Posted by How One Company Scored Big on a Deep Fake
Is prank marketing a legitimate form of advertising? How far is it OK to go to increase engagement? One New York City retailer decided to find out by launching an early April Fools campaign in October – a spoof that proved to be wildly successful.
The Travel Agency is a New York City cannabis retailer whose ad campaign had everyone talking. From water coolers to media outlets, New Yorkers were debating whether or not carrier pigeons were being used to fill same-day cannabis deliveries to patrons in the city.
The faux campaign was initiated with a press release and photos announcing the company’s new “Cannabis Carrier Pigeon Program,” a pilot program where birds donned in mini backpacks were delivering one gram of product to customers across the Big Apple.
The assertion was bolstered by a series of paid and organic social media spots showing the carrier pigeons being trained for the mission. Advice from the company included quips like instructing customers to keep their windows open, and how the secret to fast delivery is “no traffic.” The hoax was further supported by in-store signage.
The news immediately went viral, sparking “a 10x spike in social media engagement, more than 2 million views, and comment sections and thought-pieces flooded with New Yorkers debating whether the program was real,” according to the retailer’s CMO, Chesen Schwethelm. One single report on Fox 5’s Good Day New York resulted in over 1.5 million views on TikTok.
Schwethelm says they designed the campaign around the pigeon because the bird is such an integral part of the city’s heritage. “We’re very much a New York born-and-bred business,” she explained. “The pigeon is an unsung city hero, a little icon that is underrated.”
The real reason behind the prank was to highlight The Travel Agency’s actual improved same-day delivery service. The company also hoped to drive traffic to their delivery landing page, which rose 400 percent during the carrier pigeon campaign, according to Schwethelm.
The jig was up when the company officially announced an end to Project Pigeon in a post that was followed up by a press release. The release expressed how the retailer’s intention was to “break through cannabis restrictive advertising barriers and spark conversation.” The company also wished to satisfy their customers’ demand for faster delivery.
To ensure there were no hard feelings, the company made a charitable donation to the Wild Bird Fund, a non-profit that helps rescue and rehabilitate sick or injured birds for re-release into the wild. After this retailer’s big hit, will other advertisers follow suit and start pranking for publicity? Read the full story here.