Marketers have long embraced April Fool’s Day (a few years ago, a colleague of mine sent a Canadian coworker a realistic deportation letter from the INS).
But lately, more and more marketers have been taking April Fool’s to consumers. Brand hoaxes can be great ways to connect to audiences with humor. They are also risky because they can so easily backfire.
Google is the master of April Fool’s. My all-time favorite brand hoax is last year’s Google Maps prank, where they introduced a working 8-bit version of Google Maps developed for the old-school Nintendo Entertainment System.
So far this year, there have been a couple early releases. American Eagle introduced a very funny new product, the AEO Skinny Skinny jeans, “our skinniest skinny jeans ever”. The product is a can of spray paint to “spray on” the jeans.
P&G launched new Bacon-flavored Scope mouthwash, “for breath that sizzles”.
I’m posting this on March 31 and would love to hear your thoughts on the best (and worst) brand hoaxes for this year’s April Fool’s.
(Marketoonist Monday: I’m giving away one signed print of this week’s cartoon. Just share an insightful comment to this week’s post by 5:00 PST on Monday. I’ll pick one comment. Thanks!)