Mention Aldi’s social media posts to most people and they will be quick to comment on the humour and cheeky style used in their updates. They stand out from the crowd due to their tongue-in-cheek comments and ability to have a laugh without straying too far into dangerous territory.
Ryanair is the same – its posts are flippant, fun and self-deprecating. For example, a recent post said: “with us, you fly and you land. anything else is extra,” clearly mocking the no frills experience passengers receive for the cheap prices they pay. They receive many comments on their posts, which also go viral.
Aldi regularly mocks the other big supermarkets. They also often mention how their legal team is onto them. A recent post said: “Not even National Moment of Laughter Day could get Marks and Spencer to admit we’re hilarious.” Again, people enjoy reading the posts and regularly respond and join in with the banter.
But when other companies try to do the same, it often falls flat. It seems forced. We have all seen the posts trying to do the same and thought, “Ah, they are trying to be like Aldi/Ryanair.” And we are talking business to consumer here. What about business to business? Can they adopt the same tone? Would this sarcasm and mocking of competitors work on LinkedIn? We asked a number of experts in their field what can B2B marketing learn from Aldi and Ryanair’s approach?
Susan Towers from Towers Fractional Marketing said: “What Ryanair and Aldi have done on social is leaning into their authentic brand and position themselves distinctly – something their audiences appreciate and remember in a marketplace full of options.
“For B2B marketers, the core lesson is the same. In crowded markets, especially in industries where differentiation is minimal, personality becomes a competitive advantage. These brands succeed because they deeply understand their audience, commit to a consistent voice and align that voice with their broader value proposition.
“As a fractional marketing leader to industrial manufacturers, SaaS and MSP/IT Services businesses, I often recommend my clients interject their genuine brand voice (tested for truthfulness, uniqueness and appealing to target audiences) – throughout the business, not just social. This voice should be palpable on a consistent basis: during every customer interaction, internal company picnics, media interviews, plant tours, etc.
“At the end of the day, B2B buyers are still people. Content that conjures emotion is far more memorable than a sterile image that gets lost in the sea of information tossing people every minute of every day.”
Russel Reid, Founder and CTO at LightTrail, said: “I saw a B2B company on social media attempting to mimic Ryanair’s sarcasm and humour to generate leads. They received some engagement but not a single lead.
“Aldi gets results because they are consistent and clear in their messaging. Their tone is consistent with the brand’s position being low priced, no frills and self-aware. Their humour reinforces their customers’ existing beliefs about Aldi. However, most B2B marketers don’t earn that tone and use it instead of their own to try to emulate it. When this occurs, trust can quickly deteriorate as there is no alignment of the tone being used to the purpose of the product and the audience’s expectations.
“In conclusion, tone is a multiplier of a brand/organisation’s position. It helps to create an audience when the tone reinforces the position of the brand/organisation and provides a clear understanding of what the target audience is (clarity and consistency). For the majority of B2B organisations, clarity and specificity (who the audience is and how to be clear that you are serving them) outweigh cleverness (the humorous aspect of the ad). When using humour, there must be a tangible connection to solving a real-world problem for the consumer. It can’t simply be used to grab the attention of the consumer.”
Tim Berney, Founder and CEO at VI Marketing and Branding, said: “What Ryanair and Aldi understand is that attention is earned, not assumed. Their tone works because it’s consistent and aligned with how their audience already sees them. It’s not random humour. It’s strategic personality.
“In B2B, the risk isn’t being too serious. It’s being forgettable. But there’s a difference between being human and being flippant. Credibility still matters, especially when decisions carry real financial or operational weight.
“The takeaway for B2B isn’t ‘be cheeky. It’s to ‘be distinct.’ Personality can absolutely strengthen engagement, but it has to be grounded in relevance and value, not just entertainment.
“Humour can open the door, but it’s substance that keeps people in the room.”
Matias Rodsevich, CEO and Founder of PRLab, said: “Most B2B brands sound like they were written by a committee. That is exactly why Ryanair and Aldi keep winning. They are almost the only ones willing to sound like a human being wrote their content.
“In my experience, what makes this approach work is not the humour itself. It is the consistency and the courage behind it. Ryanair’s tone has been there for decades – it is not a social media trick; it is the brand. B2B companies can absolutely take notes. Not to copy the jokes, but to stop hiding behind corporate language. Personality builds trust. Trust builds pipeline.”
Lisa Dawson, Director of Communications & PR at StaffDNA | LiquidAgents, said: “I think the lesson here goes back to what every marketer knows: you need to be bold and different to get noticed. This is literally a sea of B2B, bland, boring marketing that is being tuned out daily. Add to that the increasing amount of AI marketing slop being generated by small B2B brands that don’t have the resources to implement human-led, strategic content, and it’s all… too much.
“I think a good case in point is Jimmy’s Famous Seafood on X. They blew up recently after commenting on another company’s post that made a not-so-flattering remark about the men’s hockey team winning the gold medal. They used profanity, were highly irreverent and it had a divisive political overtone. The result has been phenomenal for them. The post received 17 million views in the 48 hours after it was posted. Their following is skyrocketing.
“The point here is yes, cheeky marketing works. When it’s done with intention, and the brand owns the narrative, it can be enormously helpful. It can literally put an unknown brand on the map. Is there an inherent risk in taking it too far? Yes. Does that risk outweigh the effects of doing the same boring marketing and getting no visibility? Yes.”
