Yesterday was April Fools’ Day, a day set aside for practical jokes. I hope you had a good laugh.
There have been some classic pranks pulled on the public over the years. In 1974, Oliver Bickar, a man from Alaska, stacked old tires in a dormant volcano and set them on fire, causing the residents of the area to fear Mount Edgecumbe was about to blow. That is, until the Coast Guard flew over the mountain to find the tires burning and the words “April Fools” spray-painted on the floor of the volcano. Not everyone thought Oliver was so funny.
In 1957, the BBC broadcast a three-minute video of people pulling spaghetti noodles from tree branches, claiming that farms in Switzerland had seen a bumper crop of pasta growing on spaghetti trees. It was reported that many people contacted their local TV station to inquire where they could get a spaghetti tree of their own. When they found out it was a prank, not everyone was amused.
On April 1, 1996, Taco Bell announced they had purchased the Liberty Bell and was moving it from Philadelphia to Irvine, California and renaming it the Taco Liberty Bell. When outraged people realized it was just a prank, not everyone was happy.
Everyone loves a good laugh, but how did we get a day dedicated to sophomoric pranks? It goes back to 1582 when Pope Gregory XIII was trying to fix the old Julian calendar. The new calendar ended the year on December 31 instead of March 31. Some people liked the old Julian calendar and preferred to start the new year on April 1. People made fun of them and called them April Fish and attached fish symbols to their backs. This eventually became April Fools’ Day. The fish people did not find it humorous.
Enticing a good laugh is a classic marketing technique to get consumers to feel good about a brand. It is not always as easy as it seems. Marketing that makes people laugh can be quite effective until you cross a line of good taste. Just like the new calendar replaced the old calendar, that line has changed over time. People can be offended by what used to be considered witty and amusing. Of course, if you try to keep from offending everyone, your marketing is probably not funny. So how do you make it work? First, define your target market. Try to do this by age demographics. Humor tends to be generational. What your parents think is funny might not be funny to you and vice versa. If you define the group of people you are trying to reach, you can use their style of humor with your brand. Second, there are some types of humor that cross generational lines. Physical humor tends to do this. When someone gets knocked down, we all laugh. This could be true of Will Ferrell or Charlie Chaplin. Third, stay away from poking fun at topics that tend to divide people rather than unite them. If you make fun of someone’s politics, religion, race or creed, you are asking for trouble. (Comedians get away with this, but comedians are not marketers.)
It is the morning after April Fool’s Day. Yesterday was the day for the goofy stuff. If you want to add humor to your marketing campaigns, make sure you are doing so in a way that it leaves your brand in a good place in the mind of your target market and not insulting them… and check your back for a fish sticker before you leave the house!