Humour In Signage
An effective way to advertise a business
Given how effective humour is in advertising it should come as no surprise that a great deal of signage will include humorous content to try and draw people in. Funny signage is generally an extension of humorous advertising and is normally used to promote a business or product.
It is worth remembering that while humour can be very effective in advertising it can also backfire massively if a joke is not well received or is poorly timed however when done right humorous signage can gain you a lot of attention in your area.
A-boards are a great option for any business where there is high footfall, particularly having a black board or white board finish as this will allow for frequent changes to keep the jokes fresh and improve the impact of the advert. Pubs, bars, coffee shops, restaurants or anywhere that people are likely to gather for informal get togethers are likely to benefit from this style of advertising as it subtly suggests to potential customers that this establishment is somewhere that will be fun.
Roadsides are another ideal place for humours adverts, however when coming up with the joke of the sign it is important to remember that a car travelling at any speed will only allow the driver a small window of opportunity to read your sign. Obvious, quick and simple jokes will be most effective in this context. Try to think of jokes that can communicated in as few words as possible, consider the use of puns. It may seem counterintuitive but a bad pun can be effective in this context, people will remember it and might consider it so bad that it’s funny.
There is a school of thought that a bad joke (that is bad simply for not being very funny rather than being offensive or in poor taste) will actually be better remembered than a joke which is incredibly clever but takes longer to get to the punchline.
Here are some examples of how short a joke could be used for various businesses:
On The Roadside
There are a number of ways that a temporary sign can be installed around a roadside, such as banners, boards or even vehicle signage so there are plenty of options for using a funny roadside advert. If you have a good roadside position you might even want to consider a chargeable letter board. These are fairly unusual in the UK but very common in the USA and often companies or community groups that use them with humorous content often feature on blogs and social media posts.
