What is #AprilFools Worth to Companies?

Originally Titled: “Move Over Netflix and Chill; Hulu Datr Helps You Find Your Soulmate”

Last Friday was April Fools’ Day, a day that celebrates pranks and good humor. Companies fell over themselves in attempt to take advantage of this unique opportunity to showcase their humor, which has been suppressed for 364 days (or 365 days this year).

It’s safe to say that most pranks went unnoticed. A few were epic failures (ahem Google’s Mic Drop). And a handful of companies celebrated in making it to the “Top 2016 April Fools” lists. One of the companies that received notable mentions is Hulu, which launched a fictitious match-making function called “Hulu Datr”.

Here’s a quick look at it.

The Hulu Datr campaign consists of 11 humorous videos, including the intro video, 5 testimonials, and 5 “extras” that further expand the capabilities of this function. It was a well-run campaign with high degrees of professionalism and humor. It addressed a highly relevant topic for its target audience — online dating. In fact, some of us probably wished it wasn’t an April Fools’ joke at all.

How should Hulu measure the success of its campaign? To answer that, we need to understand what Hulu was trying to achieve, and then assess its success based on metrics for each objective.

1. Expand Brand Awareness

One of Hulu’s top objectives is to increase its brand awareness among its target audience. It released the campaign through its website, Facebook page, and Twitter account. Metrics to measure success in terms of brand awareness include:

• Reach: how many people saw the Hulu Datr campaign? Reach takes into account number of views on its Facebook page, Twitter account, as well as views from organic search and other media (i.e. all those “Top 2016 April Fools” lists). Reach should also consider cost / person. Cost of making 11 professional videos is not minimal. Hulu needs to understand the cost of reaching each person and compare that with other campaigns.
• Engagement: what proportion of people reached engaged with the campaign? This measures number of likes, shares, and comments on its Facebook page, Twitter account, and webpage, as a percentage of reach on each platform.
• Perception: how do people feel about Hulu? Through social listening tools, Hulu should measure whether there were changes in people’s perception of the brand, including overall positivity, video quality, and viewing experience.

2. Increase Subscriptions

Another top objective for the campaign is to increase number of subscribers. By exposing users to the high quality videos and viewing experience on the platform, Hulu is hoping to attract more customers. This can be measured through:

• Leads: how many people signed up for the platform? Hulu is freemium platform. They can measure the number of leads or sign-ups generated from Facebook, Twitter, and organic search as a result of this campaign.
• Sales: how many of the leads convert to subscribers? Hulu should keep track of the leads generated through the campaign and measure what percentage of them turn into paying subscribers over the next 3–6 months. Hulu should also measure the cost of acquisition for these customers and compare that to other campaigns to fully understand the success of this campaign.

3. Reinforce Culture

An additional benefit of having an April Fools campaign is the reinforcement of a company’s creative and fun culture. The involvement of employees in creating these fun videos can be a big morale booster for the company. A few ways to measure the impact on employees are:

• Engagement: how many employees engage with the campaign through likes, shares, and comments? This can be measured for each platform.
• Sentiment: how do employees feel about the company? This can be measured through internal social listening efforts or employee satisfaction surveys.

Companies, such as Hulu, invest a lot of time and resources in developing a “good” April Fools’ campaign. How successful are these campaigns, really? Getting noticed (for the right reasons) is really hard. Even if you end up on the “Top April Fools” lists, are you really getting the reach, engagement, and sales needed to justify the cost of the campaign? Companies need to make sure they’re measuring the right things and achieving their objectives before throwing themselves into the April Fools frenzy.