April Fool’s Day humour is one of the most effective ways a brand can engage with a British audience – I kid you not, this is according to a new study from Streetbees, the global intelligence platform.
Almost 9 in 10 Brits (86%) say humour is one of the best ways for a company to get their attention, and more than two-thirds (68%) saying they thought April Fool’s campaigns by brands were funny.
As a result, more than half of those surveyed (51%) like brands who engage in April Fool’s Day pranks more, although the effect was more marked on men (58%) than women (48%). Only 7% of all respondents liked brands who played April Fool’s jokes less.
“I enjoy humour and being made to laugh, so if a brand can do it well, it’s a brand for me,”
A 24-year-old woman responding to the survey
“I always like to look for the funny side of things, and anything I find funny I tend to remember more clearly than serious matters – especially where advertising is concerned,”
A 61-year-old male respondent
Our users also told us about their own habits on April Fool’s Day. 7 in 10 people said they’ve played a prank on someone else; while 9% said they’d fallen out with someone over a prank.
Men (81%) were more likely to retaliate to a prank than women (68%), while they were also much more likely to think it’s OK to make someone feel stupid with a prank (26% vs 7%).
Big differences were also clear between younger and older respondents. Of 18-25s, 27% said it’s acceptable to film a prank and put it on social media, against only 10% of other age groups who agreed.
Norval Scott, Head of Communications at Streetbees, says: “Having a sense of humour is often seen as a core part of the British identity, and our study confirms that people really do want brands to make them laugh. Companies that can poke fun at themselves at this time of year in a memorable way will gain traction with audiences that might otherwise be hard to reach.”
