Head & Shoulders unveiled Knees & Toes bodywash. Warby Parker and Arby’s hooked up for some weird collaboration called WArby’s. And Netflix acquired the rights to the soul of Seth Rogen. But there’s a bigger problem at play here: These brands are spending resources to make an impact, but they all sound the same. That sameness was most evident in the coverage of the April Fools’ content. We’ve hit a point where the coverage is more about the aggregate output of all April Fools’ content than the effort of individual companies. The film industry has been aware of this issue for years. It’s one of the best examples of April Fools’ content I came across, with some legitimate funny lines and a concept that ties back to the product. We ran some similar roundups that performed reasonably well and are backed by sound SEO tactics. Unless you’re reporting news or really putting a fresh spin on current events, I’d recommend at least reconsidering how your content maps to the calendar.
April Fools’ Day fell on a Sunday this year, which meant it was easier than usual to miss all of the puns and parodies from brands. But make no mistake, they were out in full force. Head & Shoulders unveiled Knees & Toes bodywash. Warby Parker and Arby’s hooked up for some weird collaboration called WArby’s. And Netflix acquired the rights to the soul of Seth Rogen.
Some of these spoofs were good. Some were bad. Most of it blurred together, which is what you’d expect when a bunch of copywriters try to be clever for the sake of being clever. But there’s a bigger problem at play here: These brands are spending resources to make an impact, but they all sound the same.
That sameness was most evident in the coverage of the April Fools’ content. Not only did industry pubs like Adweek post roundups, but so did The Washington Post, CNBC, and Teen Vogue. These articles are interchangeable, low-hanging clickbait that loses its relevance after 48 hours. We’ve hit a point where the coverage is more about the aggregate output of all April Fools’ content than the effort of individual companies.
Strategic differentiation is a big theme for brands in 2018. Simply being helpful or funny isn’t enough anymore. Audiences wade through so much content on a daily basis that brands have…
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