Last April Fools Day, our co-founder Shane Snow and event lead Jess Black posted an ad on Craigslist in 16 cities offering a free goat. They pose as Sam Slaughter, our Vice President of Content, instructing all goat-seekers to call him immediately.
Sam was stumped when the calls started coming in, but he was also proud of the insane collection of voicemails that were accumulating. It's an exquisite collection because the prank has legs — three months later Sam is still getting the call. But most importantly, it reminds us of the true spirit of the holiday: utter nonsense.
Most brands struggle with absurdity, and as a result most brands' April Fools' jokes are silly.
Google is a perfect example. The search giant took a silly pass adding a Gmail button that inserts meme Minion mic-drop Go to the reply email before muting the conversation. It seems like it's been a bad brand partnership since 2013, and to make matters worse, a lot of people have accidentally used it inappropriately. One guy may even have lost his job. But even if the consequences were more appropriate, the gag game wouldn't work, because it's just a mash-up of two memes that were popular three years ago.
On the other hand, we have this great five-track rap album, # WatchtheStove which Hamburger Helper released on April 1.
Why? Who cares. The songs are surprisingly catchy, with lines like “The helper eats a burger and we dip it in / It stays on the stove for so long it could burn my lips.” Five songs have been played a million times, and Twitter has made no sense when Hamburger Helper made trap music.
In 2016, we' I listened to a Neil deGrasse Tyson diss track and a Hamburger trap tape @ helper . pic.twitter.com/yC5gd6NBMX
– Philip Lewis (@Phil_Lewis_) April 1, 2016
The hamburger helper mixtape will get you ready to step into the kitchen like pic.twitter.com/FzjUNuiPP9
– JAKE ELLIOTT SZN (@Nevers_Failures) April 1, 2016
DRIPPIN & # 39; DOWNLOAD ME TO HAVE CHEESE ON MEH! # WATCHTHESTOVE pic .twitter.com / vsezyrBYZE
- Kristi Omnomcoochie. (@JediMassaYoda) April 1, 2016
See the kitchen showcase activities y & # 39; all 😂🆗🆗🆗🌊⛵️🌊🌊📞 @ helper pic.twitter.com/ROdkPvH73 t
– motorolaJONES (@HeadBan_Shawti) April 3, 2016
The idea seems to come from a Twitter follower and I want to rank top 25 – Longtime Marketing Manager at General Mills who sold the concept to his bosses. According to Billboard , the glorious album created by a team at the McNally Smith College of Music. HuffPo even wrote a thought-provoking piece about clickbait wonder if The Hamburger Helper got ahead of Beyoncé.
In this round of the best branded content roundup from March and April Fools' Day, Helper is clearly the winner. But there are still some other efforts worth looking forward to.
Zulu Alpha Kilo: Launch Site
Toronto Agency Zulu Alpha Kilo soon got its April Fools game relaunching its website as a parody of everything you hate about agencies. It features videos of the founder:
[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1tmBajpH2Xk[/embed]
Ridiculous case study:
And a pretty cool regular word generator:
The relaunch of the self-congratulatory agency website was the worst, but this one deserves acclaim.
Real estate website Renthop used FEC campaign donation data to create an interactive map showing the political leanings of every NYC area zip code, lest you move into a Brooklyn neighborhood where where Ted Cruz's ironic support got out of hand. And the map is quite fun to play with – New York magazine even cover it in detail.
In my hood (Bottom East, or 10002), Hillary is taking care of Bernie with ease, despite only receiving 39 percent of all donations. Since the map reveals how many donations Donald Trump has received in his home city, it will likely get much more attention soon.
Netflix: John Stamos, Present
Netflix has gone deep into April Fools' Day, almost completely re-branding to focus on John Stamos.
First, the company released a trailer for the John Stamos biopic: John Stamos, Being:
A VERY exciting new original documentary unlike any other. “John Stamos: A Human, Being” to air in April on Netflix 31 https://t.co/AhIVOF9xIj
– Netflix US (@netflix) April 1, 2016
Then Netflix leaked Stamos cellphone footage at its office:
[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pMbZKOXB7BY[/embed]
Finally, the brand even tweaked its algorithmic recommendations to be Stamos-centric, with categories like “Trends are like John Stamos now,” “Comedies John Stamos thinks are funny.” and “The TV series made John Stamos feel things he hadn't felt in a long time. ”
Finally, Netflix has tapped into something BuzzFeed has known for a long time: Millennials, for whatever reason, feel really funny when you're obsessed with John Stamos.
Black and Decker / Comedy Central: Hand Job: American Model Portrait
Comedy Central is following the BuzzFeed model and creating funny short videos for brands. The original branded video line was impressive but the best part of the project was that the company somehow managed to convince Black and Decker to do a program called Hand Job .
The show is legitimately funny and it's a smart money-making strategy for the cable network.
But — and I can't stress this — it's not a trap album supposedly released by an anthropomorphic miner to promote Hamburger Helper. If you want to know what a drop mic looks like when it comes from a brand, here it is:
[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x9ZmAQxLogg[/embed]
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