Every year on April 1, companies vie for the media attention around the most outlandish April Fools Day products and pranks. They range in score from clever and amusing to “that would be amazing if that was real” to “WTH were they thinking?”
And despite Microsoft’s announcement this year to punt completely and declare a ban on all April Fools pranks and products siting the stunts have a limited positive impact and unnecessarily misdirect company time and resources, industry giants like Google, Lego and Honda are still in it for a laugh.
The most interesting category to me is not the outlandish – but the category that has you asking if it’s real or an April Fools prank? And if it’s indeed a fake product – wouldn’t it be a cool new release in 2019.
Catalyst came out with one of those products today. Full disclosure, I work with the Catalyst team and have for the past three years.
They have an incredible creative team of product designers and developing fake products is a creative release that they really get a kick out of.
This year, as we were sharing the “Fake News” – I got about as many requests for test products as I do for the real cases and accessories we announce throughout the year.
Writers and bloggers, especially those with kids, were thrilled about the new waterproof, drop proof case for the Nintendo Switch.
What parent doesn’t want their kids to spend more time outside? Although, I’m not sure this is exactly what we parents had in mind!
The fact that ALL our kids spend way too much time with time with their faces in a little handheld screen makes this funny. But really the product has a practical purpose and fills a need. So wouldn’t it be cool if….
Others that I think would be amazing if they actually went to market:
LEGO – Find My Brick
I might actually vomit if I knew how much money I’ve spent in Lego kits that have hundreds, some thousands, of little piece and playbooks of instructions the size of a college text book.
The minute my kids misplace one little piece, the entire project is scrapped and the Legos end up in the bins and bins of scrap Legos.
Ugh. Find my Brick – clever and even cooler if it was real.
Lego typically appeals to the mom population, solving the woes created by these colorful little monstrosities that take over homes and bust vacuum cleaners (at least once a year at my house).
Consequently enough, this is why their prank from last year also goes on my wish list for products I’d love their R&D team to figure out – although this one might be a little tougher.
LEGO (2018) VacuSort
Forget the RUMBA. This is what I’m talking about!
Now if only there was a machine that would fold my laundry – I’d be all set.
Oh wait! And this is not April Fools joke… so I’m hoping the rest of this is possible too!!
T-Mobile Phone Booth E
Funny – definitely a use case at home, work and on the street. Probably not cost efficient to mass produce but clever.
And while I can’t in good conscience advocate for the go to market strategy on this next one – my kids would deem it one of the best inventions in gaming. There’s no drop proof case that would get them out side if this guy comes to life!
Kudos to the creatives who designed came up with these products and who knows – perhaps some will be coming soon!
