Stand-Up Strategist (SUS), the first rating platform to recognize and celebrate the important role of humor in business, released its 2019 Top 23 List which selects, ranks and analyzes the most outstanding April Fools’ Day campaigns from companies around the world.
“The release of April Fools’ pranks and hoaxes by corporate and consumer brands is a trend worth watching and an important demonstration of a company’s leadership style, strategic approach and corporate culture,” according to Art Reid, SUS co-curator and marketing expert. “Corporate April Fools’ campaigns showcase the value that businesses put on humor and unconventional thinking in fostering a culture of creativity and innovation.”
Stand-Up Strategist ranking criteria includes such factors as entertainment value, quality of execution and the potential influence on strategy and internal culture. One such criteria used is what SUS calls “Opportunistic Absurdity,” which measures the extent to which the underlying concept of an April Fools’ campaign might capture the seed of a viable new business idea or potential market offering. SUS co-curator and business transformation expert, Gabor George Burt, quotes Albert Einstein: “If at first the idea is not absurd, then there is no hope for it.” Accordingly, says Burt, “the humorous probing of the absurd through conceiving and executing April Fools’ Day campaigns enables companies to unleash the creative potential of their staff, and lay the seed for new, future-shaping, strategic directions.”
Jamie Anderson, SUS co-curator and Professor of Strategic Management at Antwerp Management School, points out “truly innovative organizations are not afraid to probe the absurd, in fact they embrace it. And humor plays a critical role. Having a sense of humorous observation and inquisitiveness is a natural gateway to the realm of the absurd, a foundation for asking tradition-shattering ‘what if?’ questions – even in established industries.”
An explanation of SUS ranking criteria, as well as the full list of 2019 winners and rankings, can be found at www.standupstrategist.com/2019-rankings
Top honors for this year’s awards went to:
T-Mobile:PhoneBoothE– providing T-Mobile customers with ready access to mobile phone booths in order to escape noisy environments.
https://www.standupstrategist.com/2019-rankings/t-mobile-phone-boothe/
Google:Google Tulip – highlighting Google’s use of artificial intelligence to communicate with tulips.
https://www.standupstrategist.com/2019-rankings/google-google-tulip/
WestJet:FlyerFest –a take off of the now infamous Fyre Festival.
https://www.standupstrategist.com/2019-rankings/westjet-flyer-festival-2/
SodaStream:SodaStreamME– featuring retired NASA astronaut Scott Kelly introducing a technology to convert excessive CO2 gas into sparkling water.
https://www.standupstrategist.com/2019-rankings/sodastream-sodastreamme/
Planet Fitness: Mobile Stationary Bike – introducing a Planet Fitness innovation that takes the stationary bike out on the road.
https://www.standupstrategist.com/2019-rankings/planet-fitness-mobile-stationary-bike/
2019 winners reflect a diverse group of large and small organizations from around the globe, including companies from 10 countries on 4 continents:
10 U.S. winners;
3 Canadian winners;
2 winners each in Australia, Japan and the Netherlands;
1 winner each in Israel, New Zealand, China, Switzerland and Malaysia.
- A total of 8 companies appearon both 2018 and 2019 lists:
Google (from various countries);
T-Mobile (U.S.);
Logitech (Switzerland);
SodaStream (Israel);
WestJet & Swoop Airlines (Canada);
Chegg (U.S);
Courses.co (Australia)
- The most active industries represented in 2019 include consumer electronics, automotive, airlines and travel. Almost all of the winners used multi-channel approaches as part of their April Fools’ campaigns, typically leveraging a video or visual storytelling through a wider social media communication plan encouraging comments and re-sharing.
About Stand-Up Strategist
Stand-Up Strategist (SUS) is the premier resource for leaders interested in re-imaging their market boundaries and internal culture through the strategic use of humor. A flagship component of Stand-Up Strategists is its annual, Top 23 List, which selects, ranks and applauds the most outstanding April Fools’ Day campaigns from companies around the world. SUS was co-founded by Jamie Anderson, Gabor George Burt and Art Reid, offering a combination of highly effective presentations, coaching, training and advisory services with the goal of galvanizing humor, creativity, and customer-centric innovation as the engine of strong growth, internal alignment and expanded relevance. Businesses looking to partner with Stand-Up Strategist or for a listing of Top 23 award winners, can visit www.standupstrategist.comor contact standup@standupstrategist.com
