Did you see Virgin’s glass floored planes announcement on Monday?

In short, they joined the April Fools Day spirit and announced a plane that would allow you to watch the passing ground as you flew. Spectacular views maybe, scary probably!
A number of other companies also ran some jokes on the day, and it got me thinking about the message behind such jokes.
What does it say?
Running a public joke like that can obviously be taken a number of ways, but I think most people appreciate it as long as it remains appropriate.
Making a joke shows the company can be fun and don’t take themselves too seriously. It may make it seem more approachable and flexible, too.
It could send a message of being too frivolous or flippant, but I think that comes back to keeping the joke appropriate – to the business brand as well as generally appropriate for the public.
Is it a good business tool?
I think it can be good for a number of reasons:
- making people smile and feel good generates warmth towards your brand
- getting into the spirit of a particular day or event shows community involvement and can also build good feelings towards the business
- if it’s well done, people will share the story so the business gets lots of publicity. How many Facebook and Twitter mentions did you see of company April Fools jokes this week?
- it can be fun for the staff and thus build morale and staff retention
Of course, these benefits need to be weighed against the cost of running such a joke. It may not cost a lot of money to Photoshop an image or put a message on a website, but there is a cost in time to plan a joke so it works and goes live at the right time.
Speaking of timing, remember that April Fools jokes should only be run before midday on 1 April. That can get tricky with a global audience such as on social media.
So what do you think – do you enjoy such jokes?
How does it impact on your view of the business behind the joke?
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