In Egypt, humor and sarcasm is not something we take lightly, it is embedded in our lives, it’s in our culture, and it’s one of our best features. So it doesn’t come as a surprise that most of our most successful campaigns take a humorous approach to communicate their messages.
With the meme trend increasing drastically, we noticed a growing trend this Ramadan where people are creating their own parody version of their favorite ads. They’re choosing either their favorite catchy songs, messages, or visuals and putting their own twist to it.
Whether or not the parody will get recognition and interaction on social media depends on multiple things, a few of those are if the original ad itself is highly recognizable, and if it is highlighting or focusing on the humor aspect or not and so on.
We should also consider the news-jacking worthiness of the ad, current events and the ad copy’s adaptability to fit in several different styles and occasions.
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If a parody hits all of the those things, it could create a huge buzz and go viral. And if that happens, it could be the easiest, fastest and cheapest way for a brand to get their ads more recognition, reach and interaction.
Parody Ads that made us think and laugh:
Some of the most memed and parodied ads during Ramadan were mainly digital PR campaigns. Companies are using Egyptians’ love for parodying to gain further digital exposure through the creation of funny, made-up ads and videos.
When creating a parody ad, the challenge is how to re-create a hilarious version of the advert that will keep people more engaged, and create it so well that it could even be their favorite commercial copy.
Few of recent parody ads for Ramadan 2018 campaigns:
Mohamed Henedy was responsible for some of the parody funniest ads of this year:
https://twitter.com/OfficialHenedy/status/998503028289409024
Here’s one of funniest parody of El Garhy Steel’s ad:
Tallat Harb is coming back advert by Banque Misr was one of the most influential campaigns this Ramadan, and one of the most inspiring ads for parodies this Ramadan:
Tips For Experts:
Going viral is one of the main gains from a really good parody. Sure, sometimes we’re at the wrong end of it and yes, not everyone will always find it funny, but in the end, if it succeeds, it will at least make us re-think about the main ad copy.
Parodies can also provide a positive impact on the brand, but your brand can’t control the content or the reaction to the videos scattered on social media. If it goes viral, it could be a huge success for your campaign, but if it contains a negative message, it could create a PR crisis.