Japes aplenty as greetings industry gets playful for 1 April fun
Name changes, giant frogs, books with no pages, a dating app, fashion, growing doughnuts, and incredible multi-coloured paint were among the April Fool japes as the greeting card and stationery industry showed its playful side yesterday, 1 April.
Publisher Bewilderbeest turned to the dark side for the occasion with a night-time colouring book, complete with 30 night and dark scenes, a torch and a black colouring pencil.
“Perfect for busy people who don’t want too much colour choice,” chief nitwit Iain Hamilton posted, “those who are getting back into colouring and want an easy starting point, or vampires – who, let’s face it, have really been under-served in this industry.
“These will be going live on the website by the end of the week. The first five people to comment below ‘vampires are our friends’ will get a special edition extra-black black pencil. Big shout out to our mate Vlad who gave us the idea!”
It was all about colour too at Wrendale Designs where the greeting card and gift company revealed its incredible new paint in the much-loved Dog’s Life design – then after the noon deadline admitted to the prank with images of its popular wallpaper.
For pencil-mad retailer Sarah Holmes there was a name change to reflect her Pencil Me In store in Elgin: “It’s official! I’m so pleased to announced to show my dedication to my business I’ve changed my middle name to be Pencil – also being released soon will be limited edition pencil sketches of my face due to popular demand.”
Names were on the cards at Thortful too, where there was regret for the incorrect spelling as the online card marketplace claimed it had decided to rebrand to “reflect our love of spelling things correctly”.
Saying the new name still embodies its commitment to finding the perfect card, Thortful joked: “Like many other scrappy start-ups, we initially thought it would be cool to misspell a common word. On reflection, we should have made this change a lot sooner. Lesson learned – time to introduce you to our new name: Thoughtful. Spelled correctly, as it should be.”
There were multicoloured giant frogs from Stationery Supplies, in Marple and Wilmslow, where owner Sarah Laker had a rare photo of the pink, lime green and blue creatures spawning on Lake Annecy near the Maped Helix HQ in France, and bearing a remarkable resemblance to the company’s cute character pencil sharpeners.
Longacres Garden Centre in Bagshot went with an appropriate gardening theme, asking: “Ever thought about growing your own doughnuts at home? Early April is the perfect time to plant some seeds, so pick up a packet today! Flavours including chocolate, raspberry and of course the classic glazed.”
And there was an accompanying elaborate reel which can be seen below.
Pigment and Rosie Made A Thing posted simple misdirection card jokes to raise a smile with their online followers, while Pukka Pads tied April Fool’s Day to the chocolate celebrations of the Easter season.
The stationery company posted: “Feeling peckish? We’re egg-cited to announce the launch of our brand-new Pukka Easter eggs! This Easter, get ready for a cracking surprise with Pukka’s latest creation – our very own Easter egg!
“From Pukka stationery, you can expect high-quality products and this extends to our latest creation. Our brand-new Easter eggs are made with only the finest ingredients, each bite promises to be egg-straordinary!
“Available now at your nearest supermarket, these egg-ceptional additions to our product line-up are sure to bring joy and laughter to your easter celebrations! But wait…isn’t today April Fool’s Day too? The plot thickens!”
Pilot Pens offered a set of brand-new scented pens with the delicious perfumes of cardboard, eraser, PVA glue and notebook – where they could be on to a winner as plenty of stationery fanatics do love the smell of a new notebook!
Over at Art Gecko, they dropped an exclusive in the sketchbook world with the Empty Gecko to stop the blank page anxieties many artists and writers suffer.
“With this revolutionary sketchbook, you never need to worry about that dreaded first page fear again. Why you may ask? Well, this book doesn’t have a first page! It’s the world’s first, first page-less sketchbook
“May your fears, anxieties and stresses disappear with this truly Geck-nificent sketchbook. You know what else is great about this book? It’s got a super smooth cover too!”
Meanwhile Cardfactory the retail multiple exhorted customers to: “Hold on to your party hats, because we’re about to shake up the fashion industry!
“Introducing the House Of Cardfactory – where greeting cards and celebration essentials meet haute couture. From balloon sleeves to confetti cardigans, we’re bringing the party to the catwalk. Join us for a fashion revolution this SS24 – available in our dreams, while stocks last!”
And finally, at Moonpig, the team really went to town with a full press release – embargoed until 1 April – about its brand-new MoonMatch dating feature on the app, aimed at reigniting the lost art of writing, and also promoting its real-life Just A Note cards.
Claiming the feature will be launched on 22 April with marketing activity in May, it promoted a handwriting feature where customers can get to know their love interest through their writing, with the offer that once people find a match they get to send up to five free love letters to one another.
Moonpig claimed experts say a person’s handwriting can reveal more than 5,000 different personality traits. Pointing out large letters tend to be associated with people who are outgoing, people orientated, love attention and can be quite outspoken, while words spaced quite far apart is often indicative of someone who likes their own freedom and not to be overwhelmed or crowded, and that rounded or more cursive style letters show you are creative and artistic.
The handwriting info may be true, but MoonMatch dating app is definitely an April Fool!
