With the advent of every financial year comes the inevitable April Fool’s day and no brand wants to be left behind. All companies jump on the trend to make the next viral campaign – and we are here for it!
With our noses covered with masks (please wear your masks!) we might not have been able to smell their hoax (for the most part), but here is a list of what we feel were the best pranks by brands in 2021:
- Zomato:
The popular food ordering app got everyone extremely excited with their launch of a new vertical – FoodieBae – essentially Tinder, but for foodies, where people get matched with a potential romantic partner based on food preferences, location, and tipping habits. It was the perfect antidote to the loneliness all singles were facing in times of a pandemic – to find the Pav to their Bhaji.
We are sure a lot of young hearts were broken knowing that it was at the end, a hoax. But then again, there is nothing biryani can’t fix!
Source: Zomato IG
- OLA:
Ola’s CEO, Bhavish Aggarwal, tweeted that the company was launching Ola AirPro – a flying, electric, driverless car which can take off and land. He further commented that it was constructed with Ola Alloy – an amalgamation of titanium, carbon fibre and aluminum.
“New-age materials were used to create the car, including carbon fibre and titanium, all sustainably sourced from F1 cars in Germany, fighter jets from the US and soft drink cans from Shivajinagar,” stated Ola.
The brand was seriously committed to the prank – with a ready website, branded “Ola Air Pro” t-shirts, and a professionally shot and edited product video. The scripting, too, was hilarious.
“Five years ago, we came up with an idea to make Indians fly, but…the plan didn’t fly.”
“You could lift it with one hand but we advise against it.”
No shit, Sherlock!
Check out the elaborate video by Ola
- Flipkart:
Remember, when in 2018 that one friend walked up to you and asked you if you are investing in Bitcoin and you laughed on his face?
(Cries at fixed deposit rates now).
Well, Flipkart announced that it would accept Bitcoin as a form of payment. “The future is here. We now accept Bitcoin as a convenient mode of payment. Update your app now.” their tweet read.
As Cryptocurrency isn’t backed by the Reserve Bank of India as a legal tender, yet – hence, many users questioned the tweet from the very onset while others welcomed the move towards the future being led by a company like Flipkart, which has more than 200 Million users in the country.
Reacting to their tweet, CEO of WazirXIndia, a cryptocurrency trading platform, commented: “Obviously, an April Fool’s tweet. However, what’s not obvious is that Flipkart just made millions of more Indians aware and curious about Bitcoin. Thanks for helping grow the crypto ecosystem in India.”
Within three hours of this announcement, they posted another tweet that read – “Supercoin* Oops”.
- Pepperfry:
As if millennials don’t already receive enough information around where and how to invest their money, Pepperfry came up with yet another “financial instrument” – A furniture mutual fund.
The prank was announced in a humorous news video format starring none other than the company’s CEO.
“People are investing in sofas to binge-watch web series”, the headline on the spoof video read. The prank gave a hilarious twist to the cliche – “great returns from the comfort of your home” by rephrasing it as – “Furniture mutual fund gives one great returns and comfort while you stay at home”
Even though this mutual fund was not subject to market risks, this prank was made conspicuous by the sheer timing of the announcement. #aprilfoolsday.
Check out the elaborate planning that pepperfry put into this. It doesn’t just make for a hilarious april fool’s campaign but goes to highlight the value proposition of pepperfry.
Check out: Mutual Funds Comparison by Pepperfry
Here’s pepperfry taking a dig at their competitors (peers):
- RazorPay:
The FinTech company tweeted saying “Upload your meme, get it valued based on our Galaxy Neural Network (patent pending) and start making payments online!”
Parameters to be used to judge the same included:
– WhatsApp forward value: Relatives re-share on the family group (Gentle reminder – Unmute those)
– Accidental WFH value – Time the meme gets sent to the bosses, accidentally (Gentle reminder – Mute those zoom calls)
– Twitter bonus: If the meme goes viral on Twitter
– Irrational humor points: Whether or not there is a potential of you getting a beating after your parents see the meme (Quoting Russell Peters here: Somebody is gonna get hurt a REAL bad.)
Even though this was just a prank, we wish this for you now and forever: May your WiFi network be strong, and may your Meme game be stronger.
Source: Free Press
From Bitcoin to flying cars, Brands really did take us on a rollercoaster this year with these pranks! With maximum customer engagement guaranteed, brands leave no stone unturned to hop onto the next big social media trend. It was much appreciated humour in times like these and we can’t wait to see how these brands level up next year!
Check out – Inbound Marketing Agency
