Puns and other witticisms have long been part of the branding world. Of course, in some areas it is more prevalent than others. For example, we all know hair salons that have puns in their branding, with business names like “Hair Port”. “Anita Haircut” or “Curl Up and Dye”. It’s fun, and you can argue it increases memorability, as well as perhaps humanizing the brand. In short, it adds personality, and that sells.
There are numerous other industries that are heavy on the puns. Many online casino games, particularly slot games, use puns, with games like the Dogfather or Wok and Roll (a Chinese-cooking themed slot game) among many examples. But the general rule is that puns are best-suited for low-stakes industries (no pun intended with the casino reference, by the way).
Professional services should generally avoid puns
By low stakes, we mean areas like food, beauty and entertainment, and not professional services, such as law firms or accountancy firms. Thankfully, the most infamous pun name for a law firm – Dewey, Cheatum and Howe – is entirely fictional.
A good rule of thumb is to decide whether your brand is geared towards a social experience or a professional one. Yes, hair salons are professional, but it is also very much a social experience. Individual hair salons will decide whether they want to go down the pun route or not. Choosing the latter option is usually in the provision of more high-end salons. For example, celebrity hairdressers will usually use their name as the brand, like Vidal Sassoon.
The other way to look at it is putting yourself in the shoes of your potential customers. In high-stakes – or high-trust – industries, people are looking for formality and competence and may be put off by any sense of informality or triviality. There might be some exceptions to this, such as dentistry, but the general advice is to stay away from puns if you want formality.
On the other hand, people looking for low-stakes products scan for informality. A pun says that we are accessible, fun and informal, and all of that is supposed to elicit a sense of welcome. Yet, if the puns are used to cover up a more serious product – or an expensive one – customers may feel shortchanged.
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Puns can travel badly
Another argument against the pun is that they can travel badly, i.e., puns don’t always work for international brands. For example, if you had a hair salon called “Salon and Farewell” that might not work too well in a British market, where the word salon is less commonly used in a hairdressing sense.
In the online world, puns broadly follow the same rules, yet there are significant challenges in areas like Search Engine Optimization (SEO). Making your brand name unusual can help with discoverability, sure, but if the pun is complicated or misuses common words, the wordplay can make it difficult for search engines to pick up.
In the end, it is up to the individual business to decide what to do, but the general rule that puns are great for low-stakes and social industries and best avoided for high-stakes professional industries is a great place to start. There is overlap, and there are exceptions, yet that’s the broadest platform to start from before you decide the correct course of action for your business branding.
Zack Hart
Hey there! I’m Zack Hart, the pun-dedicated brain behind PunsClick.
Based in Alaska, I built this site for everyone who believes a well-placed pun can brighten a dull day.
Whether you’re into clever wordplay or cringe-worthy dad jokes, you’ll find your fix here. We’re all about bringing the world closer — one pun at a time.