Article

Julia Deutsch
Julia Deutsch 31 March 2015

April Fool's Digital Campaigns

Planning a prank for April Fool's Day? Here are the top five hilarious pranks lead by advertising campaigns.

While advertisers and marketers haven’t been able to prank audiences as well as the BBC did in 1957 with their Swiss Spaghetti Tree story, the ad industry has taken to pranking the everyday person the past few years.

 

 


In honour of the most tricky of holidays, here are our five favourite prank-based ads from across the U.S. and Europe.

Carrie

In order to promote the Carrie remake in a new and fun way, MGM and Thinkmodo brought Carrie’s telekinesis to an unassuming coffee shop in New York City. While there was no pig’s blood involved (thank goodness), the telekinetic acts certainly gave the cofee shop customers a fright. 


 

The video was put up just eleven days before the film’s release date and it has grown to be one of the most popular viral prank campaigns ever, with almost 62 million views. Since its release, the viral ad has received critical praise and awards, including two CLIO awards and a Webby. 
 

Watch as happy coffee shop customers have a momentary fright. 

here
 

Crest and Oral-B

Procter & Gamble’s Crest and Oral-B nrands, along with Publicis Kaplan Thaler, pranked children by presenting healthy alternatives to sugary Halloween candy. In the most adorable (and funny) way possible the children described their absolute loathing for the beet, broccoli and asparagus-flavourred sweets they were asked to taste test. 
 

The video was put online two weeks before Halloween and it received over seven million views in its first few days online and it resulted in 1.7 million coupons printed. The campaign was praised for the dental brands’ approach to a holiday that doesn’t traditionally fit with their products. Indeed, "nothing is more terrifying than Halloween without candy."
 

Kids say the darndest things, especially when candy is at stake.

here


TNT Benelux

In order to let Belgians know of Telent offering TNT Benelux, Duval Guillaume turned an average town square into a centre of drama with the push of a button. By brining drama to usually calm town square, local residents knew exactly what kind of entertainment they would find on TNT Benelux.

With over 52 million views since it was launched, this ad is one of the most viral prank campaigns. With eight Cannes Lions, as well as many other awards, it is also considered on eof the most critically-praised viral ads.


 

Watch as drama descends on this calm town square! 

here.


Pepsi Max

Abbott Mead Vickers took a regular bus stop on Oxford Street and turned some traveler’s waits upside down by showing UFOs, robots and other out-of-this-world events happening in Central London on one side of the bus shelter for its latest Pepsi Max ’Unbelievable’ campaign. Some people were scared, others were entertained and many more took photos and videos to share their experience. 

Pepsi Max transformed a regualr bus shelter and gave commuters a view of London with UFOs, robots and more.

The video of the Pepsi max bus shelter prank has gotten almost 7 million views in just over a year and is proving to be one of the most innovative out-of-home campaigns of 2014. The concept did just whay it was meant to do and showed how out-of-this-world Pepsi Max can be.
 

Watch London get taken over by aliens!

here

Devil’s Due

To promote Devil’s Due, Twentieth Centry Fox paired with Thinkmodo to scare people on the streets of New York City with it’s Devil Baby Attack video. People’s reactions to the devil baby easily make this one of the funniest prank advertisements, and it quickly went viral.
 

The video has gotten almost 51 million views since it was uploaded and went viral last January. It has also received critical praise and has already won two Shorty awards, as well as national media attention.
 

Watch the terribly funny baby attack prank! 

here

 

Contact MintTwist

So what do you think? Were there any viral prank advertisements that we missed? If you think so, tweet us
 

Or, if you have any digital strategy questions on how things go viral, we can help out. Happy April Fool’s Day! 

Original Article

Read More on Digital Doughnut

Please login or register to add a comment.

Contribute Now!

Loving our articles? Do you have an insightful post that you want to shout about? Well, you've come to the right place! We are always looking for fresh Doughnuts to be a part of our community.

Popular Articles

See all
7 Reasons Why Social Media Marketing is Important For Your Business

7 Reasons Why Social Media Marketing is Important For Your Business

In the past two decades social media has become a crucial tool for marketers, enabling businesses to connect with potential customers. If your business has yet to embrace social media and you want to know why it is...

Sharron Nelson
Sharron Nelson 29 February 2024
Read more
B2B Marketers Need a New Approach to Lead Gen to Meet the Growing Quality Challenge

B2B Marketers Need a New Approach to Lead Gen to Meet the Growing Quality Challenge

The biggest challenge facing B2B marketers in 2024 is generating high quality leads. And the problem is getting worse.

Michael Nutley
Michael Nutley 18 March 2024
Read more
How to Create a Landing Page: The Ultimate Guide

How to Create a Landing Page: The Ultimate Guide

Learn how to make an effective landing page with our latest article. Perfect for beginners and pros alike, this article gives you practical tips to create a landing page that works for you. From picking the right...

Ravi Shukla
Ravi Shukla 19 February 2024
Read more
How to Review a Website — A Guide for Beginners

How to Review a Website — A Guide for Beginners

A company website is crucial for any business's digital marketing strategy. To keep up with the changing trends and customer buying behaviors, it's important to review and make necessary changes regularly...

Digital Doughnut Contributor
Digital Doughnut Contributor 25 March 2024
Read more
4 Tips for Building Effective Direct Response Marketing Campaigns

4 Tips for Building Effective Direct Response Marketing Campaigns

Craft irresistible offers and elevate your marketing strategy with direct response marketing campaigns.

Iulia P
Iulia P 22 March 2024
Read more