Tag: Trendjacking

April Fools’ Day has come and gone once again, bringing with it a wave of pranks and playful antics. As always, brands didn’t miss the opportunity to join in on the fun, using humor to engage their audience and showcase a more lighthearted side.

In the Philippines, companies have fully embraced this tradition, rolling out clever and amusing April Fools’ campaigns. Here are some of the most creative and entertaining ones we spotted this year.

Cebu Pacific

The popular low-cost airline seems to really tap into our shared love for singing, as they ‘announced’ that beginning April 1st, passengers must be able to birit or sing at a prolonged moment using a higher-pitched voice. Moreover, it also ‘asked’ passengers to practice their choice of song before boarding the plane to ‘ensure a timely, smooth, and seamless boarding experience’.

McDonald’s

This one is too relatable: McDonald’s April Fool’s gag plays on the irresistible urge to get some French fries from your friend or loved one, but teases the viewer that it’s April Fools, and that the fries should be for only who actually bought them.

LBC

Remember the time when Neil deGrasse Tyson said in an interview that spherical boxes are more efficient than conventional square boxes? Worry no more, as popular courier service LBC is proud to ‘release’ to the public its kilobox bilog, the ‘first’ round box available for shipping anything round nationwide.

Clover Chips (Leslie’s)

When you think of an exotic chip flavor, what do you imagine? Wasabi? Peach? Definitely not balut–right? Turns out, Clover Chips wants to ‘elevate’ the chip experience with their ‘Sea Salt Balut’ flavor, perfect for those who want to try our exotic delicacy without the risk of encountering a fully fertilised duck when you’re just about to eat it.

Angkas

If you really are very environmentally-conscious with your choice of transportation for travelling, popular motorcycle ride-hailing service Angkas has announced its eco-friendly venture ‘Angkas EcoMode’, giving a zero-emissions-guaranteed travel experience. Plus, with their riders switching to bicycles, passengers are provided with proper gear equipment for safety–you can also pedal for a proper workout!

Pizza Hut

For this gag, pizzas are the true stars of the show–but Pizza Hut now says their Hawaiian Pizza is now pineapple-free? And while you are still processing this, perhaps you can beat the heat with their three ‘newly-launed’ pizza punches. The flavors ‘available’ are Hawaiian Supreme Punch, Super Supreme Punch, and Bacon Cheeseburger Punch.

Domino’s Philippines

If the last entry shared that they are removing pineapples fully in their Hawaiian, this one fully embraces it, perhaps a bit too much. While the brand asks the question if it’;s genius or a joke, the real question is: if someone gets the pizza with the biggest diameter, will they have a pineapple of the same diameter on standby?

Trust Condoms

This one…you don’t really play it in public. This condom brand has ‘announced’ a new condom variant that releases a high-pitched note every time it is…used. (Don’t ask us for more context).

Jollibee (United Kingdom)

The British arm of Jollibee really had to go the extra mile–quite literally. Introducing the Long Spaghetti, Jollibee ‘claims’ they had to discontinued every other product just to promote their new product, stretching across huge swaths of land in the UK.

CoCo Fresh Tea & Juice

Want to enjoy a cup of milk tea but you’re still watching your weight? This milk tea brand has released ‘CoCo Air’, the true zero-calorie milk tea experience! Just make sure to savour every last drop of it!

Philippine Star

Last but not least, Philippine Star really plays into our frustration of images not loading properly on social media across our phones–but this one just really makes chuckle at how we fell for it the first time we saw it.

Manila, Philippines – With the news that the Michelin Guide is expanding its reach to review restaurants in the Philippines, many restaurants–especially in the target places of Metro Manila and its Environs, as well as Cebu–are now vying to get the coveted Michelin Star recognition, which has been used commonly as a symbol of high quality-cooking.

Amidst all of this, Chinese hotpot brand Jiang Nan, like any other restaurant, also aspired to achieve the elusive and prestigious Michelin stars, but they won the race through wit and humor. 

In their latest campaign, the Chinese hotpot restaurant found Michelle Lyn Espiritu, a Filipina with a name that rings just like that of the expert food critic organization’s. She ate at the restaurant, and gave her judgment on Google reviews: 5 stars.

Said campaign is done alongside Katok, the social media agency of GIGIL.

Following this, Jiang Nan announced this ‘recognition’ on Meta which created buzz online. From avid fans of the restaurant to people scrolling and having a good laugh, and even to heavily followed pages, the stars used as a joke skyrocketed Jiang Nan’s traction. 

Over the weekend alone when it was posted, the post organically garnered millions of views with zero media budget. 

Manila, Philippines – A handful of local brands and organizations in the Philippines have shown their quirky side by joining the online trend in regards to the recently-debated online trend #LugawIsEssential.

The context draws its origin from the now infamous ‘lugaw incident’ where Marvin Ignacio, a food delivery rider working for Grab Philippines, was held in a checkpoint at Brgy. Muzon, San Jose del Monte, Bulacan by barangay (local government unit) officials since his delivery of ‘lugaw’, the Filipino equivalent of savory porridge, was not deemed ‘essential’ in terms of service.

As the Greater Manila area, including the province of Bulacan, is still under enhanced community quarantine (ECQ), many people resort to food deliveries, to which the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) has deemed ‘essential’.

The video appeared in the Facebook Live video of the food delivery rider, who streamed the confrontation with barangay officials. The incident went viral on Maundy Thursday, 1 April, which has drawn flak among netizens due to the ‘paradoxical’ nature the barangay officials gave in terms of the item’s essential nature. Despite initially blowing up on Facebook, the trend became more prominent in other social media channels, including Instagram and Twitter.

As the trend #LugawIsEssential spiked in popularity on Twitter Philippines, several known and local brands have jumped in the trend to poke fun at the ongoing trend, while maintaining campaign presence and relevancy at the same time.

Jumping first on the trend is the rider’s employer Grab Philippines, where in one of their posts, they quote that “If food is essential, and lugaw is essential, therefore LUGAWISESSENTIAL”. The post itself has acted as a new local campaign by Grab PH of using the promo code to gain a free delivery perk from the service itself.

Furthermore, the Philippine arm of GrabMart also uses the same promo code campaign to entice customers with a free delivery perk when they buy the ingredients of lugaw, which include rice, egg, garlic, salt, and ginger as staples.

Some Grab PH users have also noted a new advisory message on the app’s dashboard which similarly pokes fun at the lugaw incident, stating that they are “serving you 24/7 this ECQ so that you can stay safe at home while we bring you essentials (food and lugaw included!).”

Meanwhile, the Philippine division of smartphone brand Xiaomi posted a tweet reminiscent of the time of how the founders of Xiaomi in 2010 united on a meal of lugaw in deciding what to call their company as.

Oil company Phoenix Fuels, on the other hand, pokes fun at the debacle by posting an infographic stating the ‘essential’ ingredients of making lugaw, accompanied with a Twitter thread helping online users how to cook porridge. The online post aims to promote Phoenix Fuels’ liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) products.

On a similar note, local weather channel Panahon.TV also posted a photo, enumerating and visualizing the lugaw ingredients at the same time.

As the trend fell into the observance of April Fool’s Day as well, some smaller local brands have also jumped into ‘trolling’ their online audiences with ‘new products’.

On a weird note, local adult pleasure brand frisky ‘announced’ that they have recently launched a new lube product, with lugaw as the new flavor, to which they ‘announced’ is on sale on both Lazada and Shopee.

https://twitter.com/FriskyUltd/status/1377406606963396610

Meanwhile, local candle scents maker Clementine Scents announced that they have launched a ‘lugaw-scented candle’ to allow customers “enjoy the scent of [the] favorite Filipino porridge, wherever, whenever.”

A screenshot of the Instagram post of Clementine Scents

Other brands and organizations that poked fun on the #LugawIsEssential debacle includes the National Historical Commission of the Philippines, local anime media group portal AniRadio Plus, and Default Cafe Pub, which made a jovial take on the likewise viral photo of President Rodrigo Duterte blowing a ‘birthday cake’ made out of steamed rice.