April Fools’ Day is coming round again, and video is how brands are sharing the joke. In the content marketing calendar, it’s an opportune time for brands to show their personality and sense of humour in order to engage existing audiences, extend reach and build trust.
Here are some of the spoof videos we’ve spied recently – not all for April Fools’ Day – but all offering us insight into winning marketing techniques.
Brand spoof – BookBook
“Once in a while, something comes along that changes the way we live, a device so simple and intuitive, using it feels almost familiar…” So starts IKEA’s ad for BookBook which expertly mocks Apple launch spots, and timed perfectly – a week before the launch of iphone 6.
If you spoof a specific brand video, you need to be spot on so that it’s credible with the audience and feels fresh. When we created a successful April Fools’ campaign for Barclaycard, we were careful to adhere to the brand messaging and the look and feel of their ‘real’ content.
Selfie bot is believable, almost
The number one rule of April Fools’ ads is that they have to be believable or almost believable… The selfie bot from Gosphero, a connected play company, is just such a product. The selfie bot is a drone which allows you to take selfies with your hands free. The ad gets the social media savvy tone spot on (“so you can put up a #peacesign with your #duckface”.)
Movie pranks
The entertainment industry is expert at fakes from War of the Worlds radio broadcast in 1938 to the café stunt to promote the recent ‘Carrie’ film. This year at SXSW, some Tinder users were tricked by a spoof profile to promote the film ‘Ex Machina’, which was premiering at the event. The stunt used Tinder to match-make real people with the female robot, Ava, from the movie. The conversations via Tinder were realistic, and it’s only in retrospect that you realise she is not human.
When users clicked on the fake Instagram profile for Ava, they found photos and a video promoting the film. Whilst this campaign makes clever use of social media and garnered lots of publicity for the movie, it may seem a bit mean-spirited to play this kind of trick on your potential audience. Remember the audience should be at the heart of all you do – even when you’re playing a trick on them.
More than an April Fools’ Day joke
Uber and Tom’s ad for ShuberX, where they people walk around in cardboard cars to reduce carbon footprint (“Great for the environment, even better for your calves.”) never feels like a real concept. However the brand uses humour here to promote their real partnership. In a crowded environment taking the risk and creating a fun video can pay off.
Pigeon power
Video is at the heart of this campaign for Samsung. They have created a landing page which looks authentic with social media comments and additional links. The music and voice-over take the audience into a tech ad with talking heads explaining why pigeon power is the future of wifi.
Let us know if you get fooled by any brand videos on Wednesday or if you spot some campaigns which don’t have a sense of humour.