knowledge of the target, a smart understanding of how they are plugged into pop culture and their sense of humor, along with a feel for real-time cadence and a good dose of courage. The reward is a powerful emotional connection with the audience.
A key metric to measuring success in online video is to look at video shares. How successful your brand is in incentivizing the audience to share videos with their own social network is the metric by which you were able to naturally create brand advocacy—true earned social media. Comedy content is among the easiest way to do this. Comedy engages emotions quickly in an attention-starved online economy and crosses language barriers. But, of course, first it has to be good. Good branded comedy content has to have an authentic and unique voice, where the brand is part of the story, not the sole focal point. And the content cannot ‘pull punches’ which can be difficult for some brand marketing organizations to navigate.
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St
ephanie Agresta Global Director of Social Media and Digital, MSLGROUP Damon Berger is the CEO of What's Trending, a primetime Emmy-nominated daily, live center of the online video universe, bringing audiences the hottest videos and personalities every day. With major brand partners that include Samsung, Radio Shack, Virgin Mobile, AT&T, and distribution via YouTube, Virgin America, USA Today, and many others, What's Trending is an exploding new media brand. Damon Berger CEO, What's Trending
Damon sayS…

5. Brian points out…
The potential for executing comedy extends far beyond a funny slogan, goofy character, or well-timed tweet. Technology has exploded the number of touch points between message senders and receivers. Comedy is not relegated to catchphrases or billboard copy; it can rear its head in email newsletters, website footers, error pages, YouTube annotations, Facebook comments, fake Yelp pages, and the list goes on. Hell, comedy today can be executed using the computer code itself, not just the copy and design. The deeper you dig into any humor- based idea, the more appreciation you can garner from anybody who discovers it.
Brian Janosch
is Creative Director and resident Midwesterner at Cultivated Wit, a creative agency that combines comedy, technology, design, and whiskey. He has held several titles in media and comedy including writing, editing, project managing, product developing and web strategizing. Janosch is presently a writer at large for The Onion, where he previously worked for five years as deputy managing editor.
Quinn explains his in-your-face style…
According to Ad Week's Andrew McMains, under Quinn Kilbury's leadership, Newcastle Brown Ale has adopted an “in-your-face, no-apologies marketing approach,” including a spoof Super Bowl commercial that never aired with Anna Kendrick. “Kendrick's spoof—part of a two-week, all-digital marketing push around the Super Bowl dubbed “If We Made It”—appeared five days before the game and obtained 5.2 million views.”
“We're not competing with Anheuser-Busch—we're competing with Justin Bieber and cute kittens,” Kilbury told AdWeek. He explained that he believes effective marketing takes more than just being funny. “It has got to be interesting and compelling, like you have to click on this versus clicking on the cute kitten,” he said. Read the AdWeek story on Kilbury here.
Brian Janosch
Creative Director, Cultivated Wit
Quinn Kilbur
y is the Brand Director on Newcastle Brown Ale at Heineken USA. Kilbury feels fortunate to be able to turn his love of beer into a profession, having segued over to Heineken in August 2013 from PepsiCo, where he had spent three years, most recently as Senior Brand Manager. Prior to that, Kilbury held leadership roles at General Mills. He spent his early career days working on the agency side. Quinn Kilbury Brand Director, Newcastle Brown Ale
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6. Ou
r Experts in Viral Humor Jonah sayS… The best way a brand can get involved in comedy content online is through thematic alignment vs branded entertainment. At Fullscreen, we have seen some fantastic case studies with our top comedy and entertainment channel, The Fine Brothers, and their hit format “React” which has garnered over a billion views for the series. The Fines have mastered the art of thematic alignment with their brand partners by keeping the focus on their editorial and comedic voice while allowing the brand to be a hero through association of the storyline which ties into their marketing objectives in a fun and engaging way. Jonah Minton is SVP of Sales and Brand Strategy at Fullscreen, a global youth media company representing the most influential content creators in social media. Previously, Jonah was Vice President of Sales at Ustream, the leading live streaming interactive video platform, where he oversaw the national sales team. Prior to Ustream, Jonah worked at MySpace Video, where he developed original programming and branded entertainment for Fortune 500 clients. Jonah received his B.A. in English literature at the University of California, Berkeley and his Masters in Music from the University of Southern California. In his spare time, Jonah enjoys hanging out with his beautiful wife Jocelyn, taking walks with his dog Sadie, playing saxophone, composing music and listening to Blue Note albums from the 1960s. Jonah Minton SVP, Sales, Fullscreen | Winning with Wit |6

7. Ou
r Experts in Viral Humor Jaco Peeringa is responsible for brand PR & Corporate Communications of all Comedy Central Channels in North Europe and other VIMN entertainment channels (VIVA, Blink!). Based in Amsterdam, Jaco has been in his position since early 2012. He previously was manager of PR and sponsorships for UPC, the second largest cable operator in The Netherlands. Jaco has also held positions as the Manager of Marketing and Communications for AVRO (Algemene Vereniging Radio Omroep or "General Association of Radio Broadcasting"), a Dutch public broadcasting association operating within the framework of the Nederlandse Publieke Omroep system. He has also held different Sales, Marketing and Communications roles within SBS broadcasting (now 33 % owned by John de Mol’s Talpa and 66 % by Sanoma Media). Early in his career, he was production editor of “Brutale Meiden” (Cheeky Girls), the top show in The Netherlands among youth and kids, 13-24. Jaco Peeringa Director, Public Relations & Communications Comedy & Entertainment Viacom International Media Networks Northern Europe
According to Jaco…
Humor is serious business. Comedy Central is the favorite comedy brand for young adults because we are always relevant, slightly absurd, easy accessible, brutally honest, worth sharing and always available wherever they want a good laugh.
We do a lot of research on our consumers and with studies like the Power of Laughter and InfluenCCe me.
Our Power of Laughter study is a multi-layer and multi-district investigation into how beneficial laughter can be. The survey shows how much more involved the audience gets when subjected to fun and humorous content. We confirm the theory that laughter really is the best medicine for the mind, body and soul, and that humor increases commitment in a positive way.
In our latest multi-country study, InfluenCCe me, our research department took a closer look at consumers’ word-of-mouth potential and revealed major differences in the influencing power of TV channel audiences. Across all countries, the Comedy Central audience provides the biggest share of “influential innovators” – consumers that show a high social influence on others and adopt brands and services at a very early stage. The multi-country study was conducted online in Germany, Netherlands, Poland and Sweden with 4,000 respondents aged 16-49, and was enriched with a qualitative deep-dive via an online community.
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8. How Branded Humor Works
What makes the secrets to branded humor so elusive is that there is no single solution and hardly any firm rules. But we’ve probed our expert panelists for their thoughts, favorite examples and asked them to break it down – how does branded humor work? We looked at some of the best examples and drew some insights.
Branded humor certainly comes with its share of fear: fear of a joke that will fall flat, an unforeseen insult or anger among a critical constituency.
That’s why the first step toward comedy requires mustering the courage to try it. That’s no easy task for many brands. Comedy comes with a willingness to lose a bit of control.
It also needs to sync with deep knowledge of the target. Humor changes from generation to generation. To make it work, a marketer needs to fully understand the underlying funny bone of who they are trying to reach. What’s more, much of humor plays off the real-time cadence in the world of the target; the brand needs to live in the space and understand the dynamics, the subtleties and subtext.
Like other contemporary communications campaigns, most of the humor campaigns we looked at ran across disciplines, channels and screens. The jokes didn’t necessarily exist in one place. Instead they became an ongoing gag that surrounded the target making memorable connections points throughout his or her day.
Humor is an emotional connection and, when properly developed, the bond between the comedy and the target is often stronger than other communications. In many cases, the humor itself steps out in front of the brand, pulling it along into a strong relationship with the consumer.
Across these best examples, the humor took on a variety of forms, generally customized to meet the brand needs. Children were sometimes used to provide a transparent view of an unacceptable alternate reality. Second screens were used. Pranks were played. Events were famously newsjacked and parodied in social media. Of course, epic mistakes have been made as well.
What does ring through is that in nearly all cases, the viral humor campaigns drove outstanding results.
We asked our experts for some their favorite humor campaigns.
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9. President Obama on Between Two Ferns.
President Obama Musters the Courage to Create a Comedic Connection
President Obama’s interview segment on the “Between Two Ferns” web series from “Funny or Die” was certainly the most high-profile marketing-oriented comedy segment produced in 2014. The interview was conducted in March by Zach Galifianakis best known from The Hangover films. The episode promoted the government website, healthcare.gov, to millennials.
The marketing need was to drive young healthy people to sign up with the insurance exchanges and make the exchanges financially viable. Against a backdrop of the failing website, the White House made an out-of-thebox and unexpected choice -- comedic influencer Zach Galifianakis to help it abruptly stem the tide in public criticism and millennial inaction.
“This was a pretty monumental video for a couple reasons,” Brian Janosh, the Creative Director of Cultivated Wit said. “1.) The President chose to do an internet video over something similar on TV, which tells you something. 2.) They chose to do something rooted in comedy, rather than something sincere. 3.) The video is funny first. They realized the value in putting the comedy part over the branded part, which ultimately made the whole effort more endearing, watchable, and memorable.”
But the effort required a bold conviction that building a comedic connection was the best connection, not to mention a large dose of both courage and rehearsal time on the part of President Obama.
But, the results underscore the smart strategy. The spot reached about a quarter of the young Americans that the White House was targeting. Literally overnight FunnyorDie.com became the leading source of referrals to healthcare.gov. And, the healthcare.gov website saw a 40% increase in traffic the day after the event.
Not only did the effort have an immediate impact on the business at hand, but the viral humor video softened Mr. Obama’s image with a public losing patience.
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10. WestJet Christmas Miracle: Real-Time Giving
WestJet Creates an Emotional Brand Experience that Makes You Laugh
In December 2013, WestJet created “Christmas Miracle: Real-time Giving.” The Canadian airline brand later described how it “aspired to spread the joy of the season by activating something remarkable, sentimental, and interactive for its guests and employees.” The airline “delighted unsuspecting travelers with a real-time holiday surprise that delivered personalized gifts to guests arriving in Calgary as part of a true ‘Christmas Miracle,’” it explained in a Shorty Award entry. The result was a viral ad that captivated the Canadian public and others around the world and rode the crest of its popularity to rank among the top five global viral ads in 2013.
According to Quinn Kilbury, the ad projects a combination of emotion and humor in a completely brand-appropriate tone. “I had never heard of WestJet and now would love to fly them. So human,” said Kilbury.
The ad increased WestJet’s sales by 86% compared to the same period last year, despite no media dollars spent.
Based around a parody of the “Grinch Who Stole Christmas,” this story delivered exactly the opposite result. The video was highlighted by the surprising and delightful reaction of children, elderly passengers and others to the digital Santa calling out their name along with the slapstick rush of employees shopping for the presents. The story culminated in the reaction of the passengers seeing the stream of presents coming down the conveyer belt only to realize the gifts were for them.
To Kilbury’s point, throughout the story, elements were meticulously branded – from a Santa dressed in blue to packages carefully wrapped in the brand’s colors.
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11. Kids React to OldComputers
Kids Provide a Funny Prism into
an Alternate Reality
The pure transparency in the reaction of children works especially well as a comedic technique.
Jonah Minton, SVP Sales, Fullscreen, points to The Fine Brothers’ “Kids React to Old Computers” which spotlights the pure reaction of children forced to step out of their element. In this case, the tech-savvy kids are asked to step back three decades and test the old Apple II computers with their green-on-black screens, floppy discs, oversized casing and multiple switches. The video promoted AMC’s TV series, “Halt and Catch Fire,” about an insider’s view of the personal computer revolution set in 1983.
In what is a time travelogue at its core, the video uses the children’s shocking reactions to a different reality to underscore how much has changed in computing over the course of thirty years.
Minton points to the results for the promotional marketing strategy. “AMC sponsored the video a few days before the launch of their show and it quickly became a viral video out of the gate with some of the highest levels of engagement we have seen for a brand alignment, including 110k Likes, 33k comments and 23k+ shares,” Minton said. The video received over 13 million organic views.
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12. Comedy Central's #CC24 - The 24 Hour Marathon
Comedy Central Offers A Second Screen for Comic Engagement
TV network Comedy Central, home of shows such as South Park and The Daily Show, asked MSLGROUP to come up with a smart, inexpensive way of announcing the premiere of the channel’s new 24/7 local broadcasting in Sweden. They also wanted to connect their brand further with comedy, creativity and fun.
And what better way to demonstrate that you now can tune in to Comedy Central for a laugh anytime you want, than to actually have someone watch it for 24 straight hours? So, MSLGROUP invited two favorite Swedish comedians to watch Comedy Central nonstop from noon to noon, while being broadcast live on the web. Based on the new way of watching traditional TV with the integrated experience of a second screen, the comedians commented on the shows together with the viewers and engaged with them through social media and the live broadcast. All unrestricted, unscripted and improvised.
The budget was minimal, with no funds to buy advertising, and instead of renting a studio the team built a makeshift one themselves – in a standard conference room down the hall at its office. The event included a number of crazy challenges for the comedians, a number of surprise guests to keep them awake, a few cases of energy drinks as life-support, and the fun began.
There were only two rules: no sleeping and no leaving the room. Other than that, the comedians were given full liberty to do, say and come up with anything they wanted. And during 24 hours, we learned that really anything can happen.
The results: Comedy Central had its best month ever in the main target group of 18-34 year olds with a 118% increase in viewer ratings. Visitations to the Comedy Central website increased by over 500%. The hashtag #CC24 was the top trending hashtag in Twitter in Sweden during 3 of the 24 hours.
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13. 2nd Annual Tubeathon Returns 12/12 As YouTube's Modern Day Telethon
What’s Trending Delivers an Online Comedy Festival for Charity
What’s Trending created a holiday charity Tube-a-Thon two years ago with the world’s biggest YouTube stars performing a mix of comedy and music, essentially the online version of what happens when a holiday comedy special meets a charity telethon. In 2012, the event was sponsored by Virgin Mobile and in 2013 by the Ford Fiesta movement.
The event was a livestreamed holiday party featuring the biggest YouTube stars and Hollywood celebrities.
In 2012, according to the Huffington Post, “the show included the Epic Meal Time gang uniting with Doug Benson to build a gingerbread house, a holiday medley from Pentatonix, eggnog making with DailyGrace and Hannah Hart, the magic of Justin Willman and a hilarious Shaytards gift exchange. The show itself was the #3 Twitter trend in the U.S., and raised thousands of dollars for Covenant House.”
During the annual two-hour holiday themed livestream in December 2013, millennial audiences were engaged to share branded social media, Ford donated $1 for every tweet with the hashtag #Tubeathon or #FiestaMovement to the Covenant House (a charity dedicated to fighting youth homelessness). The event was a smash hit, generating over 167 million social impressions.
In exchange for making the donations, the brand was positioned as the charity hero, and was fully integrated into promotional content. The brand hashtag enabled branded engagement with the millennial target audience, allowing them a means to participate themselves by donating to a relevant cause.
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14. @DiGiornoPizza “Newsjacks”
The Sound of Music
@DiGiornoPizza made its splash into the Twitter
sphere of comedy in 2014 by live tweeting the much
heralded live television event – The Sound of Music
with Carrie Underwood. Each of the tweets famously
spun one of the iconic musical’s moments with a pizza
theme. The event helped make the DiGiorno Pizza
branded Twitter feed one of the most hilarious in
the world.
Dough, Ray, Me = Pizza party with me and a guy
named Ray. #TheSoundOfMusicLive
THE KITCHEN IS ALIVE, WITH THE SMELL OF
FRESH-BAKED PIZZA #TheSoundOfMusicLive
Hey guys, next time you’re scared of a storm make
a few pizzas instead of waking up the whole house
yodeling #TheSoundOfMusicLive
SO LONG, FAREWELL, THE PIZZA’S GONE
NO REASON TO BE HERE ANYMORE
#TheSoundOfMusicLive
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Zach Basner, the founder of Wild Boy, overviewed the
success of the campaign: “Large captive audience?
Check. Controversial topic? Check. Add in a little
humor and you’ve gone viral.”
Of course, there’s a dangerous edge to the strategy
and @DiGiorno has fallen prey. On September 8,
the DiGiorno twitter feed accidentally newsjacked
the hashtag #WhyIStayed which was being used
by women’s groups to explain why they stayed in
relationships with domestic violence in the aftermath
of the Ray Rice/NFL domestic violence incident.
The brand tweeted “You had pizza” to the trending
hashtag #WhyIStayed, sparking outrage from the
women telling their stories. It was an epic Twitter fail;
the brand apologized individually on Twitter to those
it offended, admitting it neglected to read what the
hashtag was all about.
As more brands move into the humor space, the
lessons from DiGiorno and others that accidentally
mis-step are an important part of the collective
learning that must be considered.

15. POSITIVE POWER
OF LAUGHTER Funny
content
High
engagement
High
engagement
Funny
content
POSITIVE POWER
OF LAUGHTER
Positively- Advertising
minded
consumers
receptivity
POWER OF LAUGHTER
Occasional Heavy
laugher
COMEDY CENTRAL
laugher
VIEWERS ARE MORE
Watch Comedy Central
LIKELY TO BE HEAVY
39 % 61 %
HEAVY LAUGHTER LEADS
LAUGHERS
TO HAPPIER, HEALTHIER,
28%
Do not w
52%
atch Comedy Central
48%
MORE SEX-FILLED
more likely to
LIVES .
63%
exercise
Average
45 %
describe
Physical benefits
their weight
55%
as “target
weight.”
37 % 51 %
say watching a
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43%
more likely to
funny TV show
56%
Emotional benefits
have a positive
improves their
Laughing doesn‘t seem to be
outlook on
mood
related to the economic or political
life. �
situation.
58% 61%
72% 68%
are excited
about their
are satisfied
with their job
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VIMNINSIGHTS.VIACOM.COM
+2 8 %
more Facebook
+32 %
friends than
more likely to
describe their
light laughers
Social benefits
sex life as good/
just right

16. DESIGN BY : MSLGROUP CREATIVE+
F
or more information, please contact
Stephanie Agresta
Global Director, Social Media and Digital
stephanie.agresta@mslgroup.com