{"id":11559,"date":"2026-04-28T01:25:09","date_gmt":"2026-04-28T05:25:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/advertisingweek.com\/aw360\/2026\/04\/28\/funny-business-how-brands-are-winning-with-humor\/"},"modified":"2026-04-27T12:21:54","modified_gmt":"2026-04-27T16:21:54","slug":"funny-business-how-brands-are-winning-with-humor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/advertisingweek.com\/aw360\/news\/funny-business-how-brands-are-winning-with-humor\/11559\/","title":{"rendered":"Funny Business: How Brands Are Winning With Humor"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Fergus McCallum, Chief Executive Officer at TBWAMCR, joins us to talk about the comeback of humor in advertising. We dive into why brands moved away from funny campaigns, how humor can tackle sensitive topics, and what it takes to make a joke land without backfiring. Fergus shares examples from his work and insights on how humor is connecting with audiences again\u2014especially as platforms and Gen Z shape the future of advertising.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\"\/>\n\n\n<iframe style=\"width: 100%; height: 200px; border: 0 none;\" src=\"https:\/\/art19.com\/shows\/b51bbc8f-e283-4893-b6df-e6a191d4a0fe\/episodes\/a1d58b48-51fb-48e4-98e4-c7ffe089012e\/embed\" scrolling=\"no\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-popups allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox\"><\/iframe>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group aw-mig-inline-images is-content-justification-left is-nowrap is-layout-flex wp-container-core-group-is-layout-c88056ad wp-block-group-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-group aw-mig-inline-images is-content-justification-left is-nowrap is-layout-flex wp-container-core-group-is-layout-c88056ad wp-block-group-is-layout-flex\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full is-resized\"><a href=\"https:\/\/podcasts.apple.com\/us\/podcast\/aw360-live\/id1843969378\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"128\" height=\"128\" src=\"https:\/\/network.advertisingweek.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2020\/12\/100apple.png\" alt=\"apple podcasts\" class=\"wp-image-7392\" style=\"object-fit:cover;width:32px;height:32px\"\/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full is-resized\"><a href=\"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/show\/1kt7xYMnLpLcaVT3d98IX5\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"128\" height=\"128\" src=\"https:\/\/network.advertisingweek.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2020\/12\/100spotify.png\" alt=\"spotify podcasts\" class=\"wp-image-7393\" style=\"object-fit:cover;width:32px;height:32px\"\/><\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\"\/>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Fergus McCallum, Chief Executive Officer at TBWAMCR, joins us to talk about the comeback of humor in advertising.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":11560,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"content-type":"","editor_notices":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"topics":[36,23],"class_list":["post-11559","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","topics-aw360-live","topics-podcast"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v28.0 (Yoast SEO v28.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Funny Business: How Brands Are Winning With Humor | AW360<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/advertisingweek.com\/aw360\/news\/funny-business-how-brands-are-winning-with-humor\/11559\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Funny Business: How Brands Are Winning With Humor\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Fergus McCallum, Chief Executive Officer at TBWAMCR, joins us to talk about the comeback of humor in advertising.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/advertisingweek.com\/aw360\/news\/funny-business-how-brands-are-winning-with-humor\/11559\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"AW360\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-04-28T05:25:09+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/advertisingweek.com\/awnewyork-2026\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2026\/04\/fergusmccallum.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"900\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Advertising Week\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Advertising Week\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/advertisingweek.com\\\/aw360\\\/news\\\/funny-business-how-brands-are-winning-with-humor\\\/11559\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/advertisingweek.com\\\/aw360\\\/news\\\/funny-business-how-brands-are-winning-with-humor\\\/11559\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Advertising Week\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/advertisingweek.com\\\/aw360\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/ae698b8b96e141836006836db70d9e69\"},\"headline\":\"Funny Business: How Brands Are Winning With Humor\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-04-28T05:25:09+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/advertisingweek.com\\\/aw360\\\/news\\\/funny-business-how-brands-are-winning-with-humor\\\/11559\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":80,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/advertisingweek.com\\\/aw360\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/advertisingweek.com\\\/aw360\\\/news\\\/funny-business-how-brands-are-winning-with-humor\\\/11559\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/advertisingweek.com\\\/aw360\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/3\\\/2026\\\/04\\\/fergusmccallum.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/advertisingweek.com\\\/aw360\\\/news\\\/funny-business-how-brands-are-winning-with-humor\\\/11559\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/advertisingweek.com\\\/aw360\\\/news\\\/funny-business-how-brands-are-winning-with-humor\\\/11559\\\/\",\"name\":\"Funny Business: How Brands Are Winning With Humor | AW360\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/advertisingweek.com\\\/aw360\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/advertisingweek.com\\\/aw360\\\/news\\\/funny-business-how-brands-are-winning-with-humor\\\/11559\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/advertisingweek.com\\\/aw360\\\/news\\\/funny-business-how-brands-are-winning-with-humor\\\/11559\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/advertisingweek.com\\\/aw360\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/3\\\/2026\\\/04\\\/fergusmccallum.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-04-28T05:25:09+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/advertisingweek.com\\\/aw360\\\/news\\\/funny-business-how-brands-are-winning-with-humor\\\/11559\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/advertisingweek.com\\\/aw360\\\/news\\\/funny-business-how-brands-are-winning-with-humor\\\/11559\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/advertisingweek.com\\\/aw360\\\/news\\\/funny-business-how-brands-are-winning-with-humor\\\/11559\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/advertisingweek.com\\\/aw360\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/3\\\/2026\\\/04\\\/fergusmccallum.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/advertisingweek.com\\\/aw360\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/3\\\/2026\\\/04\\\/fergusmccallum.jpg\",\"width\":1600,\"height\":900},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/advertisingweek.com\\\/aw360\\\/news\\\/funny-business-how-brands-are-winning-with-humor\\\/11559\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/advertisingweek.com\\\/aw360\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Funny Business: How Brands Are Winning With Humor\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/advertisingweek.com\\\/aw360\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/advertisingweek.com\\\/aw360\\\/\",\"name\":\"AW360\",\"description\":\"\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/advertisingweek.com\\\/aw360\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/advertisingweek.com\\\/aw360\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/advertisingweek.com\\\/aw360\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"AW360\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/advertisingweek.com\\\/aw360\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/advertisingweek.com\\\/aw360\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/advertisingweek.com\\\/aw360\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/3\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/AW360_Logo_2023_FullColor.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/advertisingweek.com\\\/aw360\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/3\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/AW360_Logo_2023_FullColor.png\",\"width\":1906,\"height\":849,\"caption\":\"AW360\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/advertisingweek.com\\\/aw360\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/advertisingweek.com\\\/aw360\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/ae698b8b96e141836006836db70d9e69\",\"name\":\"Advertising Week\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/3136b4a05c15e5dac7e877b1998ec3e252a59b6da6e4b471522d944c91b71940?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/3136b4a05c15e5dac7e877b1998ec3e252a59b6da6e4b471522d944c91b71940?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/3136b4a05c15e5dac7e877b1998ec3e252a59b6da6e4b471522d944c91b71940?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Advertising Week\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/advertisingweek.com\"]}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Funny Business: How Brands Are Winning With Humor | AW360","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/advertisingweek.com\/aw360\/news\/funny-business-how-brands-are-winning-with-humor\/11559\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Funny Business: How Brands Are Winning With Humor","og_description":"Fergus McCallum, Chief Executive Officer at TBWAMCR, joins us to talk about the comeback of humor in advertising.","og_url":"https:\/\/advertisingweek.com\/aw360\/news\/funny-business-how-brands-are-winning-with-humor\/11559\/","og_site_name":"AW360","article_published_time":"2026-04-28T05:25:09+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1600,"height":900,"url":"https:\/\/advertisingweek.com\/awnewyork-2026\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2026\/04\/fergusmccallum.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Advertising Week","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Advertising Week"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/advertisingweek.com\/aw360\/news\/funny-business-how-brands-are-winning-with-humor\/11559\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/advertisingweek.com\/aw360\/news\/funny-business-how-brands-are-winning-with-humor\/11559\/"},"author":{"name":"Advertising Week","@id":"https:\/\/advertisingweek.com\/aw360\/#\/schema\/person\/ae698b8b96e141836006836db70d9e69"},"headline":"Funny Business: How Brands Are Winning With Humor","datePublished":"2026-04-28T05:25:09+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/advertisingweek.com\/aw360\/news\/funny-business-how-brands-are-winning-with-humor\/11559\/"},"wordCount":80,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/advertisingweek.com\/aw360\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/advertisingweek.com\/aw360\/news\/funny-business-how-brands-are-winning-with-humor\/11559\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/advertisingweek.com\/aw360\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2026\/04\/fergusmccallum.jpg","articleSection":["News"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/advertisingweek.com\/aw360\/news\/funny-business-how-brands-are-winning-with-humor\/11559\/","url":"https:\/\/advertisingweek.com\/aw360\/news\/funny-business-how-brands-are-winning-with-humor\/11559\/","name":"Funny Business: How Brands Are Winning With Humor | AW360","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/advertisingweek.com\/aw360\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/advertisingweek.com\/aw360\/news\/funny-business-how-brands-are-winning-with-humor\/11559\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/advertisingweek.com\/aw360\/news\/funny-business-how-brands-are-winning-with-humor\/11559\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/advertisingweek.com\/aw360\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2026\/04\/fergusmccallum.jpg","datePublished":"2026-04-28T05:25:09+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/advertisingweek.com\/aw360\/news\/funny-business-how-brands-are-winning-with-humor\/11559\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/advertisingweek.com\/aw360\/news\/funny-business-how-brands-are-winning-with-humor\/11559\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/advertisingweek.com\/aw360\/news\/funny-business-how-brands-are-winning-with-humor\/11559\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/advertisingweek.com\/aw360\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2026\/04\/fergusmccallum.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/advertisingweek.com\/aw360\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2026\/04\/fergusmccallum.jpg","width":1600,"height":900},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/advertisingweek.com\/aw360\/news\/funny-business-how-brands-are-winning-with-humor\/11559\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/advertisingweek.com\/aw360\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Funny Business: How Brands Are Winning With Humor"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/advertisingweek.com\/aw360\/#website","url":"https:\/\/advertisingweek.com\/aw360\/","name":"AW360","description":"","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/advertisingweek.com\/aw360\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/advertisingweek.com\/aw360\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/advertisingweek.com\/aw360\/#organization","name":"AW360","url":"https:\/\/advertisingweek.com\/aw360\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/advertisingweek.com\/aw360\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/advertisingweek.com\/aw360\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2026\/07\/AW360_Logo_2023_FullColor.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/advertisingweek.com\/aw360\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2026\/07\/AW360_Logo_2023_FullColor.png","width":1906,"height":849,"caption":"AW360"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/advertisingweek.com\/aw360\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/advertisingweek.com\/aw360\/#\/schema\/person\/ae698b8b96e141836006836db70d9e69","name":"Advertising Week","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3136b4a05c15e5dac7e877b1998ec3e252a59b6da6e4b471522d944c91b71940?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3136b4a05c15e5dac7e877b1998ec3e252a59b6da6e4b471522d944c91b71940?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3136b4a05c15e5dac7e877b1998ec3e252a59b6da6e4b471522d944c91b71940?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Advertising Week"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/advertisingweek.com"]}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/advertisingweek.com\/aw360\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11559","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/advertisingweek.com\/aw360\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/advertisingweek.com\/aw360\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/advertisingweek.com\/aw360\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/advertisingweek.com\/aw360\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11559"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/advertisingweek.com\/aw360\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11559\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17660,"href":"https:\/\/advertisingweek.com\/aw360\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11559\/revisions\/17660"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/advertisingweek.com\/aw360\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11560"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/advertisingweek.com\/aw360\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11559"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/advertisingweek.com\/aw360\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11559"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/advertisingweek.com\/aw360\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11559"},{"taxonomy":"topics","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/advertisingweek.com\/aw360\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/topics?post=11559"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}