CPR Promotional Check-Up

April Fools Don'ts

Just gauging by what I'm getting from my clients, this could be the best April Fools yet. But...a cautionary preface. First off, I've never, nor have any of our clients, ever been fined. And we've done some amazing, Oscar winning stuff. We've always generated a few dozen angry calls from listeners. (And that's good. It means people are listening.) Maybe gotten a letter from the City saying not to do that again. But we've never been slapped by the FCC. You get fined if you...

Fake The News:

Don't fake the news. What WNOR in Norfolk did in '92 with the exploding landfill; that's faking the news. And it scared the listeners. Don't...

Scare The Listeners:

You can play jokes on them, make them mad about their pets being taxed, send them on a wild goose chase to find an underground theme park; just don't scare them. That crosses the Hoax Line.

Fake A Contest

Never EVER give anything away that doesn't exist.

Don't Name Clients:

If you're doing fake spots or fake websites (which are the best April Fools jokes because it takes it out of the hands of the airstaff and it seems less pranky), don't mention a client, ie: our live remote at the nudist resort will feature prizes, games, free pizza and Coke.

Use Semantics:

Don't say "We're giving away ten thousand dollars." Say we're giving away "ten g's". Jamz in Birmingham did a Hall Of Fame stunt in '96 that literally put them on the map and made them #1. They dropped "500 one hundred dollar bills" from a helicopter. If they'd said they were going to drop "fifty thousand dollars"...big trouble. Of course the bills were for listening to the station, ie: you owe us $100 for listening to the station. One thing Jamz did learn, as evidenced by the national coverage on all three networks that night is...

Try To Avoid Drawing A Crowd:

If you say you're going to have Lady Gaga in your parking lot at 9 am, don't be surprised when twenty thousand people show up, trample each other and set fire to the station when they learn that it's Florence Gaga, a 93 year-old resident of a local rest home. It's best to never ask people to gather at one specific location. Fake celeb sightings generally are best when scattered all over town.

Don't Say "April 1st":

If you're doing a fake spot, say "starting Thursday" or "beginning in April". That helps take the spotlight off it being April Fools Day.