April Fools Day 2014

Last year, we saw quite a few marketers take advantage of April Fools’ Day to appeal to customers’ sense of humor with promotional pranks. Social media has been driving the trend over the past several years because it allows brands to rapidly and inexpensively amplify messages.

For example, FreshDirect used social media to introduce a new blueberry and banana hybrid called a “bluenana.” Virgin Atlantic Airways posted on Richard Branson’s blog that the company was featuring a glass-bottom airplane “to ensure passengers can enjoy an unparalleled flying experience.” And our personal favorite was the bacon mouthwash that quickly went viral. Scope ran Facebook postings as well as print ads for a new bacon-flavored Scope mouthwash that “kills 99.9% of bad breath germs with 100% bacon taste.”

This year, more brands are taking part and the schemes are getting more elaborate – some even began their pranks before April 1, hoping to build word-of-mouth before the big day.

Adweek created a working list of the best brand hoaxes of 2014 and have been updating the list throughout the day. Some highlights:

Spaghetti O’s launches Spaghetti Squares:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rosetta Stone offers lessons in Klingon:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cheetos went so far as to actually make a few bottles of spokescheetah Chester’s new fragrance, Cheetau, and sent it to media!

 

 

 

 

 

CafePress launches CafePredict. In conjunction with the NSA, they’ll ship you items before you order them.

 

 

 

 

 

Linked off the google homepage this morning was the Auto Awesome Photobombs app  for Google+ which lets you insert David Hasslehoff into any photo.

 

 

 

 

 

 

What were your favorite pranks this year?