While the effectiveness of using humor in advertising is well-documented and certainly one of the most commonly used advertising strategies, the use of humor in branding is a less commonly used tactic. It can, however, be an extremely successful strategy for a number of important reasons. An underlying strategy of many branding tactics is to encourage supplementary cognitive processing about a brand, thereby increasing brand awareness, recall, and recognition. In short, it is a way to grab the attention of the consumer for a crucial extra few seconds. Humor is a particularly effective way to increase cognitive processing because at the same time consumers are becoming familiarized with the brand, they are also associating positive affect (thoughts, feelings, emotions) with the brand. So consumers will not only remember the brand, but they will remember the brand favorably. Humor can be used in any aspect of a branding strategy, including the brand name itself, the logo, the slogan, and the domain name. Here are some examples:

Note that humor is often derived from unusual graphics and linguistic devices such as rhyming, alliteration, wordplay, and use of colloquial language.