When does genius marketing cross the line into deception?
Brands often have a field day on April Fool’s Day by pulling marketing pranks for the views. Some of these campaigns can be extremely clever, while others are downright deceptive. How can brands use the technique of hoax marketing to their advantage without ending up with a PR disaster? Let’s take a Deep Dive.
❗ Leveraging humour and wit in marketing is often more effective in grabbing attention and connecting with audiences.
☠️ When done well, hoax marketing can help your brand go viral. When done badly or with poor intentions, your plan can backfire.
📉 While it is often said there is no such thing as bad publicity, negative press can do serious long-term damage to a brand’s corporate image.
QUOTABLE
“[Hoax marketing] is a medium to be handled with great care if you don’t want things to backfire.”
— Andreas Illmer, BBC journalist
BY THE NUMBERS
72% A study by information technology company, Oracle, found that 72 percent of individuals show a preference for brands that engage in humorous marketing over their more serious competitors.
3 Brands with successful April Fools’ Day content saw their per-post engagement rates grow by three times in a study by NewsWhip Analytics.
22% Another study revealed that businesses face losing up to 22 percent of their customers if potential buyers come across just a single negative review about the product.
7% An unexpected crisis can cause publicly listed companies to see their shareholder value decline by as much as 7 percent.
QUIZ
What percentage of customers report better recall of advertisements that are humorous?
A. 40%
B. 50%
C. 90%
Scroll to the bottom for the answer.
DID YOU KNOW?
Some of the most successful marketing stunts in history were based on fabrications that caught the public’s imagination, like the Taco Liberty Bell ad pulled off by fast-food restaurant chain, Taco Bell, in 1996.
THE EDIT
🚀 Going viral for the wrong reasons. April Fool’s jokes can very quickly turn into a PR disaster, like Volkswagen’s name-change prank that caused an uproar in 2021.
🤯 Crossing the line. Outrageous hoaxes have sparked outrage and panic, like when a pair of radio DJs in Florida joked about the poor water quality coming out of people’s taps.
📊 Big risk, big rewards. Some prank campaigns pay off due to positive reactions. Subway Australia faked the launch of the “SubDog”, but later added it to the menu for a limited time.
WATCH
Canadian journalist, Ginella Massa, and marketing expert, Nav Nanwa, discuss the risks and benefits of April Fool’s Day marketing.
THE FULL PICTURE
When planning an April’s Fool prank, it’s crucial to first understand your audience and how they are most likely to receive and react to it. Some generations prefer it more than others.
KEY PLAYER
Google Netherlands
In 2023, Google Netherlands introduced “Google Tulip’, an app allowing humans to communicate with flowers via machine learning. The bogus campaign featured humorous interactions including talkative tulips and a prickly cactus that replies, “Leave me alone.”
HONOUREE TO KNOW
Daniel Lo
The ways in which companies reach their customers are changing fast, and Daniel Lo is helping them to navigate the transition. GoGoChart, the advertising technology company he founded, offers a range of services including Web3 marketing, brand strategy, search advertising, interface design, PR, video and animation.
ONE FINAL THING
Ikea Singapore launched its Invsbal Collection just a few days before April 1 on social media. While the furniture retailer has not publicly announced the collection as a prank, the collection is priced at a very specific $1.04.
