For centuries, April 1st has been a day of pranks and practical jokes between family, friends, and co-workers. April Fools’ Day celebrations have evolved over the years with social media, marketing, advertising, and public relations. Many well-known brands now spend portions of their marketing or advertising budget to promote fake products, create funny ads, and more.
To get into the spirit, we gathered some of our favorite April Fools’ Day ads and campaigns by brands. If you’re considering using April 1st to create some seriously funny marketing content, read on for some of our favorite April Fools’ Day marketing moments!
PetCo
In 2018, the popular animal supply company notified customers that it’s not only “where the pets go”, but where owners can receive a makeover. The brand truly never fails with effective advertisements, and this one was surely creative. The ad featured a “Beautiful Bond Salon” in which stylists would help owners bear a closer resemblance to their pets. The Beautiful Bond Salon commercial may have been hard to believe, but they certainly had us laughing!
According to Google, “smelling is believing”; this is why they were excited to introduce Google Nose, the newest scent-station in search, on April 1st, 2013. This expertly curated feature pairs images, descriptions, and scents with your Google searches, generating a brand new experience for your senses. Users could search what anything from a ghost to an Egyptian tomb smells like, prompting your computer to release the matching scent. While this April Fools’ Day innovation isn’t real, we think this could be an amazing feature for restaurants or fragrance companies in the future!
Whole Foods
In 2016, Whole Foods announced the “Main Squeeze: A New Way to Find Your Next #WholeFoodsandChill” application, which was meant to create a dating experience for single, Whole Foods shoppers. This idea was great and on-brand, as those who shop at Whole Foods usually share common interests about the quality of their food or have special dietary needs. While the company didn’t go into a lot of detail with this prank, an app that allows shoppers to match up or suggests great date night recipes seems like a realistic idea!
Honda
In 2019, Honda Canada launched a “Polite Horn” commercial, stating that “sometimes drivers need to get the attention of others. But do they have to be rude about it?” Rather than the usual sound of the horn, it was replaced by the sound of a man clearing his throat. We loved seeing this hilarious take on the usual, seemingly rude car horns – they almost had us fooled!
We love to reflect on past April Fools’ Day campaigns and highlight brands that almost had us fooled! The tradition can help keep your social media and ads light-hearted and grab key audience attention with some fun elements.
What are some of your favorite April Fools’ Day pranks from brands?