Brands love to take part in the April fool antics, and this year it was no different.
Some brands manage to achieve hilarious results which garner viral engagement, however some completely miss the mark and put forward eyebrow raising campaigns. In an era where brands and consumers are taking a critical look at misinformation on the web, should brands actively deceive their consumers all in the name of attention? Especially when they invest so heavily in building trust with consumers.
Some people may say these types of campaigns are a complete waste of time, and it could bring a bad reputation to the brand, on the other hand some believe the light heartedness and humour displayed by these campaigns helps to bring brands closer to consumers. In this short blog we have rounded up our favourite (and not so favourite) April fool campaigns from 2018. Disclaimer: we may have been fooled by some of these ourselves.
Heinz Mayonnaise…with chocolate
Heinz ‘launched’ chocolate mayonnaise, made with free-range eggs and the ‘finest Belgian dark chocolate’.A Heinz spokesperson said: “It’s hard to improve on perfection, but we think we might have done it.”
We’re not too sure this would be a big seller if it was actually a thing…
Durex Tea
Durex’s new tea Infusions range combines two of Brits’ favourite things: a good cuppa and sex. Coming in a range of three flavours, tea-crazed Brits can take their pick from Lus-tea Naugh-tea, and Flir-tea. Durex haven’t released any information about potential.
Asda Moodscan
Asda has created mood scan technology that can detect which food will cure their ‘hangriness’. We’re big fans of this campaign as it garnered a lot of social media engagement for Asda, thanks to a campaign which clearly caught the imagination of their followers. We’re just angry it’s not available in the real world…yet.
The aim of these monthly posts is to keep you abreast of all the weird and wonderful news and insights to come out of the world of marketing. Every month, our team will pick our favourite campaigns, brand insights and marketing trends that you can use to enhance your marketing knowledge or even as inspiration to delight your audience.
First4Lawyers Zombie Attack
Law firms are usually known to be very corporate and unimaginative, but this campaign from “F4L” busts all those stereotypes, showing a light hearted and creative approach from the law firm.
Kit-Kat Soap
The geniuses at KitKat HQ have found a new way “to have a break”. Available in three formats; bites, four finger, and chunky, KITKAT Soap might be the tastiest clean of your life. We think this is great example of a good April fools campaign: simple, funny and relatable to the audience.
Final Verdict
We think it’s well worth brands putting in some creative effort to engage their audience in a humorous and light hearted manner. However, the target audience and possible negative ramifications have to be taken into consideration, as some people may take these april fool jokes seriously! We’re looking forward to see what brands have in store for us in 2019.
Which April Fool campaign was your favourite?
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Aprik Fooled?
Written By Adam Burrage
Managing Partner at Trident
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