April Fools' Day Marketing Campaigns that Drive Brand Engagement

NEW YORK, April 2, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- While the first of April is typically set aside for harmless hoaxes and practical jokes, April Fools' Day is also when even the most conservative of brands can use this quirky holiday to engage with consumers and get people talking about their business. In years past, big brands have pulled some pretty clever pranks and small businesses can certainly get in on the fun while tying the holiday into their marketing efforts.

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In her latest article for PR Newswire's Small Business PR Toolkit, Sarah Ware, Co-Founder and Chief Executive of Markerly, provides her top 10 examples of how brands have successfully integrated this holiday into their marketing strategy.

• Vegemite Energy Drink: Vegemite took to their Facebook page to announce their new energy drink product, Vegemite iDRINK 2.1. The post included an image of the new product -- allowing Vegemite to showcase their humor and creativity.
• Hulu Turns Back the Clock to 1996: In 2011, Hulu reskinned their homepage with TV programming from 1996. While it was obviously a prank, this successful tactic helped to build brand awareness and drive traffic back to their site.
• BMW Pickup Truck. BMW increased the likeability factor of their brand when they unveiled a pickup-truck version of its M3 sports car at a Munich auto show. While most hoaxes involve manipulating photos, the Bavarian firm went one step further and developed an actual truck.

To read the remaining top seven best marketing campaigns that fooled us all, click here: http://bit.ly/1C8je5V

PR Newswire's Small Business PR Toolkit is a comprehensive resource that provides small businesses and entrepreneurs the tools to develop an affordable public relations and marketing plan that helps generate interest from potential customers, engage with key audiences and grow their businesses. The toolkit features relevant content such as informative white papers, interactive webinars and how-to articles and premium access to educational resources, as well as the opportunity to take advantage of special offers designed specifically for small businesses. To request information on how PR Newswire can help your small business, click here. You can receive updates on new Small Business PR Toolkit content by following @prnsmallbiz on Twitter.

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