Brands on April Fools’ Day with Yahoo For The Win

Source: Yahoo and Adweek

To be honest, I wasn’t quite sure how April Fools’ Day would play out this year. What kind of mood would people be in and would people be up for the joke? As a result, I didn’t hear much about anyone pulling pranks. At least not in my sphere.

And in the marketing world, I wasn’t sure if brands would be out there either. Would marketers think consumers would be into the joke or if the current climate would be appropriate for a LOL?

Turns out we are … and turns out that maybe we need it. Here’s a nice roundup from “Adweek” if you’d like to see a range playing some April Fools’ jokes on its consumers.

Yes indeed, brands were out in force around the world for April Fools’ Day from Dyson’s launching a new Airbrow product in the U.K. that instantly styles your eyebrows to Virgin Cruises in Australia offering an “emotional baggage” allowance.

Spanish fashion brand Balenciaga based in Paris announced Kim Kardashian as its new global creative director which people actually thought was real but no …. April Fools! Gotcha!

U.S. brand Dunkin’ gave its members free coffee, but truth be told that was no April Fools’ joke! Gotcha, in reverse!

My favorite of them all however came from U.S.-based global brand Yahoo, mostly because it was the most fitting of the moment in this moment of our lives. We spend so much of our lives at our keyboard and on our devices, often indoors. So Yahoo launched an “Agricultural Interface” which is essentially a digital keyboard where the keys are all covered with grass so we can get a sense of being outdoors as we sit in endless meetings and as we answer strings of emails.

Touching grass all day long. Oh what a relief it is. Where can I get one? Alas, April Fools! Culture meets desire gap meets brand. Wonder if this will spark a product innovation?!?

Happy April Fools’ Day! What a nice break it was!

What could your brand do for April Fools’ Day? What’s your experience?