PR, social media and influencer agency Smoking Gun is urging brand marketers to take humour more seriously - in a landmark new report which sets out how it is a powerful tool to help brands win.
The Case For Strategic Levity provides a neuroscience-backed framework for how humour, positivity and playfulness can elevate brand performance in a world defined by crisis fatigue and emotional overload.
The first report from Smoking Gun’s new Intention Unit - it combines expert insights from Dr. Eleanor Bryant, Health Behaviour Psychologist at Bradford University, with new findings from a survey of 100 senior UK marketeers.
The study demonstrates how humour enhances emotional recall and learning, shifts attitudes and encourages preference - ultimately helping brands win by driving memorability and mental availability.
It is a bold but evidence-based approach to marketing that treats humour, play, and lightness not as creative flourishes, but as neurologically powerful tools for engagement, connection, and memory.
And yet, despite its power, humour remains underused in brand communications.
Over half (52%) of senior marketeers wish they used humour more, but many hesitate, citing fears of offence, backlash, or simply being misunderstood.
Smoking Gun CEO Rick Guttridge said: “Marketing has become afraid of its own shadow.
“Brands are so fearful of getting humour ‘wrong’ that they’re missing the opportunity to connect, be remembered, and even be loved.
“Strategic Levity is not about being flippant - it’s about being human, and using humour smartly to drive real results.
“This isn’t about making everything funny. It’s about making brands feel human again and using laughter, surprise and joy as levers for effectiveness, and as antidotes to cultural exhaustion.
“We believe the brands that dare to play, that connect through well-judged humour, will be the brands that win hearts, minds, share of voice and consumer spend.”
The report also features practical guidance on how brands can get humour right - from acclaimed stand-up Jack Jelly.
The report can be downloaded from https://smokinggun.
Smoking Gun’s Intention Unit is a blend of senior PR strategists, former Fleet street hacks and social media directors. They mine data and culture to craft communications strategies that give client’s such as Philips, Alton Towers Resort and American Golf unfair reputational advantage to achieve their business goals.
