Did your business engage in an April Fools Day prank this year?

April Fools Day may seem like an unlikely choice for a marketing campaign, but you might be surprised as to how many household brands get involved in ‘fooling’ the public with wild, wacky and almost believable pranks.

Despite being an excuse for a good old-fashioned prank, designing an April Fools Day campaign can be a great marketing tool. It shows your company has a personality and a sense of humour, and that it takes the time to engage with its customers. For the majority of businesses, this pays off well and has the potential to boost customer loyalty and engagement. Be warned though, it has the potential to backfire, as Google found out this year.

The Gmail ‘Mic Drop’…

This year, Google introduced the ‘Gmail Mic Drop’ – a special version of the send button which appends a gif of a minion (from Despicable Me) dressed as the Queen, dropping a microphone to the end of your email. This enables you to ‘have the last word’, and archives the message so you won’t see any replies.

But what happens if an employee, sending an important or sensitive email to their boss, presses the ‘Mic Drop’ send button accidentally? Well, this happened and resulted in the users offending clients, customers and co-workers, and in some cases fearing for their jobs. Seems the joke was on Google after the angry backlash, and they had to take down their ‘prank’ with immediate effect.

But what about the successful ones?

We’ve compiled some of our favourites. It seems that with a little creativity, you really can create something quite ridiculous:

SunLife launches Courtesy Pet Cover

Why is it that when your car’s being repaired you can have a courtesy car, but when your poorly pet has to stay at the vet, you have to go home to an empty sofa? Sunlife has come up with the perfect solution with its ‘courtesy pet cover’.

Pimms O’Clock

As a national catchphrase, it only makes sense…

Virgin America’s New Logo

Maybe it looks a little like the body parts of a woman… or maybe it truly represents the brand…

Google encourages ‘actual reality’

“What’s more real than real… probably nothing…” Making virtual reality a thing of the past, with actual reality.

BMW baby boots

When your child is learning to walk, it will never fall over again with BMW’s new baby boots.

So what was your favourite? And will you be jumping in on the April Fools Day hype next year?

Let us know your favourite by tweeting us @SilverDisc