April

Creating an event built within the framework of an April Fools Day Origin Story can become an exciting coming together of both your customers and your surrounding communities. Think about it, who doesn’t like a good April Fools Day prank? And by prank I mean something humorous, something funny or something surprising.

NOTE: however you setup your April Fools Day Origin Story marketing event it’s important to take into account who the pranks will be played on and not create pranks that are offensive or cruel to the recipients. After all this event is tied to your business and is meant to increase business and not to chase people away.

According to History.com there are no definitive answers to the origin question, it may have popped into existence in the 1500’s when the French calendar changed or perhaps it came to be during the vernal equinox or the first day of spring in the Northern Hemisphere. And because it’s so open ended it creates an opportunity for a  series of wonderful popup marketing installations.

Idea List

1.  Invite people to write short stories about the April Fools Day Origin, maybe 500 to 1000 words long and give out prizes for the top 3 or 4 entries.
2.  Hold a early evening costume party where the winners are announced and serve food along with music and party favors.
3.  Connect with other businesses in towns your business is located in and make it a huge event that numbers into the  thousands.
4.  Hire local high school drama students to dress in costumes that reflect the creation of an April Fools Day Origin Story event.  Have them visiting all participating businesses and hand out fliers on sidewalks.
   
5.  Create a scavenger hunt that includes many local businesses and have the students dressed in costumes interact with all those coming into each business looking for clues.
6.  set up a small fair in one of your local parks or setup many fairs in parks wherever you have business locations. Make it a day long celebration of spring and April Fools Day.

Creating a series of April Fools Day Origin stories can be a wonderful way to engage with new and old customers. The topic is exciting for a number of reasons, but the reason that stands out from all the others is that the origin stories can be about whatever comes into the writers mind. There are no boundaries, no limits and no rules to what the story says is the origin.

Holding a contest for creating an origin story is one way to go but by no means is it the only way to craft your April Fools Day marketing campaign. Because there is no concrete origin of the day you can use this opportunity to create your own origin story and use it as the marketing campaign itself.

The above of idea of using a newly created origin story as the pivot on which you market your business may seem a bit out there, but I assure you stepping into the unknown can pay huge dividends. Most of the marketing campaigns running at this moment in your business category are the same ones that ran last year and the year before that. Most of the marketing campaigns running today are repeats of what’s come before, they are as unoriginal as an umbrella in the rain.

Trying new paths and traveling on new avenues has the potential to excite and engage new and old customers, and isn’t that what you want your marketing to do? Jump into the unknown, the rewards are waiting.