Making Online Age Verification Funny: Yoti and Studio Yes’ Winning Formula

Digital identity business Yoti knew that the government’s online safety legislation would be a big deal - so it commissioned a (very funny) ad to tell the world about its secure age checking software - in a humorous and unignorable way.

And then, the government… changed its mind. For six years.

The Online Safety Act - or parts of it, at least - finally came into being in July this year, and Yoti’s pre-pandemic ‘P*rno Pete’ ad, made by Studio Yes back in 2019, finally saw the light of day.

The ad sees a young man settle down for a little ‘me time’ - and try to verify his age online.

Instead, he inadvertently broadcasts his online browsing habits to the whole world - including his mum, with the story unfolding in ever more cringe-inducing ways.

“We knew this moment offered us a chance to cut through and reach people with the Yoti brand,” says Paul Hammond, UK acquisition lead at Yoti. “But even as a company that is all about being safe online (Yoti now provides identity and age assurance services to some of the world’s biggest brands), it was a challenge to avoid being censored ourselves.”

Yoti wanted to use humour to maximise its chances of cutting through. Dulcie Cowling, EDC and founder at Studio Yes, explained how they approached the film, “It’s a sensitive and potentially embarrassing subject, coupled with a very technical solution – how do you talk about a subject as sensitive as people watching adult material online?

“We focused on people’s fears around verifying their age at this private moment – and showed what could potentially go wrong, if you didn’t use a trusted company like Yoti. In the six years since the film was first made, censorship has become more rigorous - Yoti had to make some small tweaks to the original version - including to cover up references to adult content with a certain vegetable emoji - but in a way that kept the humour and message intact.

“We launched on 21st July - and within two weeks had almost 5m views - half of that organic, with media spend on TikTok, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube.” adds Paul Hammond. “We reached 5m views across platforms - 3.3m male and 1.7m female, with roughly 85% in the core 18-40 demographic - something we thought it would take months to achieve.”

“It’s not often that something you have been sitting on for so long can connect so immediately - and so much of that was down to it being just downright funny. When it comes to challenging or awkward subjects - humour is one of the most powerful tools you can use.”