My wife and I were sitting in a restaurant in Istanbul when my mobile rang.

A bored voice on the other end said: “I’m calling about your recent accident which wasn’t your fault….”

Now first off, I’m surprised to be getting a call from a UK number at a restaurant in Turkey; secondly, I’d explained to these same cold-callers many times that I haven’t had an accident and to please stop calling me.

But this time I’m sitting there waiting for the main course to arrive, I’ve got nothing else to do, so I say: “Do you mean the accident where I hooted a pedestrian and he dropped his dog’s lead, so the dog ran across the road and startled a cyclist, who bumped into a car which crashed into a lorry, which rammed a bus full of children, which drove off a bridge and crashed onto a passenger ship, which ran into a dock causing a skyscraper to collapse, bringing down a jumbo jet full of people?

Because that definitely wasn’t my fault.”

The line went quiet for a few seconds then the voice said: “I’m sorry to bother you Mr Trott, I’ll leave a note to make sure you’re not called again.”

And it’s true, I used to get lots of insurance cold-calls and I’ve never had one since.

I think what made the difference was the use of humour.

That person has a job where they’re bored stiff, all-day, every-day they have to cold-call people who either get angry or hang-up or shout at them.

Either way they don’t have a human interaction, what humour does is separate you out from the crowd and by laughing have a friendly human exchange.

It’s very useful for us to know that humour will take us places that shouting, or pleading, or even logic won’t.

In 1984, 73 year-old Ronald Reagan was running against 58 year-old Walter Mondale; in the TV debate the big issue was Reagan’s age, was he too old to be President?

Reagan said “I will not make age an issue of this campaign. I am not going to exploit, for political purposes, my opponent’s youth and inexperience.”

The entire audience laughed, even Mondale had to laugh.

Reagan’s whole campaign was full of jokes, he made people laugh so they liked him, he won the debate and went on to win the election by a landslide.

I noticed how humour works on the streets of Soho years ago.

Most nights as we left the pub there were beggars holding out their hand for money, some people gave them a pound some gave them nothing, it didn’t seem very efficient.

But one night as we left the pub, a beggar said “Help me out gents, I’m trying to raise £10,000 to buy an off-licence.”

Of course everyone laughed at the cheekiness of it, some people gave him a pound, some gave him a fiver, a much better result.

Because laughter makes you feel good and when you feel good you’re more likely to feel good about the other person, and more likely agree with what they want.

David Batterbee, the managing director of BMP, put it to me like this: “Get them nodding along, and then keep them nodding along”.

When he wanted to sell something to a client he wouldn’t start by talking about the work, he’d start with a joke or a story, get them smiling and relaxed, something they could nod along to and agree with, then keep that feeling going throughout the presentation: “Get them nodding along, and then keep them nodding along”.

Humour puts them in a good mood so they’re more likely to like you, so they’re more likely to agree with what you say.

This is how humour works, this is how the best advertising works.

Something insightful and funny that everyone can nod along to and agree with.

The first ad to use this effect was the commercial: “How does the man who drives the snow-plough drive to the snow plough?”

It’s a good question, it gets the response “Oh yeah, I never thought of that.”

In answer, a little Volkswagen drives up, the car that’s so basic and rugged it starts in cold weather when other cars don’t.

And it gets a laugh and the reaction “Of course”.

But instead of being presented as a straight-logical argument (VW starts better in cold weather) it’s presented with wit and gentle humour.

We laugh which makes us feel better about the person making the observation.

So we nod and go “Oh yeah, I get it” and Volkswagen gets a brand image of reliability.

Because humour takes our audience where nagging and ‘brand purpose’ never could.

People just smile and say “Fair enough”.