The 5 best April Fools’ Day pranks by brands

It’s April Fools’ Day and no one is safe! Particularly those who follow brands on social media. With many businesses growing their in-house marketing teams, or working closer with agencies, brand creativity is at an all-time high. And with social media making easy work of delivery, we expect to see lots of pranks all over the place this April Fools’ Day.

 

But why bother?

It’s easy to see why brands join in on April Fools’ Day, and why it’s growing in popularity. Timely, shareable, reactive marketing has never been more popular. It can make businesses seem younger (even if you’ve been around forever), more creative, fun and, most importantly, more relatable too.

So, fancy jumping on the April Fools’ Day bandwagon? Here are our 5 favourite April Fools’ Day pranks by brands to inspire you!

 

Paddy Power’s Seahorse Race

The Paddy Power team are pretty top-notch at marketing anyway but this prank certainly took the (sea) biscuit! They told people they were sponsoring the first ever Seahorse Race, “taking sports betting and entertainment to new depths with all the excitement of horse racing – but underwater”.

 

McDonald’s milkshake pots

Many thought their weird-food-habit-dreams had come true in 2019 when McDonald’s announced they were launching milkshake pots; little pots of their famous milkshakes, perfect for dipping fries into. Sadly, it was revealed shortly after getting everyone’s hopes up that this was just an April Fools’ Day prank after all!

 

 

Shutterstock’s brick and mortar library

Okay, this is one we wish would actually happen because we really, really, really want to go here. Shutterstock released a video announcing the creation of the world’s largest library, featuring, you guessed it, pictures of pretty people with sparklers and disgruntled ostriches. Obviously.

 

Sainsbury’s pink avocados

What’s more millennial than an avocado? A pink avocado! Or at least that’s what Sainsbury’s told us when they announced they were launching Peru-grown “rosa-vos” in 2019. Would you try it?

 

 

Tinder’s Height Verification

Dating app Tinder caused controversy when they posted a video advertising a brand new feature on the 29^th of March. Height verification was added to reportedly to battle the issue of “height-fishing” on their site. The prank was met with some disgruntled comments when it was revealed to be an April Fools’ Day joke a few days later.

 

So, that’s it. Those are our favourites! Have we missed one of yours? Let us know on social!

If you’re looking to make a splash with your own social media campaigns, get in touch to find out how we can help!