I really like April Fool’s day, as it gives frustrated marketers around the world the chance to show some creativity and let their hair down.
The granddaddy of April 1st pranks in the digital space has to be Google, as listed out here on Wikipedia. Google’s past April Fool’s jokes have included:
- 2007 Gmail Paper
- 2007 TISP – Toilet Internet Service Provider
- 2008 Google Custom Time
- 2008 G’day with MATE
- 2009 CADIE – Cognitive Autoheuristic Distributed-Intelligence Entity
2010 Looks like a Community Jail is going to be created by the guys at the Googleplex as reported by Fast Company
You Tube (owned by Google) has also got into the spirit of things since 2008 by Rickrolling everyone with the featured vids across the website. 2009 saw a continuance of the frivolity with their New View Experience
BMW UK has announced the creation of an interchangable badge – or roundel – for their vehicles as reported by http://f1photos.org/
BMW Political Roundel Attachment Tag
Soon Great Britain will be in the grip of election fever and as the public goes to the polls BMW has created a unique way for customers to personalise their cars depending on their political leanings. BMW’s innovative Political Roundel Attachment Tag (PRAT) is a highly stylised limited edition accessory of the BMW product portfolio and comes available in the colours of all major UK parties.Uwe Beanhadde, Head of Made-up Technology at BMW’s renowned Forschungs und Innovationszentrum in Munich, said: “We have been working on this innovation for a number of years and see it as a niche with potentially wide appeal. One of the most popular features, sure to strike a cord with the floating voter, is that the roundel can be replaced in a matter of seconds should the opposition suddenly seem more appealing”.
News of the PRAT accessory comes swiftly after boffins at BMW offered other award winning innovations such as Canine Repellant Alloy Protection that stopped dogs relieving themselves on customers’ wheels, Magnetic Tow Technology, the ultimate in tailgating tech, and BMW Instant Messaging which let owners know what they really thought of other road users.
Further details on PRAT can be found by contacting 0800 561 0080 or emailing Uwe.Beanhadde@bmw.co.uk
The Culture Mind 