‘Every Little Bit of Laughter Helps’; April Fools Pranks Galore: Friday’s First Things First

Welcome to First Things First, Adweek’s daily resource for marketers. We’ll be publishing the content to First Things First on Adweek.com each morning (like this post), but if you prefer that it come straight to your inbox, you can sign up for the email here. ‘Every Little Bit of Laughter Helps’: Rhys Darby and Terminix Unite for a Charming Campaign Fans of What We Do in the Shadows, Yes Man and Flight of the Conchords are likely familiar with New Zealander actor Rhys Darby, who is the face of a funny and semantically satisfying new campaign from Terminix. We landed an exclusive interview with Darby, who talked about the unique and global production process, his philosophy around advertisement roles and how humor is the best medicine for a troubled world. Watch the sitcom-worthy moments from the campaign, and discover Darby’s wholesome perspective. The Best April Fools Stunts of 2021 Although the pranks were gentler and more slapstick-oriented this year than in prior ones, this April Fools’ Day brought a wealth of funny brand moments and faux products for our widespread joy and entertainment. The Adweek team gathered up our favorites (which definitely doesn’t include Voltswagen): For all of April Fools’ Day, 7 Eleven cleverly swapped Twitter and Instagram feeds with rock band 311, which is known for 90s and early 2000s hits like Down, Amber and All Mixed Up. What happens when you take the adults out of Adult Swim? You get Adult Swim Jr., of course, featuring kid-friendly versions of its definitely-not-for-kids shows. The humorous holiday largely shaped to be a contest of who could dream up the weirdest and grossest fake beverage, including pizza-flavored Bud Light, hummus-infused hard seltzer and a peanut butter-flavored alcohol-free craft brew from Justin’s nut butter (though that one might actually be pretty good if it were real). See the full, stomach-churning selection. Cannabis brands including Puffco and Plus joined in the fun this year—and other brands joined into weed-centric silliness, including Sweet’N Low, which introduced Sweet’N High—single-serving THC ready to add to your favorite food and drinks. Take a hit of all the blazing gags—and one product that’s actually real. Fernando Machado Is Leaving Restaurant Brands International After serving as global CMO of Restaurant Brands International—parent company of brands like Burger King, Popeyes and Tim Hortons—for seven years, Fernando Machado is stepping down. Paloma Azulay will step in as chief brand officer. Machado oversaw some of these brands’ most iconic campaigns. Also in big job moves: Crocs announced today that it has promoted Heidi Cooley to svp and chief marketing officer. Anheuser-Busch Looks Beyond Beer to Secure Its Future Anheuser-Busch’s beer brands are some of the most iconic in the world, but now it’s looking to expand beyond the category. And it’s perhaps good timing, as the seltzer market has surged over the past few years—and seen a much larger pandemic boom (160%) than the beer market, which only grew 9%. The company is getting its new ideas from I-Week and I-Semester concepting and development events, which is a bit like an internal Shark Tank. And it’s yielding big moves: Last year, the company released 111 new products, up from 22 in 2016. Can Spotify Beat Clubhouse at Its Own Game? There’s no doubt that Spotify is a titan of the audio space in general, so perhaps it’s unsurprising that with the rise of social audio platform Clubhouse, the established platform is looking to level up its game and compete with the conference-like newbie. Spotify has a solid leg up, too, not only with its powerful marketing relationships and dominance in the $1 billion podcasting space, but also with its relatively new Spotify Audience Network. Clubhouse isn’t interested in making ads part of is platform—a philosophy that Spotify doesn’t share. Adweek’s Scott Nover and Mark Stenberg examine the possibilities. Briefly: S4 Capital’s MediaMonks Gains Allianz as New ClientMcDonald’s Sends Hispanic Media Strategy Business to Canvas, Lopez NegreteGoogle’s Eerily Lifelike AI Reservation Service Is Now Available in Almost Every StateWalgreens’ Latest Product Innovation Is to Drive Growth With Bank AccountsVerizon Media and Catalina Join Forces to Link CPG Ads and SalesIt’s Official: Nearly Half of Humanity Has Put on Weight During the Pandemic Screw Those IRS Checks: Trojan Promises to ‘Stimulate Your Package’ Taking a page from President Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion stimulus plan that passed in March, condom maker Trojan unwrapped “Stimulate Your Package,” a pun-rich approach to getting Americans to buy Trojan condoms. More of the Latest: Moonpig Introduces Cute Mascots in Costumes as Online Card Company Embraces its RootsGoogle AI Takes on the Great British Bake Off Winner in a Cake CompetitionNYX’s New Makeup Line Lets You Put Tetris-Inspired Shades on Your FaceMajor League Baseball and Chevy Channel Field of Dreams in a Hopeful Opening Day AdPetco Imagines Pets as People in Its First Campaign as a Wellness BrandBeer Brand Corona Wants Consumers to Reemerge From Indoors and Explore Nature

First Things First

‘Every Little Bit of Laughter Helps’; April Fools Pranks Galore: Friday’s First Things First

Plus, Fernando Machado is leaving RBI

‘Every Little Bit of Laughter Helps’: Rhys Darby and Terminix Unite for a Charming Campaign

Jess Zafarris

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‘Every Little Bit of Laughter Helps’: Rhys Darby and Terminix Unite for a Charming Campaign

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Jess Zafarris