Does humour ever come across as unprofessional?

[Dave H]

Hi all,

In branding, does humour ever tip the scale from giving a light hearted view of yourself, to become unprofessional and drive away prospective clients?

There is a company who have generously offered to create my dad a logo for his company (for free - to try and get their brand out in the open), and whilst talking to them, they suggested using the full title of my dads company somewhere on the logo. The name is A.W.A Bookkeeping, however the AWA (as thought up by my sister) stands for "Accountants with Attitude". Now, in my family, we have a strange sense of humour and thought it was extremely amusing, but how does it come across to everyone else?

If done correctly, would this work? Does anyone think a bit of humour could put off potential clients?

Thanks in advance

[fantasycouriers]

In some industries, like design, media etc humour is good, as it is frequently what the customer is looking for.

People don't come to accountants for humour, 9/10 they're there because they've got a problem (or because they've got to be). Gravitas and sensibility and knowledge are what people seek from accountants.

Accountants with attitude is great if you're not earning the bread and butter from accounts, book-keeping, tax returns and audits. If a lot of your business is from the creative side, from exciting tax or corporate finance projects, business planning etc, then you may get away with it, but it would need to be reigned in.

Sorry, but i don't think the world is ready for humour in accountancy yet.

[Dave H]

Thanks for your reply

That is along the same lines of what I was thinking... whilst it may be good to show that (some) accountants do have a sense of humour, I'm not too sure if the rest of the world is ready to accept that fact yet! (Hence my posting this).

[Dot Design]

Hi David

I disagree, I think this could work, half of the problem of getting new business is being able to stand out from your competition, with this your would do that immediately. Also a good reason to do it is that no one else is doing it - well I haven't heard of any Accountants with an interesting or memorable name like "Accountants with Attitude" and already I'm not going to forget it that name and I'm probably going to talk to others about that name. If I'm talking about you and your service is also good then others will talk about you, word of mouth is very important in any industry.

To me Accountants are Accountants and most are the same (I know this isn't true) to be but AWA suggests your different, more personal, friendly and also good humoured and these are important aspects of a business as well as being professional etc.

I say be bold and go with AWA!

[wood1e]

I think humour in business is a good thing...but it is personal and about the right time and the right place.

Trying to be funny with your company name I think fails 9 time out of 10m, mainly because you are trying....Accountants with Attitude is bad...but Stiff Nipples Air Conditioning is great, although I am sure some people will disagree, but it does make them stand out!!!

[NikHurwood]

From a consumer opinion, if given an option, I ALWAYS choose a personal company to do business with rather than the "corporates". Mainly because I like to be able to feel reassured that there is a person and not a robot available.

Branding is deeper than just business name or logo though, it's about the way a business deals with people, interacts. Of course, no-one wants knock knock jokes when at the Co-op arranging grannies funeral, but a measure of humour injects a reality into a seemingly distant business relationship.

/ramble off

[Mat]

Originally Posted by Dave H

Hi all,

In branding, does humour ever tip the scale from giving a light hearted view of yourself, to become unprofessional and drive away prospective clients?

There is a company who have generously offered to create my dad a logo for his company (for free - to try and get their brand out in the open), and whilst talking to them, they suggested using the full title of my dads company somewhere on the logo. The name is A.W.A Bookkeeping, however the AWA (as thought up by my sister) stands for \"Accountants with Attitude\". Now, in my family, we have a strange sense of humour and thought it was extremely amusing, but how does it come across to everyone else?

If done correctly, would this work? Does anyone think a bit of humour could put off potential clients?

Thanks in advance

The widely-held stereotype of an accountant is somebody very dull and serious, who doesn't have much of a personality and won't make you feel like a valued customer.

"Accountants With Attitude" does away with the stereotype right away. It would certainly attract my attention. However, it would only attract my business if everything else was bang on - Branding, website, first impressions, etc.

In my opinion, the name will grab attention and, as long as everything else feels right, create a great first impression. Go for it.

[Dragon-Media-Group]

It will not help or hinder either way. The people who find the name amusing and approach you on the strength of it would not have approached the more somber 'AWA' and visa versa.

I would probably go with it as it will at the very least be memorable and even people that don't like it will have it in their mind and more than likely talk about it.

If you are targeting small businesses in particular I think that it could really work well as you will be dealing with a lot of 'normal' people.