April Fool's
Switching sugar for salt, rigging a spray nozzle, and gifting fake winning lottery tickets are all among the most popular April Fool's Day pranks. The history of April Fool's Day is unknown to researchers and historians, but possibly the first reference to April Fool's Day can be found in the work of Chaucer's, Nun's Priest's Tale, written in 1932. Whatever its story, the light-hearted day is celebrated throughout the world. The April 1 tradition in France includes poisson d'avril, (literally "April's fish") attempting to attach a paper fish to the victim's back without being noticed.
Here are some of the most notable April Fool's Day pranks. In 1998, Burger King ran an ad in USA Today, saying they had developed a Whopper for left-handed people. The condiments were designed to drip out of the right side. Not only did customers order the new burgers, but some specifically requested the "old," right-handed burger.
In 1996, Taco Bell took out a full-page advertisement in The New York Times announcing that they had purchased the Liberty Bell to "reduce the country's debt," and renamed it the "Taco Liberty Bell." When asked about the sale, White House press secretary Mike McCurry replied tongue-in-cheek that the Lincoln Memorial had also been sold and would henceforth be known as the Lincoln Mercury Memorial.
Each year BMW produces a deliberate April Fool's joke which appears in the press on April 1st only. One of the most popular jokes was promotion of the "Toot and Calm Horn," which calms rather than aggravates other drivers.
While the origin of the day filled with practical jokes and hoaxes is unknown, its legacy lives on. What are you planning for April Fools? |
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Mexico: A PR Disaster
How would you like the American government telling your potential customers not to buy from you? That’s exactly what’s happening to the tourism industry in Mexico.
Each year, over 100,000 American teenagers and young adults travel to resort areas throughout Mexico over Spring Break. While most U.S. citizens have safe vacations, violence in the country has increased dramatically. You may have seen that the U.S. Department of State has recently re-issued travel alerts about Mexico. With the beautiful country counting on tourism to drive it through the global economic crisis, you
would think they would be fighting to squelch the bad publicity. From our observation, it seems however, that the country is doing little to nothing to promote its sun, white-sand and beaches.
On the positive side, this, as well as the economy, is creating some very inexpensive vacation opportunities, so maybe the bad press is really helping. If you go, be safe. |
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Blend Me a Hand?
When you think of blenders, the first thing you think is "high tech and cool", right? Okay, me neither. But the folks at Blendtec didn't let that stop them. They have a heavy duty blender that they sell into homes...a pretty tough sell at a retail price of $599! (Bargain hunters note: it's on sale today for just $399.) When they saw how interesting it actually was to see a blender eat through a 2x2 board, they started thinking beyond: how much fun would it be to blend some...marbles? a shoe?
Blendec started placing videos on YouTube, and they quickly gained a following. They were funny and shocking. People started sharing the videos with their friends, and they went viral, becoming some of the most popular videos on YouTube. Now Blendtec operates a site at www.willitblend.com, where they puree Apple iPhones, Bic lighters, golf balls, and other "unblendables". In case you're wondering, they also blend other difficult-to-blend items you'd actually find in your kitchen.
Visitors to "Will It Blend?" can suggest other items to blend, share the video with others, subscribe to RSS feeds to be informed when another unexpected item is pulverized. There's also a link back to Blendtec's main site, where users can get information that might be more applicable in the kitchen, such as smoothie recipes. And, of course, visitors can purchase blenders from the site. Has all this work paid off? According to Blendtec, sales are up over 700% since they blended that first marble online. |
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Social Media Update
Do you Tweet? If you don't, you might want to start practicing. Compete.com just released their January 2009 ranking of Social Networks by Monthly Visits, revealing that in the past year Twitter leapt past 19 other social networking sites to assume the number three position behind Facebook (now number one) and MySpace (which fell sharply to number two). Granted, the number of Tweeters - those who use their computer or cell phone to post short messages to Twitter's online service - is less than one-tenth the number of Facebook users. But Twitter, which is officially a micro-blogging site, integrates well with Facebook. So don't be surprised if you catch your friends or co-workers tweeting someday soon (if they aren't already).
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Tour of Missouri Rides to Sedalia
The Tour of Missouri professional bicycling race is riding to Sedalia in September and Callis & Associates will play an integral role in helping the city put its best foot forward. Working with the tour, Callis will handle the local media and public relations for the city of Sedalia.
Over the past three years, the Tour of Missouri has grown into one of the top five professional bicycling races in North America. Starting in St. Louis on September 7th, the ride will hit 11 Missouri cities and hold its coveted time trials in Sedalia on September 11.
In 2008, over 435,000 spectators took in the event and it generated an economic impact of nearly 30 million dollars. The race was won by Christian Vande Velde.
For more information on the race now and over the next six months, check out www.tourofmissouri.com or www.cityofsedalia.com/tour. |
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Tim Carr
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New Public Relations Account Executive
Tim Carr has recently joined our staff as a Public Relations Account Executive. In his new role, Carr will work with media and other agency personnel to generate publicity for clients.
A graduate of the University of Central Missouri, Carr brings to Callis more than 20 years of public relations, managerial and law enforcement experience, including FBI media relations training and experience as a certified firearms instructor. |
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Border War: Take 2
By Dana Johnson
Rock Chalk! Nothing brings a smile to a girl’s face like a good dose of karma. As you can tell from the picture to the right, agency president, Cliff Callis, is sporting the Kansas University Jayhawks crimson and blue. Obviously, Cliff lost the March 1st rematch bet, as the Missouri Tigers and Kansas Jayhawks game ended in a big KU victory at Allen Fieldhouse in Lawrence. Being the wise business man he is (we need to be sure he will sign our paychecks) Cliff re-negotiated our bet knowing all to well that Lawrence is a tough court to win on. He quickly bypassed the idea of wearing a beak all day and settled with loser wears the victorious team’s shirt. Doesn't he look great! Currently, both teams are in the Sweet 16 with the possibility of meeting again in the Final Four – wouldn't that be something – Border War III.
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Cliff Callis
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