What it takes to stand out as a fun brand in 2025
Fun is everywhere in marketing at the moment.
You turn on the radio, it’s back to back “funny” adverts.
You turn on the TV, it’s an endless stream of brands trying to be relatable and fun.
You scroll through social media and look through comments of viral posts, and it’s just brands trying to “out-quirk” each other.
Using fun, humour, and personality to entertain your audience into loving your brand is a super effective marketing strategy.
But when everyone is at it, how can you make sure that what you’re saying will truly stand out?
Let’s take a look at what got us into this mess, and more importantly, what you can do to truly stand out to your target audience as the fun brand with the funny copy in 2025.
A quick history lesson: the fun brand
A few years ago, being a “fun brand” was a novelty. When Duolingo started roasting users on TikTok, and Ryanair leaned into cheeky, meme-worthy content, it felt fresh, bold, and rebellious.
People LOVED the idea that these huge corporate entities were using these social media platforms in the same ways that they were; with authenticity, spontaneity, and personality.
But as these off-the-cuff brand awareness strategies became more and more successful, loads of other businesses began to do the same. Exactly the same.
Things got predictable REAL QUICK.
2025: The year of fun brand fatigue
Now, in 2025, these tactics are seen as just that: tactics. Brands that try to be “chaotic” or “unhinged” in their social copy it’s shocking, it doesn’t cut through the noise any more. It just feels more than just expected. It feels like a performative marketing strategy.
And here’s the thing; people are smarter than brands give them credit for. They can smell inauthenticity and forced attempts at “on brand” fun a mile off.
The fun brand strategies that used to feel exciting now just feel formulaic and bog-standard.
Fun brand voice and funny copy in 2025: is it still worth it?
If it’s getting hard to do fun properly as a brand, you might be starting to wonder whether it’s even worth the bother.
In short; yes, it absolutely is.
People want authenticity, fun, and entertainment from brands, now more than ever. Against the backdrop of phenomena such as The Great Exhaustion, consumers are leading the change in a new age of brand marketing strategies. As summarised in the Mintel Reports, Upcoming Digital Advertising, 2024:
“Brands will need to step back from ostentatious claims and stuffy narratives, and instead step into an informal tone to break through the clutter.”
“Continuous, excessive brand and product details are not the way to earn consumer attention moving forward - feeling like any other ad is a quick road to consumer tune out, no matter how amazing the offer may be. Consumers are guiding marketers to create ads that offer entertainment and spark curiosity, leaving the finer details like claims, ingredients, or features for them to discover on their own terms.”
So, what does this mean for your brand?
People still want fun, but the way you do it has to be truly authentic, consistent, and dialled into your audience preferences.
What does it take to stand out in 2025?
In 2025 particularly, brands should be focusing on having authentic, genuine fun with their consumers, leaving behind the stuffy advertising norms that lead to transparent marketing tactics.
The brands that rise above the noise are the ones who know exactly what kind of fun they are. They own it, and do it consistently. Rather than using fun and humour sporadically as a way to attract attention and garner empty clicks, they’re doing it in a way that feels consistent, authentic, and truly memorable, time and time again.
This is also mentioned in that same Mintel Report (Upcoming Digital Advertising, 2024). Can you tell I’m rinsing this report for all it’s got?
“Not every brand has to abide by the same definition of “fun”, but to avoid creating the next version of commoditized marketing, they should be encouraged to explore fun in a way that is unique to them.”
But why? Why do brands need to take the time to develop a definition of fun and a tone of voice that feels authentic and unique to them?
Unsurprisingly, Mintel also has the answer to this:
“To avoid the “cringe” effect, the pop culture infusion must feel natural to the brand and the role they play for their consumers - it’s okay to incorporate new styles but if the shoe doesn’t fit, don’t try to wear it.”
How can you become the TRULY fun brand in 2025?
So if we want to develop a fun brand voice that stands out to our audience, and won’t create the cringe effect, what do you need to do?
Truly understand your audience
Get to know more than just their demographics and psychographics. Understand what makes them irritated, what makes them laugh. If you can speak to those experiences, you have a better chance of crafting marketing materials that stand out and are memorable to them. Better than if you were writing something with a 50+ year old woman from London in mind.
Truly understand your brand voice
Get specific on what fun and humour mean to you as a brand, and how that fits with how your consumers truly perceive you. If you’re relatable, are you wholesome and relatable, or dry and relatable? If you’re witty, are you dry and witty, or dad-jokey and witty? Understand the nuances and develop something that’s ownable and feels unique to you.
Develop a brand tone of voice you can be consistent with
Having fun isn’t just for brand awareness and social media. Your tone of voice needs to be consistent in email marketing subject lines, packaging, website microcopy, proposal decks, customer support communications. If you’re using a tone of voice that you’re not able to sustain through your customer experience, then it’s not truly authentic to you.
Want 2025 to be the year that you finally stand out as a TRULY fun brand?
I’ll help you come up with a definition of fun that feels authentic to you, is something you can maintain across your customer journey, and will cut through the inauthentic definitions of fun that are all over social media at the moment.