Trick me once, fool on me.
April 1st, a date that I eagerly await… who will do the biggest and the boldest, who will raise an eyebrow, and who will manage to fool even the most foolhardy.
Whereas last year was awash with weird and wonderful new flavours and a surprising number of NPD aimed at pets, the three executions that stood out, were incredibly plausible. And in each one, I did have to check the date.
I am a huge fan of reality TV. If I’ve had a huge day, in mind, there is nothing better than decompressing with mindless content that doesn’t take up any more brain power.
So when Duolingo announced that they had commissioned a reality TV show called ‘Love Language’ which brings people focused on the only communication that mattered, love, I was like bring it on. What subscription service to I need to add to my ever-growing list of TV subscription services to watch it?
I had totally bought into the concept, and actually don’t think it’s the worst idea in the world.
If we go back to one of the most fundamental rules in marketing - impact over output, actually creating their own TV show which inherently bakes the product into the premise, could be a really powerful way of getting the brand into millions of new homes.
Laylo (the boxed wine company that isn’t shit), announced that they were rolling out new 200ml cartons- think Ribena sized.
They described it as:
Perfect for…
👉 A posh addition to a Marks and Spencers meal deal.
👉 A cheeky post Barry's Bootcamp treat.
👉 A tube tipple.
The response was overwhelmingly positive. People have become accustomed to wine in a can, so maybe wine in a carton is not too much of a stretch.
April Fools can be an amazing way to test out a new and unexpected product concept. Several brands have actually ended up building highly successful product lines from what started as an April Fools joke.
A little bit about me, I am a chocoholic and I also love out-of-the-ordinary experiences, so when I saw that Hotel Chocolat was expanding its hotel portfolio to include one made entirely of Chocolate, I was sold.
No thought for how this would work in practice- would the bath melt when you ran it, or whether you would be staying in a room where people had licked the walls, I didn’t care. It was going to be my Willy Wonka experience, something that I had always dreamed about.
Sadly it was an April fool, but it does demonstrate the power of novel experiences.
Customers are looking to brands to be the antidote to real life.
The last 5 years have been a lot, and they continue to be a lot. If we were going to compare it to a season we are in the depths of winter.
Something that can transport people out of the ordinary, and create something wonderful. Marketing effectiveness studies have shown that during times of a recession people are looking for joy, fun and nostalgic cues that take them back to when times were not as hard- this is a brilliant post cast on this by the Uncensored CMO that digs into this.
What did you see and love, what gold did I miss?