An Advertising, Public Relations, and Marketing day in Birmingham

By: Julia Sprowls 

Member of the education team, Curtis Allen preparing to talking with our class.

We had the privilege to get an inside look into the marketing of one of England’s largest snack food providers, Cadbury. The Cadbury family chocolate sales started in 1840 and have grown rapidly since then. Curtis Allen from the educational marketing team walked us through some of Cadbury’s advertisements and marketing strategies over the years. He showed us brands and advertisements we don’t see in the U.S., as well as competitor trends and how they learn from them.

London Agency Experience

By: Danie Minor and Karianne Johnsen 

Global Ad and PR students watching the presentation given by Jed Hallam.

Three of our team members visited Mindshare UK on Tuesday where they met with Jed Hallam, the head of digital strategy. He spoke about his career background, agency history and global communication experience. Afterwards, on behalf of International Wit, team members asked his take on how Mindshare positions client campaigns to reflect different cultural contexts, specifically humor, as a global agency with some key global brands.

Tá for Grá—Yes for Equality

By: Ryan Wilzoch

If you hadn’t heard, Ireland voted on its same-sex referendum on Friday, May 22^nd. International Wit had the unique opportunity to visit Ireland just before the vote. It was difficult finding humorous posters and advertisements on such a serious topic. Luckily, we got a tip from an awesome professor who found the perfect video of comedians from all over the world using humor to support marriage equality.

The video linked below is a variety of comedians from all over the world, all supporting the marriage referendum. South African comedian, Trevor Noah said same-sex marriage needed to be legalized so the pain and suffering of marriage can be shared equally among all people. Jack Dee, an English comedian pretends as if he is repulsed not only by same-sex marriage, but heterosexual marriage as well, claiming a woman and man together make him “sick.”

Come Laugh with Me

By: Julia Sprowls

Check out our compilation of funny ads from around the world by clicking the image below. Comment and let us know your favorite!

Live Young, Baby!

By: Bailey Purpura

Evian Water’s dancing babies went viral online and on TV as part of the Live Young campaign. This ad began airing in the U.S. and UK in 2009. Despite the differences in humor that we have mentioned in previous posts, this same ad has been aired in both the UK and U.S.

The commercial ties humor by showing adorable babies dancing like only adults can. This type of humor translates well mainly because it’s a universal type of humor, not sarcastic or dry humor. It’s the adorable type of humor that a wide audience can appreciate. The “live young” slogan doesn’t come up on the screen until the end, which makes the purpose of commercial a little confusing. Despite the delayed explanation of the adults seeing themselves as babies, this commercial does a good job of using humor that is easily understood and appreciated.

I definitely think this type of humor is funny to all cultures and never gets old. Wondering how they filmed this humorous masterpiece? Well we found a video on how the creators got these babies dancing and viewers laughing. Check it out for the behind-the-scenes clips here.

Let’s Talk, Baby

By: Danie Minor

This week the group got together to find a humorous commercial that aired in both the States and the UK. Listen to our commentary on the Evian Water Live Young Campaign.

Watch the commercial for yourself here.