#googlenose

city folk and wild world but not new leaf

It's been a minute since my last post..., but Gmail set me up too well to let another Tuesday go by...

If you were living under a rock yesterday and did not see the web blow up with April Fools' pranks, here are a few of my favorites you might not have seen:

Google is always one to take advantage of April Fools', spending significant time and resources on making new (fictional) products and campaigns. You may recall the gesture-based email compositions Google Motion or the expert typer who finishes typing your searches for you from years prior. This year they did not disappoint either.

First, Gmail went Blue (& Tuesday!) with a revolutionary campaign, describing 6 years of technology development, to turn Gmail, well Blue:

I have to say I was pleased with this (especially the Blue Man Group cameo) -- since I'd be very down for everything to be blue... (duh)

Google Nose was their other big revolution in search announced this year:

"By intersecting photons with infrasound waves, Google Nose Beta temporarily aligns molecules to emulate a particular scent..." was genius, but the clear giveaway -- Pretty hilarious video I thought. (Another awesome video -- well done Liz!)

For the Game of Thrones fans, this HBOwatch article definitely generated some buzz as friends shared and gasped at the ridiculousness that would have been putting Warwick Davis as our favorite Tyrion Lannister in future seasons... Always have to look closely for clues... http://hbowatch.com/peter-dinklage-april-season-four/

I think April Fools' is a great opportunity for companies to generate buzz (positive or negative), and a well-executed article or video can be extremely powerful in terms of building brand attributes and especially in capturing mindshare.

Google is one of the largest companies in the US, yet any opportunity to gain over 3 million views on new videos in one day, laughing with others at yourself, helps promote Google's brand in a meaningful yet playful way. 

Unfortunately, UPenn SPEC also used this day for jokers to announce that Girl Talk was headlining our Spring Fling concert next weekend... We only hoped this one was a joke. Maybe it still is? (We knew Tiesto would be a tough act to follow, but....)