Richard Ayoade is a man with several strings to his bow. A comedian, actor, writer, director and presenter, who has graced TV and cinema screens for more than two decades. He also happens to be no stranger to the world of advertising, having appeared in number of ads over the years including, perhaps most notably, his campaigns for HSBC.
Ayoade has observed the shift from ads previously being “a reflection of the wider society that you’re living in” toward a more personalised experience, highlighting how ads, in theory, are now making people “more aware of what you’ve already been interested in.” As a result, he believes it’s reached a stage where “you’re slightly turning in on yourself” when seeing ads in this day and age.
Changing the audience connection
Speaking at Mad//Fest London 2025, Ayoade leant on the basis of authenticity and pointed to the importance of it not just in his work, but in what brands are delivering to audiences.
“There’s a cliché about the ideal reader that, if you read a novel that you really love, you feel it’s written specifically for you, rather than a generality,” said Ayoade, sitting down with NDA Editor-in-Chief Justin Pearse. “I think the most respectful, connected thing you can do is to feel that you’re making it for one person who you really care about.”
To drive home this point, Ayoade used the example of a clown performing on stage, seeing their favourite aunt at the back of the audience, and “doing everything to make that aunt enjoy herself.”
“If you treat the viewer like your favourite aunt, like someone you don’t know better than, who you care about, and can also see through all of your lazy tricks, that’s a really good place to be,” he said.
Making more exciting advertising
The theme of this year’s Mad/Fest is “Be Less Boring” and Ayoade, a man who has built his career through the far from boring activity of making people laugh, has some educated advice for brands looking to create more entertaining advertising.
Ayoade believes that, as with most elements of life, confidence breeds the most success within advertising.
“Adverts are really enjoyed by the viewer when they almost feel ‘oh, the people making this are so confident, they’re not even worried if I like it,’” explained Ayoade.
As such, Ayoade thinks it’s time for brands to start thinking more like animals, because “it’s almost impossible for an animal to be boring when filmed,” and stop acting like they’re better than the consumer they’re trying to reach.
“If there’s a 30-second footage of a cat, you don’t go ‘this is a boring cat’ and it’s because the cat, in some ways, isn’t trying to please you or manipulate you in a certain way,” Ayoade added. “One of the most boring things you can do is think you’re better than someone else. That’s inherently not of interest to the other person.”
With that, Ayoade doesn’t view authenticity as needing to built around directly relating with the consumer. Authenticity can be as simple as just letting people know that they’re being influenced.
“It can be authentic to go, ‘I am interested in influencing you.’ I think that can be an authentic position. An inauthentic position is ‘I am disinterested in influencing you but, actually, really I am.’ That is not so winning.”
