Smart Multinationals Play April Fool's Day Pranks - Analyst Blog
Gourab Das
Updated
Some fun pranks may be on their way from US companies today. Even media reports join in the fun. Pranks have been played suggesting Portugal’s popular soccer player Cristiano Ronaldo had been sold to Spain as a national-debt deal. There were pranks reporting the introduction of UK cat tax to be paid by cat owners in England and Wales, and printing banknotes with Tony Blair’s face.
In recent times, multinationals have been enjoying playing pranks, all in good humor. The pranks got investors so jittery that many are apprehensive of the announcements ahead of this day. For instance, Burger King, now owned by Restaurant Brands International Inc. QSR, announced plans to launch a flame-grilled burger perfume. It is widely speculated that this might be another April Fool's joke.
Google GOOGL has been a popular prankster among the multinationals. It has played pranks to the extent of renaming itself as Topeka. In fact, many tech companies join the April Fool’s Day fun. Before we look into some of the pranks, let’s look at how markets fare on Apr 1.
Smart Gains on Fool’s Day
Reportedly, the April Fool’s Day prank could have led to a collapse in stock prices way back in 1925. Pranksters called up large brokerages on Wall Street and instructed selling huge quantities of stocks. However, the broker houses were smart enough to identify the prank, and did not execute the sell orders.
Luckily, Apr 1 has turned out to be historically profitable, elevating the Fool’s Day fun. Last year, benchmarks had surged and the S&P 500 notched up a record high. This was a repeat of indices hitting record highs on Apr 1, 1998.
S&P Dow Jones Indices’ senior index analyst Howard Silverblatt notes that the day is a lucky one as it has been historically up on 42 times out of 62. Stephen Suttmeier, chief equity technical strategist at BofA Merrill Lynch, said: “Seasonals are bullish in April. Going back to 1928, the S&P 500 is up 62.8% of the time in April. With an average return of 1.25%, April is the 4th best month of the year.”
Corporate Pranks
Google comes up with a large number of pranks, which began with the MentalPlex hoax in 2000. The prank was to let users project a mental image of what they were searching for while looking at the MentalPlex circle. However, the search results would always come up with funny errors. Thereafter, pranks were played using Google Romance, Google Translate for animals, Google Nose and Google Gulp, among others.
Over the years, Google was smart to use its products including Gmail, YouTube, and Chrome to fool users. The Gmail Shelfie was introduced last year, with the “idea that you shouldn’t be selfish with your selfie.” The prank would only lead to funny and weird photos that users could set as their “shelfies.” Then there were Google Chrome’s prank to translate webpages into emoji, YouTube’s prank to accepting creating all viral videos, and Google Maps Pokemon Challenge. A prank also included announcing the end of YouTube as it had been a contest site to find the best video.
Meanwhile, the April Fool’s Day has also been a platform for Google and Microsoft Corp. MSFT to poke fun at each other. The Gmail Blue tease probably referred to Microsoft's own blue project — Windows Blue.
Separately, Microsoft’s Bing users came across a white search page and imitated Google logo. On entering “Google” into the Bing search box, users would view an "I'm Feeling Confused" button.
Paying for Vowels: Foods That Power Devices
Twitter, Inc. TWTR had in its official Twitter blog announced launching Twitter Helmet. This was a bird-themed wearable device that would let users tweet simply via a simple “pecking” head motion. Currently carrying a Zacks Rank #3, this micro blogging site had also said using vowels in tweets were chargeable.
Another Zacks Rank #3 stock, Sony Corp. SNE has been active on this front. Among its gags was the Sony Power Food. It claimed that food cooked with the new “voltaic enzyme” were edible and could also power devices. It not only made a YouTube video but had also distributed press releases.
Starbucks Corp. SBUX had in 2010 introduced two new beverage sizes — the Plenta (128 ounce drink) and the Micra (2 ounce sip). A tweet from the company said “We're listening to your request for more sizes! Order the Plenta and Micra in U.S. + Canadian stores this fall.” It was just a prank to poke fun at those taking aim at its "tall," "grande" and "venti" size-naming scheme.
The Sci-Fi Effect
A wolf and pigeon created into the wolfpigeon. That definitely sounds sci-fi and this was a hoax played by QUALCOMM Inc. QCOM. This Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) communication equipment maker had played the prank by saying this wolfpigeon would fly around and provide ubiquitous digital network coverage. The joke was stretched by announcing creating even sharkfalcons, who would keep the wolfpigeons in check.
A Mars mission is not surprising anymore, but that must be restricted for Mars Rover. Expedia Inc. EXPE surprised all when in 2009 it had offered flights to Mars, that too at $99. The site mentioned: “Right now you can save over $3 trillion on a Mars vacation—and in this economy, you can't afford NOT to go! Only on Expedia!” The fun included offering “extra-terrestrial pampering” at Mars’ resorts.
What’s the Fun?
Scope mouthwash, a brand of The Procter & Gamble Company PG, had introduced bacon mouthwash. This being a joke, the company was quick to offer a list of its real mouthwash products. The site under the April Fool’s tab noted: “Thanks for helping us find the courage to laugh at ourselves. Now, wash that bacon taste away with one of our minty fresh flavors.”
Groupon, Inc. GRPN should obviously be looking to boost traffic. The royal wedding of Prince William and Catherine Middleton helped this Zacks Rank#2 (Buy) stock lap up the opportunity by playing an April Fool’s Day prank. It offered two tickets to the wedding for £8. While this was obviously a prank, visitors may have ended up checking and buying other real deals.
The day is for playing pranks and it offers a break from the otherwise serious press releases from the multinationals. However, the wittier a company is, the more publicity it should garner. The advent of social media now helps consumers doing the brand’s marketing every time they share the joke.
Being the trending topic will always help companies like Groupon, Expedia, Twitter or Starbucks. People might end up booking an actual vacation via Expedia, or may actually visit Starbucks stores while using Twitter a lot more. Let’s check what pranks they have planned for this year, while markets hope for another round of smart gains on April 1.
Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report
