April Fool’s Day jokes for business success?

I’ve never been a big fan of April Fools or any practical jokes for that matter, but yesterday I was impressed on several levels with the creativity some companies are putting into use.

My favorites were the series of announcements, tweets, etc., that Google pulled off.

@GoogleJobs Can you type fast? Are you intuitive? VERY intuitive? Google Mtn. View is hiring Autocompleters: http://goo.gl/y1VIw

The mythical YouTube 100’th anniversary

@google Gmail is on the move… try out Gmail Motion, a new, better way to communicate http://goo.gl/r0KLU via @gmail

You and I might not have the resources to pull off something this widespread, but you’ve seen how a simple video shot with a smart phone can go viral overnight … why not yours?

We’re always reminded that being different is risky, but can have great benefits to your brand.  Start planning for next year.  What great product announcement can you pull off that might go viral?  Google started in a garage, they didn’t get there by being like all the other search engines.