In today’s post we discuss the April Fools’ Day pranks that tricked almost everyone and explain why it is so important to know who to trust in business.
Wednesday April 1, 2015 marked yet another April Fools ’ Day. Everyone was busy trying to fool work colleagues, relatives and friends. Some plans backfired, as in the case of teenager Hayleigh McBay, who tweeted her attempt to play an April Fools’ Day prank on her boyfriend by telling him that she wanted to break up but was left shocked when he agreed with her. Most pranks went to plan though especially for companies, which pulled off some of the greatest PR stunts ever. We will take a look at the three best PR pranks this year that tricked the largest number of gullible people.
One of the most notable pranks was orchestrated by Samsung, which convinced consumers that they were launching a phone/knife called the Galaxy BLADE edge and described it as “the world’s first smart knife with smartphone capabilities.” Virgin founder Richard Branson also launched an elaborate prank, announcing that the company’s U.S. operations would move to the city that shares his surname, Branson in Missouri. He not only claimed that Virgin would name its latest plane “Jolene” to celebrate the town’s famous singer Dolly Parton, but also that his water filtration business, Virgin Pure would triple-filter the town’s water so he could “enjoy the perfect cup of tea” whenever he drops by. Of course neither of these pranks came anywhere close to tricking people on the same scale as the Selfie Shoes hoax. Shoe Company Miz Mooz created a fake news release discussing the launch of their high heels that would allow women on-the-go to capture moments on their phones without having to lug around selfie sticks in their handbags. They explained the simplicity of their invention: “Just insert your phone into the port at the front of either your right or left shoe, raise it to the perfect angle and click the internal button with a tap of your toe to take the photo.” The video has been viewed more than nine million times.
It is difficult to know whom to trust on April Fools’ Day, but what about the other 364 days in the year? If you asked people who they trusted the most they would say their partner, their best friend or their family members. However, most people would agree that trust is quite rare in the business world. Everyone is looking out for his/her own interests. According to Aviad Goz, C.E.O. of the Momentum Group, trust is key to a company’s success as “A system that has trust functions easily, quickly while focusing on relevant areas without the need to invest endlessly in behaviors that stem from a lack of trust.” At Sukay & Associates we understand the importance of building trust with all our clients. We know how hard it is for them to entrust us with deciding their company’s future, but we strive to never let them down. We treat the company as if it was ours, and work tirelessly on behalf of our clients to allow them to achieve their goals.
