The Verge is listing April Fool’s pranks from across the internet, from best to worst, today. Take a look yourself to see what some brands have come up with this year to fool their customers.
Taking a day on the calendar and turn it into a marketing opportunity has been a marketing tactic for a long time – from Valentine’s Day to first day of Spring to any religious holiday or even national pancake day. And a lot of times, highlighting your brand’s message on a certain day makes sense and is a smart move to deepen the connection between you and your audience.
When I was working at the St. Baldrick’s Foundation, a childhood cancer charity funding the most promising research to find cures for kids with cancer, we always planned a campaign for childhood cancer awareness month, which happens every September.
April Fool’s Day is not an exception when it comes to brands taking advantage of a timed opportunity to “do something” to stand out. The tricky part about April Fool’s Day, however, is that it can go terribly wrong if you’re playing the wrong prank. A prank that is offending or hurting your audience instead of making people laugh with you or at you (even better because it shows you have humor!).
Google, for example, had to disable its April fool joke today because the Gmail Mic Drop stunt led to emails sent with serious consequences. One person reported to even lose her job after accidently sending the mic drop gif to her boss.
Yahoo shared a fake Trader Joe’s story announcing that the popular grocery chain will close all its stores by 2017. The article was published on the evening of March 31, however. And if I hadn’t read all the way to the end of the article, which is where the prank was revealed, I would have believed it was true. Timing is everything in marketing, and Yahoo’s timing was not good. Even just a day too early, was too early in this case because…well, it wasn’t April Fool’s Day yet.
Whatever pranks you’re intending on playing on your audience today, make sure they’re harmless. Make sure they are timed right. Don’t wait until tomorrow. 😉 And make sure to ask yourself: How would I react if I read this or experienced this?
Oh, and stay away from pranks involving rugby if you’re German. Nobody is going to fall for that prank coming from a soccer crazy German nation, not even the British…
Happy April Fool’s Day!
Rebel on –
Nina
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