As daylight savings messed with our minds, did any brands catch you off guard with an April Fools’ Day prank?
Contiki tricked travellers with the announcement it’ll be using ‘Artificial Intelligence Trip Managers’ (ATITA) on three of its European trips.
It called the innovation “the first of its kind”, saying it would replace traditional trip managers and provide a new, state-of-the-art travel experience.
Adding to the joke, Contiki NZ marketing and communications director Tony Laskey said: “We’ve been experimenting with artificial intelligence for over 18 months now and are proud to be the world’s first travel company to introduce AI trip managers. We know young people are digital natives and as technology improves, Contiki is redefining travel and taking it to the next level.”
For those who wanted to view more, Contiki invited them to visit an ATITA webpage.
New World also had a ‘world first’ to share for April Fools as it announced the addition of in-aisle trampolines.
Designed to help vertically challenged customers to reach the top shelf, we’re sure many were disappointed when they discovered it was all a joke.
Spark also got into the fun with a ‘TacTouch pad’ to transform the scrolling experience on laptops—although we’re not sure how good that transformation would be.
Holden took a page out of BMW’s book by giving away an Astra to Daniel, who traded in his mullet for the car.
Meanwhile, Pizza Hut and KFC confused our taste buds with a cookie stuff crust and KFC Sushi.
The Waikato District Police had some fun, by introducing the Tactical Bunny Unit (TBU). Who knew rabbits had such a strong sense of smell.
NZME used its GrabOne website to trick visitors into purchasing a half-price deal to zipline off One Tree Hill. The offer was so convincing, more than 3000 clicked on the link to buy it.
Overseas, the gags continued as Uncle Tobys introduced an ‘O Energy’ battery made from oats. Apparently, oats are more powerful than any other battery.
Virgin Trains replaced tickets with tattoos.
Google took its Google Home AI technology into the garden with Google Gnome. It only takes outdoor requests.
Google also offered up a solution to keep pets engaged, by adding a ‘pets’ section to the Google Play Store.
Aitbnb’s joke was also about convenience, as it introduced its ‘humanless host’.
What’s better than a Big Mac? A Micro Mac.
Mall of America solved the frustration of being stuck behind people who text and walk. It tricked people into thinking it had installed texting lanes.
UPDATE:
Mammoth also got in on the action, with a ‘beard spray’ for those suffering from bare cheeks.
The campaign was developed by Contagion and based on the insight that baby-faced blokes often long for some facial foilage.
“Mammoth guys like a laugh, especially when it’s at the expense of a mate,” says Contagion ECD Bridget Taylor. “So it’s no surprise we got over 3,000 comments on the first night and over 7,500 in the following days. Not bad for a small, but timely investment.”
- If we missed one of your favourite tricks, share it in the comments below.
