3 Best April Fool’s Day Pranks by Big Brands

April 2, 2018

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This year, April Fool’s Day was mostly stuck in Easter’s shadow. However, the opportunity to capitalize on a day of shenanigans was not overlooked by some of the big brands in the consumer market.

Let’s take a look at 3 of our team’s favorites, and why they’re so genius!

[fusion_youtube id=”WLLm2jar57w” alignment=”right” width=”” height=”” autoplay=”false” api_params=”&rel=0″ hide_on_mobile=”small-visibility,medium-visibility,large-visibility” class=””][/fusion_youtube]1: Beautiful Bond Salon

In partnership with Instagram influencer and self-proclaimed Dog-Dad, Topher Brophy, Petco began advertising their new service to make “parents” look like their “animal children.” The advertisement opens with Brophy, whose resemblance to his dog is funny to viewers who don’t recognize him, and even more engaging to those who do. The video is hilarious and relevant to the industry, but does not call attention to any of the advantages of Petco’s actual goods or services.

So does beautifulbondsalon.com provide any benefit besides engaging users with the Petco brand?

While the company does not use their ad to promote differentiating factors that contribute to their brand’s value, they did collect data and generate leads by creating a website for Beautiful Bond Salon. They can analyze the site’s traffic to determine the demographics that this type of humor appealed to, and their button to book an appointment pulls up a short form requesting the user’s name, email, and pet type – providing clear lead and segmentation opportunities.

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[fusion_youtube id=”KfWx2-QkEdI” alignment=”right” width=”” height=”” autoplay=”false” api_params=”&rel=0″ hide_on_mobile=”small-visibility,medium-visibility,large-visibility” class=””][/fusion_youtube]2: Jäger Balm

In this 1:15 spot, Jägermeister advertises its new “Jäger Balm,” infomercial-style.

But what makes this ad so great?

While this clear play on words and humor are clever, this ad is particularly impressive because the company was able to use a joke product relevant to their industry to explain the benefits of their real product – Jägermeister.

The salesman in the video describes Jäger Balm as bold yet balanced, sweet, bitter, fruity, and spicy. He also mentions its German origins and that its ingredients include a blend of 56 botanicals. These are all key features that Jägermeister uses to differentiate its real product.

The “Product” page of their website reads, “Every German masterpiece contains equal parts precision and inspiration. Bold, yet balanced, our herbal liqueur is no different. Blending 56 botanicals, our ice-cold shot has always been embraced by those who take originality to the next level.”

Jäger Balm is not only relevant to the company’s industry, but also reinforces Jägermeister’s existing messaging.

… And it gets better.

When you dial the 1-800 number on the “infomercial” screen, callers are offered a 10% discount on their 3-bottle tap machine. Good going, Jägermeister!

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[fusion_youtube id=”blaL64WbI2s” alignment=”right” width=”” height=”” autoplay=”false” api_params=”&rel=0″ hide_on_mobile=”small-visibility,medium-visibility,large-visibility” class=””][/fusion_youtube]3: Honda Sixth Sense

Honda’s prank also did a great job of advertising their existing product, but made sure to keep it brief. The ad primarily focused on the humor of their new app, “Honda Sixth Sense,” designed to prevent distracted walkers from making collisions.

For the first ten seconds, the narrator introduces the issue of pedestrian collisions, and introduces Honda’s existing sensing technologies that will allow them to expand into this new market. They show a clip advertising their vehicles’ sensing capabilities for about three seconds:

The video continues to explain the services offered by their “Sixth Sense” app, relating each to the existing sensing technologies of their vehicles. They show a young texter being alerted when he begins to veer of the sidewalk, explicitly referencing lane departure warnings, and then as he casually navigates obstacles with his “collision system”– all while staring at his phone. The ad then completely centers on the comedy, introducing a premium feature that enables users to receive a warning when someone they don’t want to run into is nearby.

In the end, they brought it back to the Honda brand, using the tagline “Creating Safe Mobility Solutions.”

Honda addressed the two biggest concerns with comedic advertising.

The two main concerns while using humor in advertising are that it will not “land” with the intended audience, and that the viewer may remember the joke but not the brand behind it.

This ad was clearly targeted towards a younger audience, and by honing in on what type of humor would relate to them, Honda avoided the first common pitfall. To ensure viewer retention of the company advertising, Honda continuously weaved their branding and product features throughout the ad. They were able to successfully retain humor while incorporating key messaging, and ended on a tagline that called attention to Honda’s focus on safety.

We love to talk ads – check out our blog to see what marketing topics we’ve been buzzing about lately! You can visit our website to learn more about our agency, or give us a call at (352) 600-5050.

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