“A new Glasgow bar has divided the opinions of local residents this morning with a bold marketing stunt”, says the Glasgow Times when covering this particular marketing stunt. We don’t think it’s divisive: we think it’s hilarious.
Okay, maybe it caused a few acute heart attacks before all was revealed, but it also achieved the only and ultimate goal of marketing: to get everyone talking about you.
So, what was this divisive marketing stunt? Well, picture the scene: you’ve driven into town today. Maybe you need the car later or you’ve only got a half shift to suffer through, so you’ve braved the Glasgow City Council’s notorious parking fines. The rules seem to change and get stricter every week, but you’ve been careful. You paid and displayed and got on with your day…
Only to come back to a wrapped note stuck under your windscreen wiper. And it has the Glasgow City Council logo on top, it has the alarming yellow colour of, you guessed it, a fine.
A mixture of shock and rage takes over you. Maybe you yell a few phrases that would make Malcolm Tucker blush as you get in your car and slam the door shut. Maybe you open it right there, or maybe you race out of town like a bat out of Hell. Eventually, you take a closer look at this fine to figure out what you owe.
Only there is no fine to be seen. Instead, when you open the pamphlet, you find instructions on how to find The West End Wendy: Glasgow’s hottest and newest west end bar.
At that point, do you laugh or rage again? Okay, maybe we can see why it’s divisive, but it got the job done. In fact, it was pretty clever. Not only are the victims of this prank talking about it, but so were social media and even the city newspapers.
So, what is there to take away from prank marketing?
Be careful
Pranks often don’t go over well. Let me tell you a tale of an empire that was the Prank YouTubers. They raised too high, their pranks getting more and more elaborate and “extreme” until they were outed for faking them – or not. Either way was unacceptable given the nature of the pranks, and the empire came tumbling down.
But that empire was built on misogyny, faked deaths, and bad taste. You have to know where the line is for your audience before you dive in with your prank.
Although it’s worth mentioning that it isn’t a prank if no one gets “got”. An article on prank marketing cited an airline buying every passenger on a flight an item in their wishlist: that’s just doing a good deed. It will not get tongues wagging.
A victimless example of prank advertising would be Weetabix, who famously and confidently declared on Twitter that beans on toast were out, and beans on Weetabix were in as the classic national dish. Boy, was Twitter not amused. A fight fiercer than “pineapple on a pizza?” roared on. But can you even call it a fight if it’s just Weetabix versus the entire internet?
Read the room
One thing to consider if you’re thinking about prank marketing is whether your brand even suits the tongue-in-cheek approach. Maybe don’t look into prank marketing if you’re a funeral director or a family solicitor for example. Your audience isn’t likely to appreciate getting got.
But The Wendy is a new bar in the West End. A bar is where you get up to mischief. Another example of prank marketing done right is Tinder, who announced in 2019 that they would be imposing “height verification” on their dating app. To nobly fight against the terror that is the phrase “6ft because that matters for some reason” and the blatant lie behind it.
Besides Tinder being a light-hearted brand that has an audience that would appreciate a prank, there is an inside joke being exploited there. That is a point you can use: does your industry have an inside joke that you can use?
Don’t play too safe
Google apparently has an April Fools stunt lined up and ready to go and has done for the past few years, only cancelling 2020’s installation due to Covid.
We bet you’ve never seen one. They announced a data centre on Mars, released an app that let you talk to a tulip, and launched Google Play for pets.
No attention is given to these marketing strategies. Because no one’s going to fall for it on April Fools Day. Not to mention the fact that these attempts can barely be described as a prank. If you fell for it, that’s on you. Google’s team has gone entirely too safe with the prank in that no one falls for it and therefore no one gets got and they don’t take the heat. They also don’t get talked about.
Ease the pain
It’s also worth mentioning that The Wendy was smart enough to effectively apologise for the prank by making up for it with 20% off food and put the cherry on top by calling the promotion a “golden ticket”.
A spokeswoman for The Wendy told the Glasgow Times: “Ideally, they take us up on the discount and we can look forward to welcoming them into our new Byres Road venue for some comfort food and cocktails.”
You can’t say Weegies don’t have a sense of humour.
And finally…
An article read for research suggested starting a flashmob.
Don’t. Just don’t.
