Companies Serious About 'Mocketing'

June 26, 2006 - BrandWeek

DETROIT -- The glove compartment in the latest Dodge Caliber is no longer designed to hold maps and gasoline receipts. Instead, engineers at the Chrysler auto division have transformed it into a cooler for drinks and snacks—and severed body parts? A recent branded-entertainment segment on Comedy Central's Stand-Up Nation showed the cooler being used to stow dismembered hands from a mill accident. "The chill zone holds up to four hands!" show host Greg Giraldo enthusiastically told the audience.

The bit is just one example of how a select but growing group of marketers is using self-deprecating humor in branded entertainment to appeal to their target consumers—often skewing young and male. Though exact numbers are not available, industry insiders say more marketers are using various forms of parody, specifically in regard to their products, to show consumers that they don't take themselves too seriously. "What I'm finding is that brand marketers are keeping an open mind to these opportunities," said George Leon, evp-worldwide consumer marketing at Columbia TriStar Consumer Marketing Group.

Nascar, which has surged in popularity nationwide over the last decade, is certainly game. The racecar organization collaborated with the Sony-owned studio for the upcoming summer racing circuit send-up Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby, starring Will Ferrell.

Yet taking the comedic approach in branded entertainment can be risky, marketing executives say. "There is a lot of angst going into humor because marketers feel that someone's going to be offended by it, and they don't know what will happen to their product," said Rob Donnell, president at branded entertainment company Brand Arc, Santa Monica, Calif.

For Nascar, risk is integral to the sport and its marketing plan, said Sarah Nettinga, director of film, television and music entertainment at Nascar Digital Entertainment, Los Angeles. "Comedy may be risky, but stepping out of the box and away from the safety zone can pay dividends in expanding the brand's core fan/consumer base.

"For those willing to embrace irreverent humor, the payoff is less competition. "There's not a lot of clutter [because] a lot of people won't even look at that space," Donnell said.