This article was originally published in 2014 and was last updated on June 10, 2025.
- Tension: Risk-averse brands crave viral reach, yet fear humor that edges past their comfort zone.
- Noise: Case studies obsess over view counts, masking the craft that turns laughs into measurable sales.
- Direct Message: Joel Ackerman proves absurdist storytelling only drives revenue when it spotlights real product benefits—humor alone isn’t enough.
To learn more about our editorial approach, explore The Direct Message methodology.
Not many creatives can boast that their biggest hit includes the word “poop” in the title, but writer-director Joel Ackerman embraces the distinction.
Now 40, the Utah-based maestro of brand comedy has spent the past decade evolving from freelance prankster to sought-after strategic partner, stacking billions of cumulative views for brands that range from scrappy Amazon sellers to Fortune 500 stalwarts.
Back in 2013 Ackerman co-wrote and directed the now-iconic “Girls Don’t Poop” ad for scent-masking spray Poo-Pourri. The spot—starring Scottish actress Bethany Woodruff perched on a porcelain throne — blew past 23 million views in its first year and now sits north of 45 million on YouTube alone.
Yet that breakout wasn’t his first rodeo: four years earlier, he helped script “The Bad Breath Test” for Orabrush, a tongue-cleaning startup whose sales rocketed after the video’s release.
From campus comedian to category disruptor
Ackerman’s talent for absurdist realism traces back to screenwriting classes and late-night stand-up sets at Brigham Young University. Bombing on stage was his market research. If a premise didn’t land in five seconds, he would ditch it. That ruthless edit-or-die mindset still guides his commercial work: every joke must sell a benefit, every benefit must entertain.
Over the years, he’s moved from freelancer to co-founder of Joy Agency, where he and frequent collaborators the Harmon Brothers craft hero spots, UGC cut-downs, and remarketing assets in a single performance-video ecosystem.
Beyond the punchline: the clarity that converts
Absurdist storytelling only drives revenue when it spotlights genuine product benefits—humor alone isn’t enough.
Ackerman’s rule set:
-
Contrast is king. Polite British poise plus taboo bathroom talk equals instant dissonance.
-
Facts matter. Science tidbits about odor molecules or tongue bacteria ground the joke in credibility.
-
Audience empathy. Universal pain points—bad breath, smelly loos—make viewers root for the solution.
Lessons for today’s marketers
Ackerman’s track record offers a clear roadmap for teams who want more than fleeting virality.
First, calibrate your risk tolerance.
If you’re a challenger brand, remember that playing it safe is itself a risk — bold humor cuts through clutter precisely because most competitors sound the same.
Yet boldness without a backup plan is reckless: design quick-pull mechanics so an underperforming spot can be paused or re-edited within hours, not weeks.
Second, keep the rough edges.
Audiences respond to authenticity cues—an unscripted eye roll, an imperfect jump cut—far more than they do to flawless 3-D renders.
When production gloss overpowers personality, share rates drop.
Third, think beyond the hero video.
Ackerman’s most successful campaigns pair the flagship ad with nurture emails, bite-size social edits, and landing pages that echo the core joke while deepening the value proposition.
This continuity transforms laughs into measurable lift, turning one-off viewers into repeat customers. Finally, ground every punch line in product truth.
Whether it’s odor-neutralizing chemistry or tongue-bacteria science, the hard benefit must sit at the heart of the humor. Do that, and you earn both attention and trust—a combination algorithms can’t resist.
The 2025 outlook
Ackerman’s studio is now experimenting with branching-video quizzes where viewers choose punch-line paths that feed zero-party data back to CRM pipelines.
Ackerman still breaks down his viral formula onstage.
Earlier this year, Ackerman broke down his updated playbook on the RGB Podcast, in an episode titled “Marketing + Filmmaking + Comedy = Viral Ads!” (shared widely on TikTok and Instagram). The conversation walks through his newest tactic: pairing a hero spot with sequenced remarketing clips and post-click email flows so the joke keeps converting long after the first laugh.
That candid line—and the thousands of marketers who bookmarked the clip—show that the appetite for his blend of straight talk and bathroom humor is still very real.
Either way, with feeds noisy and inboxes crowded, maybe a well-aimed poop joke remains the fastest way to cut through—provided it points squarely at the product benefit.
Final takeaways
-
Entertain with intent. Laughter opens the door; a crystal-clear benefit invites prospects to step inside.
-
Prototype, then amplify. Test edgy concepts on small audiences and scale only what resonates.
-
Let imperfection humanize you. A dose of realness signals confidence far better than corporate polish.
-
Build the sequel before the premiere. Plan retargeting assets in tandem with the hero spot so momentum never stalls.
-
Anchor every gag in proof. Comedy fades; credibility compounds.
Master these principles and you’ll replicate the alchemy behind Ackerman’s poop-powered legend—minus the odor, but with all the ROI.
