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To some marketing mavens, humor has always been in vogue. But they say the slapstick, snide, whimsical, dark or irreverent campaigns that creatives love to produce—and consumers often turn into viral hits—have yet to get their props from the granddaddy of advertising awards shows.
So the decision to introduce a humor category for the first time into 2024’s Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity comes as welcome news. Technically, it’s a subcategory across 13 existing Lions, but its addition could have a profound impact on the business going forward, creatives say.
It also shows that comedy is serious business, per creatives.
“There’s momentum in the industry to make comedy a talking point—that’s what it means,” Eric Kallman, founder and chief creative officer of Erich and Kallman, told ADWEEK. “If it can help open the aperture and give comedy a place to shine, I’m all for it.”
Humor was never a lightweight or frivolous tactic, Kallman said. But with the Cannes stamp of approval, funny-bone-tickling may be able to take its place alongside the glut of weighty, purpose-driven work that has dominated the trophy count for years.
“This will bring to the forefront ads that real people in the real world really like,” said Kallman, whose indie shop has launched several cheeky and fantastical campaigns of late and entered “a handful” of humor-based work for 2024 Cannes consideration.
If you build it
The heat on comedy could influence marketers themselves, encouraging them to be more open to ideas in that genre from their agencies, according to Marian Brannelly, Cannes Lions’ global director of awards.
“It’s quite brave to take a humorous point of view because it’s so subjective and potentially polarizing—it requires a lot of trust between the agency and the brand,” Brannelly said. “We want to create space for that and celebrate it.”
Could the result be a Field of Dreams situation, spawning more chuckle-inducing work because of its chances at Cannes hardware? Brannelly isn’t discounting the possibility.
Meanwhile, creatives say there are bottom-line reasons to go for laughs, noting studies from System1, Kantar and Oracle, with the latter finding that 90% of consumers say they’re more likely to remember a funny ad and 72% reporting that they would choose a brand that used humor in its message over a competitor.