Will advertisers turn to humour this Christmas?

Data firm Kantar reckons funny ads (or ads that essay humour) are on the way back with 56% of ads clocked so far this year giving it a whirl against pandemic era 44% in 2020, 43% in 2021 and 45% in 2022. Must have missed most of those but there you are.

Kantar’s Lynne Deason says humour not only helps ads stand out, it also sparks conversations and makes them more memorable. So we can, presumably, expect a rib-tickling Christmas. As any stand-up will tell you, trying to be funny has its downside if nobody laughs.

Recently, of course, we’ve seen a stream of Christmas ads that aim to tug the heartstrings (we blame John Lewis.) Deason again: “Sadder storylines can be effective but when times are tough, like they are now for many people going through the cost-of-living crisis, all we really want for Christmas is something uplifting. People want entertaining advertising that makes them feel good.” In the UK Aldi tops most viewers’ polls doing just this. Also, of course, people like the brand – which helps.

Anyway it’s a bit early for the Christmas heavy artillery (of either ilk) but this from Dude London for Trainline has come our way, breaking in Italy. Lots of people need trains at Christmas of course – hope they have more success in Italy.

Starts with what looks like a romance and finishes with a highly strange encounter.

And what happens to the woman? Maybe all will be revealed in another episode.

But it’s quite funny – more to the point perhaps it’s good humoured which is maybe what advertisers should be aiming for in these gloomy times.

MAA creative scale: 6.5.