Humor In Marketing
Humor and marketing have a tricky relationship. Many marketers use humor in ways that actually undercut their objectives - people remember the joke but forget the company or the product. Here is an example that caught my interest and which I thought did a nice job of making an impersonal situation feel a bit more genuine.
The breakfast bar in most hotels is a spread of slightly stale bagels, over processed cereal, and a mound of melon chunks. Personally I'm not aware of anyone who actually likes this experience for anything but the perceived savings of a "free" breakfast.
At the Fairfield Inn they have found a way to have a little fun with this routine - but one that produces a subtle chuckle and a feeling that "hey, there are real people behind this."
See for yourself.
Don't see the joke at this level? Look a bit closer at the graphics they used...
They took the off hand joke we tell each other about coffee - unleaded equals decaf etc. - and used the image to bring a smile to your morning.
It's a small detail done extremely well. Put a bunch of these together and you have a brand that connects with people far better than the usual faceless, nameless, humorless, no risk road that most marketers take.
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Lee Wilson is President & CEO of 
Comments
I also like the branding of the coffee. I hope the actual beverage was different than most of the coffee I've had at most hotels: weak and relatively tasteless.
I've found that Best Western has one of the better breakfasts. I especially like that they provide waffle batter and a waffle iron.
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Lee: Yes - they saw to this detail too. It was quite good coffee.
Posted by: John Soares | August 7, 2009 10:47 AM