April Fools PR

Believe only half of what you see and nothing that you hear.

These words are particularly significant today for two reasons. First, there are significantly more absurd and ridiculous “news” stories that generate attention in the media now compared to long ago, due to both the pressure to feed the 24-hr news cycle and the fight for page views. Second, today is April 1 and marketing people love this day.

But while many think about deploying an April Fools gag to generate talkability and get their brand noticed, only few actually take the liberty to. That’s because there are a few basic ingredients to crafting an April 1 stunt, but getting it wrong can be a recipe for disaster.

• Plausible but not damaging – like most stunts, an April 1 gimmick must be founded on a good idea. It needs to be believable, otherwise no-one will bite, and something people would be genuinely interested in, yet not damaging to your brand if it were actually true.

• Funny/ quirky – let’s face it, we all appreciate humour. A funny or clever stunt is what will create the talkability that measures success.

• Activation – in today’s content heavy hi-tech communications world, activation needs to cut-through social, digital and traditional channels. Think about everything from leaked press releases through to digital ‘gamification’ (see Google Maps example below).

Australia gets first sunrise on April 1, so here are just some of the stunts we’ve spotted today already:

Vegemite iDrink 2.1 energy drink –

Yes, you read this right. Following on from last year’s ‘Yankymite’ rebranding gimmick, Vegemite tried to convince us on Facebook today that they’d launched a new energy drink. Yuk.

However, we give them full points for a simple idea, inclusion of a product shot and simple activation through Facebook, which now has over 2,000 likes and 3,000 shares already.

Google Maps – Pokémon Challenge – 

Only Google would team up with Pokémon to launch the Pokémon Challenge via their Android and iPhone Google Map apps. In this call-out for a fictional job, the “Pokémon Master” at Google, Google Maps is littered with Pokémon, and we’re invited to take the quest to catch ‘em all.

Nova’s Fitzy quits –

Love or hate them, they got in early and it was a corker. On Nova’s Fitzy and Wippa show yesterday, Fitzy resigned ‘live’ on air. The only thing was, it wasn’t live. Watch this video of management rushing to the studio.

Ignite PR works with Australia’s leading franchise brands to both increased brand awareness and improved franchise development. Contact us today.