Ten years ago I pitched this to one of my good clients, a successful appliance and bedding retailer who's voiced his own ads for a long time. I suggested creating some special spots that would run on April 1st only, for make-believe products and accessories available at his store. He was agreeable, so I wrote maybe a half-dozen different spots that first year; we ran them at least twice an hour throughout the day on all stations. The reaction far surpassed our expectations, with people calling and stopping by the store to confirm that these items were available. We've repeated the fun, adding new spots to the mix every year, and will do so again on April 1, 2019.
You can hear some of those spots here.
So, for today's Friday Poll Question, we'd like to know:
What's some of the stuff your station or advertisers do to make April Fool's Day fun for your listeners?
Please share your stories below. And thanks!
You know I don't think we've ever considered that before. But I have a whole bunch of trade ads coming in that I think that would be good for... now if only I can convince my GM to go for it.
First of all, Rod, thanks for posting those wonderful Howard Hughes ads. Sign me up for one of their pedal-powered appliances!
Our April Fools Day tradition? Spoofing ourselves by providing stations with Time Capsule Quizzes spotlighting months like March 1,000,005 B.C., January 2525, etc. Next Monday, our latest installment will challenge listeners to identify a mystery month-and-year from the Revolutionary War. (You can hear them all at www.tcapsule.com/fool)
Of course, the cherry on top would be a local Time Capsule sponsor airing its April Fools ad in the middle of our spoof program...
