What’s the trouble with lawyer jokes? Lawyers don’t think they’re funny, and no one else thinks they’re jokes.
Lawyer jokes are a serious tool for author Lisa Scottoline, whose publisher, HarperCollins, is building awareness for her new legal thriller “Moment of Truth” with a contest to pick the best lawyer joke.
The promotion, which ran in mid-February just before the book’s publication, was handled by the Humor Network’s www.joke-of-the-day.com, an e-mail advertising company. Some 1 million Joke-of-the-day members sign up to receive a joke each day and also opt in to get relevant advertising by e-mail.
About 660,000 of those members received the HarperCollins ad inviting them to visit Scottoline’s site (www.lisascottoline.com), submit jokes and vote on their favorites. The best entry, which Scottoline will choose May 15, will be published in her next book. That grand prize winner also gets a signed copy of “Moment of Truth” and a paperback set of Scottoline’s seven books.
Eric Targan, chief executive and JokeMaster of the Humor Network, won’t say what the response was, only that HarperCollins was “phenomenally pleased with the click-throughs to the author’s site as well as e-mail to the author and jokes submitted.”
The book is now also a best seller, but no one knows to what extent lawyer jokes contributed to that.
Jokes are not only a good way to get consumers’ attention, they also have strong pass-through rates. “Jokes are very viral in nature, so you end up reaching two-and-a-half times your audience base,” says Targan.
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