Apr 02, 2021
At TopRight, we think that brands can—and even should—have a sense of humor, and each year April Fools’ Day presents itself as an opportunity to show off a lighter, more humorous side.
There’s some inconclusive research about whether these annual pranks add anything to a brand’s impact in the market. But, with no clear indications, brands take part anyway—either for the laughs or on the off chance a good joke will elevate visibility.
This year, brands came out in force with gags that were funny, effective, or both. And when they weren’t all that funny, they were good marketing, bringing a name to the surface that many of us hadn’t heard of before (Cyngn, Ola).
But when they were funny, there were really funny.
Here is our list of the top five brand pranks of 2021!
1. Ola Air Pro
Although not exactly hilarious, Ola gets the award for most convincing and effective prank ad: thousands of people thought that this ad was real and were ready to lay down cash for a flying car. Bonus for them: if you hadn’t heard of Ola before, you sure have now.
2. Velveeta “V”
Not as convincing as Ola’s ad, but pretty funny for being so gross. Velveeta came out with some gag skincare. And, honestly, I bet warm cheese on the skin feels great—it’s just removing it and avoiding an acne outbreak that wouldn’t be fun.
3. Cyngn “Horse”
Again, there’s no laugh-outloud, knee-slapping comedic genius to be found here, but their “autonomous horse” prank did give vehicle tech firm Cyngn some much-needed public exposure.
4. TaskRabbits “Rabbits”
Some people probably really believed TaskRabbit was handing out rabbits. (I wish they would!)
5. Lego “SmartBricks”
Lego needs to actually invent these—right now. If you don’t have kids, you don’t know the agony of stepping on a Lego brick.
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