April
Fool’s Day is a celebrated national holiday in American where people play
hoaxes, stunts and pranks on one another. It is also on of the few days out of
the year that recognized brands and companies get to have a little fun with
customers and audiences.
Public
relations professionals stir up fun and major noise when it comes to playing
practical jokes on customers of a brand. Not only are the jokes comical and
enjoyable to hear about, it accomplishes exactly what the public relations
professional is supposed to do. It creates buzz and attention for a brand.
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| Retrieved from: prdaily.com |
One
of the funniest April Fool’s pranks this year, in my opinion, was done by
Cheetos and Frito-Lay. Frito-Lay sent out a pretty convincing press release
about the introduction of a Cheetos perfume, brilliantly named Cheetau. According to
Cheetos and Frito-Lay, the new perfume is "a prestige fragrance that
celebrates the irreverent, intriguing and playful nature of the iconic
feline." Even better, people actually believed that Cheetau was a real
thing. Even better than that, it created major buzz about the brand, and at the
end of the day, isn’t that what really matters?
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| Retrieved from: latimes.com |
Google
also had to join in on the 2014 April Fool’s Day fun. Each year, Google
divisions around the world participate in trying to out-prank itself from the
last April Fool’s Day, and this year was no exception.
One
of its biggest pranks was launched on Google Maps called the Pokemon Challenge. The winner of the Pokemon Challenge was
to receive the title and job position as Pokemon Master at Google. This
encouraged many people to participate in the challenge and stirred up quite a
bit of noise for the Google Maps division.
Cat
keyboard – that needs no explanation right? Google Chrome introduced its QWERTY Cats for Chrome along with its other pranks on April Fool’s Day. If you love your
cat, then you should give them access to type on their own keyboard.
Perhaps
one of the best uses for April Fool’s Day this year was American Eagle
Outfitter’s launch of American Beagle Outfitters. If you’re looking for trendy,
fashionable clothing for your dog, then American Beagle is the place for you.
The successful clothing company event released a website
and ‘dogumentary’ for store’s introduction.
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| Retrieved from: designtaxi.com |
Of
course this stunt turned out to be just another April Fool’s Day shenanigan,
but American Eagle made it stand out from the others by linking its website to
ASPCA donation. A dollar from every order on the store’s website will also be
given to the ASPCA.
It
makes me happy to see company’s using its power to better the world around
them. It is always great to generate buzz and excitement for you brand, but
American Eagle Outfitters did it in a way that also promoted a great cause. As
public relations professionals, we should always be able to have fun with our
brand, but always remember the bigger picture.
Sources:
- Shi Ying, L. (2014, March 27). April Fool's Prank? Brand Introduces Dogwear Line 'American Beagle Outfitters'. In Design Taxi . Retrieved April 4, 2014, from http://designtaxi.com/news/364713/April-Fool-s-Prank-Brand-Introduces-Dogwear-Line-American-Beagle-Outfitters/
- Kleinman, A. (2014, March). Google Maps Is Taken Over By Pokémon In April Fools' Prank. In Huffington Post. Retrieved April 4, 2014, from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/03/31/google-maps-pokemon_n_5064473.html
- Horovitz, B. (2014, March 31). April Fools' pranks not just for laughs. In USA Today. Retrieved April 4, 2014, from http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2014/03/29/april-fools-april-fools-day-marketing-pranks-cheetos/7008513/
- Aune, S. P. (2014, April 1). Google April Fools’ Jokes 2014: A Complete Rundown. In TechnoBuffalo. Retrieved April 4, 2014, from http://www.technobuffalo.com/2014/04/01/google-april-fools-jokes-2014-a-complete-rundown/
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