April Fools’!

We invited advertisers to invent a campaign that intelligently utilised Adshel Live and the power of digital Out of Home on the 1st of the month, when the flexibility of digital creates a truly engaging April Fools’ opportunity. Brands could have their ads displayed to the nation all morning – and then their April Fools’ activity could be revealed instantly come 12pm.

The overall response was fantastic and we hand-selected some of the very best ideas to appear across our Adshel Live network…

Comedy Central, PHD and Talon launched a fictitious new TV channel for “socially advanced young people” called Hipster TV, complete with a trendy logo and show listings which included hilarious titles like “How Dangerous is Your Bread?”, “Coffee Barristar” and “Ukulele Hour”.

McDonald’s, with Talon and OMD UK, also got creative with the launch of an out of this world new McDonald’s restaurant – in space! The hoax #McMoon ad saw McDonald’s “Preparing for Lunch” with a slowly drifting astronaut as the iconic ‘M’ logo was gradually revealed, unveiling the campaign as an April Fools’ prank.

Aunt Bessie’s, Vizeum and Posterscope created a tongue-in-cheek campaign for “Bessie: A true rags to roasts to riches story”, a blockbuster biopic with a release date of April 1st. Featuring Aunt Bessie, spoof reviews and lots of Yorkshire puddings, capturing the brand tone beautifully.

Right Guard, MEC and Kinetic launched an entirely new fake deodorant range solely for the left side of the body: Left Guard. Based around make-believe research findings, which revealed that the left side of the body needs more odour protection, Left Guard cheekily claimed to have developed this solution – ending their ad with the copy, “It’s not right.”

Oreo has a history of topical campaign executions – last year they even staged a real-time #OreoEclipse on our premium brand, Storm’s, Coventry House screen. Given this, it was no surprise to see Mondelez, Gravity Road, Posterscope and Carat giving Oreo a taste of the April Fools’ action, using Storm to create their ‘UFOREO’ hoax. Realistic news-flash style adverts created spoof UFO sightings in central London, which were actually Oreo cookies.

All of our April Fools’ advertisers created exciting and engaging campaigns that worked fantastically – showcasing the powerful flexibility and context that can be delivered by digital, and harnessing the reach of our estate to engage the UK public with some innovative April Fools’ pranks.