Asian consumers prefer brands with ‘sense of humor’

CEBU, Philippines — Along with lifestyle shift of embracing healthy living, consumers preferences in choosing a brand has also changed. This time those that convey happy disposition in their respective brand messages are mostly patronized.

A study on Happiness Report, conducted by Oracle, revealed that more than nine in 10 Asian consumers (covering Japan and Asia Pacific or JAPAC), prefer brands with a “sense of humor”.

The study uncovered that the consumers who experienced the brunt of the COVID-19 pandemic, are now looking for new experiences to make them smile.

About 95 percent of consumers participated in the region-wide happiness report, prefer brands to be funny and 76 percent would choose a brand that uses humor over the competition even if they have to pay more.

“People want brands to make them smile and laugh, yet business leaders fear using humor in customer interactions according to the Happiness Report from Oracle and Gretchen Rubin, five-time New York Times bestselling author and podcaster.

The research report includes insights from more than 12,000 people across 14 countries, and 5,254 from JAPAC found that people are searching for new experiences to make them smile and laugh and will reward brands that embrace humor with loyalty, advocacy, and repeat purchases, and walk away from those that don’t.

According to the report, JAPAC people are searching for happiness in new ways and are willing to pay premium.

The report indicated that 44 percent of JAPAC respondents said they have not felt true happiness for more than two years and 25 percent don’t know, or have forgotten, what it means to feel truly happy. While 85 percent are looking for new experiences to make them smile and laugh. People in JAPAC are prioritizing health (78 percent), personal connections (77 percent), and experiences (45 percent) to gain happiness.

JAPAC consumers also expressed that feel just an hour of true happiness, many people would give up friends (62 percent), part of their income (61 percent), showering (55 percent) for a week.

More than half of JAPAC respondents (56 percent) wish money could buy happiness, with 81 percent willing to pay a premium for true happiness. About 89 percent attempted to find happiness in online shopping during the pandemic and while 47 percent said that receiving packages made them happy.

Because of this shift, the report unveiled that advertising, marketing, sales, and customer service interactions need to change.

“People want brands to make them smile and laugh, but business leaders are scared of using humor in customer interactions for fear of being canceled,” it said.

The report logged that 76 percent of people believe brands can do more to deliver happiness to their customers and 91 percent said they preferred brands to be funny; this number increased among Gen Z (95 percent) and Millennials (95 percent).

About 89 percent are more likely to remember ads that are funny, yet JAPAC business leaders said that only 17 percent of their brands’ offline ads (TV, billboards) and 14 percent of their online ads actively use humor.

Seventy-four percent  of people would follow a brand if it’s funny on its social media channels, yet only 12 percent of business leaders said their brand is humorous on social media.

Meanwhile, 68 percent of people would open an email from a brand if the subject line were funnier, yet only 21 percent of JAPAC business leaders said they actively use humor in email marketing campaigns.

“The customer experience continues to evolve, but at the end of the day, it all comes down to one thing: Making the customer happy,” said Rob Tarkoff, executive vice president and general manager, Oracle Fusion Cloud Customer Experience (CX).

“There are many different factors that go into creating happy customers and in this research, we decided to examine humor as it is one of the most nuanced. As the results show, most business leaders want to make consumers laugh more and understand it’s a critical part of establishing a true relationship. To be successful, brands need to put data at the heart of their customer experience strategy,” Tarkoff concluded.