Offbeat Marketing: How a Sense of Fun Can Set Brands Apart

You’ve probably come across a commercial, brand collab, or branded social media post that has made you do a double-take. You might think, “They said WHAT?” and yet—you still remember it, don’t you?

That’s the power of offbeat, quirky marketing, and that’s why more and more brands are turning to creative strategies and unusual voices to make a splash. If you’re considering guiding your brand to take that plunge, here’s what you should know first to ensure success.

The Quirky Cuts Through the Noise

At least one very simple reason behind the increase in “off the beaten path” marketing approaches is that they get attention! We have gone from seeing maybe 500 ads per day in the 1970s to over ten times that—5,000 daily or more—today, with 5.3 trillion display ads shown,  just online, per year.

In this crowded landscape, an emotional response to advertising is more likely to correlate to a purchase than a logical one. Simply put, people will buy from you more if they feel good about it! Building an off- the-wall brand can help you stand out because you’re more memorable, and you might even have made the audience laugh or feel “seen,” which can help get potential customers through the door. Your quality product or service can do the rest.

You may have noticed some of today’s more recognizable brands taking a tongue-in-cheek approach to marketing lately. Brands like Duolingo, Nutter Butter, and Pop-Tarts have become, in online parlance, unhinged, leaning hard into absurdism to stand out from the crowd. “We are riffing on the same jokes that they already make about our brand,” Duolingo’s CMO Emmanuel Orssaud told Fast Company about the language app’s famously quirky approach. “We’re inserting ourselves into the jokes about us that many brands would be trying to stay
away from. People love that; it’s fresh, it’s something that feels new.”

The push for offbeat marketing is a combination of several factors. It balances the search for viral content, the absurdist sense of humor that dominates younger, social media-savvy generations, and the classic strategy of leveraging novelty to get attention and create “sticky” content. Of course, the secret to success is figuring out where the line lies. Ultimately, all content should remain focused on the actions you want customers to do, i.e., buy your product, use your service, or recommend your brand to others. Even the quirkiest marketing should still direct people back to those goals rather than distract from them.

Unexpected Brand Collaborations

What’s another way to get attention in a crowded marketing world? Keep alert to ways of sharing unexpected partnerships or creative collaborations. Ask yourself what a partnership would be that might seem strange—and, thus, attention-grabbing—at first but that has some sort of shared value or theme deeper down. That’s the kind of collaboration to aim for.

According to the B2B platform Visual Objects, 71 percent of today’s consumers say they enjoy co- branded partnerships, indicating a high level of interest—and potential ROI—in such collaborations. Unexpected partnerships use the shock value of the initial pairing to grab attention and then reveal how the collaboration makes sense. The result, when successful, widens your brand’s audience, elevates its profile, and drives sales increases. Creating “buzz” can be tricky to measure, but it also can be the secret sauce that elevates you above the competition.

There’s one other type of collaboration worth looking into, and that’s collaborating with your customers. User- generated content is a great way to connect current customers more deeply with your brand. It lets you tap into viral trends without seeming like your brand is “trying too hard,” and you’ll meet customers where they already are. User-generated content also gives a more authentic impression because it is, in fact, authentic! Most significantly, you’re inviting customers to be part of the brand creation, especially if there’s a reward (e.g., discount, prize, etc.) in it for them.

Today, most people have learned to expect the unexpected, but a modicum of surprise can still go a long way in boosting your brand above the competition. Offbeat and quirky brand strategies can help you stand out among thousands of daily ad impressions, reach new and unexpected audiences, and show off your brand’s fun side while still staying on message. As you craft your next campaign, look for opportunities to zig instead of zag, and then see the great ways your audiences respond.