April Fools’ Day — A day that is meant to prank around and to be taken lightly. Not only do friends and coworkers prank each other, but also big companies and brands try to entertain their customers with humor and creativity. April Fools Day marketing campaigns are the best way to entertain and engage customers. 

This opportunity comes once a year which you can use in real-time marketing strategy to lighten up the vibe. It is your time to use your creativity and wittiness to generate fun ideas to draw your customer’s attention.

But, there is a huge but. These pranks can be very harmful to your brand image if not done right. There is a very thin gap between promoting your brand using humor and making fun of your customers. So you see, you need to find that balance where you can attract new eyeballs and entertain them.

If you can find that balance, April Fool’s marketing campaigns can immensely boost the reach and engagement with your audience. But how do you find that balance? How can you find social media campaign ideas for an April Fool contest? If you don’t know where to start, we got your back!

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Why Should You Do an April Fool’s Day Post?

Before diving into social media campaign ideas for April Fool’s Day, let’s talk about why you need to do this. Because every business has a lot of already going on to spend extra efforts and resources on something like April Fool’s Day.

But this is exactly why you need April Fools marketing campaigns. April Fool’s day is the best for your business to lighten up your audience’s mood from daily promotional posts. It is your time to improve engagement with April Fool’s day posts, contests, and challenges. These relatable, witty, and ROFL are well-received among the audience.

So, if you care about lightening up the mood of your audience and creating a connection with them, it is your time. It will help you create a strong social media presence and provide better visibility.

The Origin:

Every year, the 1st of April has been celebrated as April Fool’s Day, also known as All Fool’s Day.  As a marketer, we need to know all the details right. So when did it all start?

It is derived from the West and has various names depending on the region. But, what they all have in common is the theme of playing jokes on each other till noon. 

Even though everyone celebrates this for a very long time, no one is sure about its origin. According to the speculations, during a calendar change in France in the 16th century, when the Gregorian calendar was adopted- New Year’s Day from April 1 moved to January 1. So, people would be called “April fools” if they continued to celebrate New Year’s Day on April 1st instead of the new date.

Confusing? I know right?

But it is what it is!

Now, let’s see some of the best April Fools Day social media campaign ideas from big brands.

Best April Fools Marketing Campaigns Ideas:

PayPal:

What if you needed just a smartphone to get rich? If you could be able to print money from your phone? 

In 2018, PayPal posted a tweet to launch a new feature that would help you print money from your smartphone, you just needed to use the PayPal app. This was a joke but also a great way to increase brand awareness. PayPal was good at making the joke. I hope they were also good at making that technology. Everyone would love this kind of technology but not the next one!

The Chocolate Whopper By Burger King:

Would you like to have panipuri with chocolate syrup?

Before you start to judge me, hear me out!

After the huge success of Left-Handed Whopper, Burger King’s marketers struck again in late March 2018. And this time, they offered a Chocolate Whopper. Yes, you read that right!

A Chocolate Whopper with syrup instead of ketchup and white chocolate rings instead of the onions. In a 30-second video, they introduced the flame-grilled chocolate patty topped with candied blood oranges and milk chocolate lettuce leaves. It was a burger made in heaven for people with weird tastes.

OLA Air Pro:

We spent our childhood watching Sci-Fi movies and shows, and everyone wished that they could actually see flying cars in the future.

Fast forward to this day, Bhavish Aggarwal, CEO of Ola tweeted that the company was launching Ola AirPro – a flying, electric, driverless car. They claimed that it could take off and land. He further commented that it was produced with Ola Alloy – an amalgamation of titanium, carbon fiber, and aluminum. 

Read that statement by yourself!

“New-age materials were used to create the car, including carbon fiber and titanium, all sustainably sourced from F1 cars in Germany, fighter jets from the US, and soft drink cans from Shivajinagar,” stated Ola.

The brand was seriously committed to the prank – with a ready website, branded “Ola Air Pro” t-shirts, and a professionally shot and edited product video. The scripting, too, was hilarious. 

OnePlus:

Here’s another one from the company known for creating hype around its upcoming products- The one plus WarpCar electric car.

The OnePlus played a joke on customers, illustrating the upcoming WarpCar electric car. According to them, it will be able to accelerate from 0 to ~100 km/h in 3 seconds and safely overcome more than 400 km of the way on a single charge, merely in 20 minutes. And, instead of the alarm keychain, the user will be able to unlock the car using the OnePlus 6T.

But the car in the video was the McLaren P1 racing hypercar produced by the English company McLaren Automotive. And was an easter egg of the OnePlus 6T McLaren smartphone line — a special edition of the OnePlus 6T with support for Warp Charge fast charging technology, capable of charging a smartphone up to 100% in 20 minutes. So, you see, it was much more than just a joke. 

We should take notes from Oneplus on how to create hype.

Google Nose:

With the advent of technology, April Fools’ jokes have become ever more inventive and elaborate. In today’s digital age, the likes of Google have led the way.

One particularly memorable prank was the unveiling of “Google Nose.” It was a supposed new function that allowed people to search for specific scents that they could then smell by sniffing their computers or devices.

McDonald’s:

How many times have you accidentally dipped your fries in your milkshake instead of sauce? Well, McDonald’s decided to make this accidental combo a reality.

In April 2019, McDonald’s UK published a short video on its Twitter account revealing its “sauce-pots”. In these posts, you could avail yourself of banana, chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry flavors.

FoodieBae- Tinder For Foodies:

The popular food ordering app got everyone extremely excited with its launch of a new vertical – FoodieBae – essentially Tinder, but for foodies, where people get matched with a potential romantic partner based on food preferences, location, and tipping habits. It was the perfect antidote to the loneliness all singles were facing in times of a pandemic – to find the Pav to their Bhaji. 

We are sure a lot of young hearts were broken knowing that it was in the end, a hoax. But then again, there is nothing biryani can’t fix!

Sony:

In 2019 Sony released a funny video dedicated to April Fools’ Day and the 25th anniversary of PlayStation. In honor of the anniversary, the company decided to release branded keychains in the form of consoles — a 1:1 ratio. That is, in full size.

In a disclaimer that quickly runs through at the end of the video, the company quips: “Miniature keychains in the form of our consoles are also available, but they are not so epic. Accessories such as controllers, cables, and CDs are sold separately. If you seriously paused this video to read the disclaimer, you have too much free time. Better buy yourself a real PlayStation, not a keychain so that you can spend your time much more usefully.” What great April Fool’s Day marketing!

BMW:

Apart from people who enjoy telling jokes on this day, many people want to tell the truth on April Fool’s Day Therefore, you should also think of telling the truth to surprise your clients. In 2015, BMW announced that they would give a new BMW car to the first person to come to their showroom and bring the advert in hand. Then, a woman called Tianna followed what the advert said and had the car when. It turned out to be not a joke!

How To Find April Fools Day Marketing Campaign Ideas:

If you want to find more April Fools Day social media campaign ideas, you can easily do it with the help of PowerAdSpy!

PowerAdSpy is the first and the largest social media ads analytics tool of its kind. It offers to run the best ads to generate revenue on various platforms such as Facebook, Google, Instagram, Youtube, GDN, NATIVE, Reddit, Quora ads, etc. It has the world’s largest database with over 50 million ads listed. It has thousands of people around the world watching and submitting the best-trending ad copies. 

If you are searching for the best Facebook ads to get inspiration for your ad campaigns, you can easily find them with the Facebook ad spy tool PowerAdSpy!

Step 1: Log Into PowerAdSpy Dashboard

Go to the PowerAdSpy home page and click on the Login button.

Step 2: Enter A Keyword:

On the top, you will find a search bar where you put a keyword you want ads for. You can search for a domain, advertiser, or keyword. 

Step 3: Search, Sort, and Filter Options:

You can search by text, brand, object, or celebratory in the image. You also sort the ads by likes, shares, and comments. PowerAdSpy has a powerful filter feature that helps you filter ads by call-to-action, search ads by country, ad type, and ad position.

Step 4: Analyze The Detailed Ads Analytics:

PowerAdSpy provides the best insight on ads which gives you in-depth details on the age, gender, target profile, relationship status, social engagement, country, etc.

Step 5: Similar Ads:

PowerAdSpy also shows you ads similar to the ad you have clicked on. It will further help you get similar ads for the inspiration for your ads campaign.

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Wrapping UP

April Fool’s Day is worth giving a try, do not miss out on this wonderful occasion to show your company’s characteristics, boost sales, and execute your marketing strategy. We have listed some traits of a winning April Fool’s Day email marketing for marketers to take advantage of this day effectively. If you want to find more ideas, use PowerAdSpy!