WHAT CAN SPORTS MARKETING LEARN FROM TOM CRUISE?

By Adam Raincock

The 2008 film Tropic Thunder isn’t at the top of the list when you ask most people to name a Tom Cruise film. It’s insignificant (except for the purposes of this blog). The interesting thing about this film is that rather than playing for thrills or hearts, he plays the role for laughs and does what many other serious actors fail to do. He pulls it off.  

Sports Marketing is the acting equivalent of Chris Hemsworth - tough, uncompromising and largely devoid of laughter. Humour in advertising has been on the decline for 20 years, but according to The Drum, it’s come roaring back. In 2023 there was a 43% increase in Cannes Lion winning adverts using humour. So why is humour in sport underutilised and why aren’t we taking a leaf out of Tom Cruise’s book? 

Source: Kantar

REASON 1 – WE THINK THAT HUMOUR DOESN’T WORK

Rosser Reeves, former chairman of Ted Bates Advertising famously said ‘Nobody ever bought anything from a clown’. It turns out he might have been the one wearing make-up and a red nose.

Les Binet and Peter Field (who else) analysed 243 campaigns (118 campaigns that used humour and 125 that didn’t) and found that humorous ones tended to be the most effective. On average they had 1.7 very large business effects vs 1.4 for the non-humorous ones.

REASON 2 – IT’S HARD TO BE FUNNY

“Dying is Easy. Comedy is Hard.”  Actor Edmund Gwenn.

I’m very comfortable presenting in front of large groups of people, but if you asked me to tell a joke in front of that group I'll be found cowering in the corner. Being funny is an art form, finding a creative who can write a rousing manifesto is easy, trying to find one who is funny is a different proposition.

REASON 3 – THE RISKS ARE HIGH

Being funny can be risky. Good humour needs to push against something, and so the risk of a brand or rights holder being chased around the internet by an online mob becomes greater. Nobody is going to get fired for doing an emotionally charged sports marketing campaign, but try (and fail) to be funny and your days could be numbered.

REASON 4 – BRANDS AREN’T IN SPORT FOR THE LAUGHS

Most brands get into sport to draw a metaphor with their business to sell their product or service to sports fans. While humour is a large part of the culture around sport, the values brands are interested in are things like courage, strength, excellence and performance. If that’s what they’ve paid for, then that’s what we’re going to get.

All four of these are understandable reasons, but as an industry perhaps we need to be a bit braver? Distinctiveness in marketing is coveted and proven to bring results. What could be more distinctive in sport than a campaign (not from a betting brand) that deploys humour?

If there are any brands in sport up for the challenge, please come and knock (knock) on our door.