Save April First!

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Save April First!

A campaing for Paramount Comedy Russia

How to make the launch of yet another comedy channel in Russia

to stand out and become the talk of the town?

Definitely, we needed a bigger cause.

The official launch date was April 1st aka April Fools Day

and we saw an opportunity in finding a way to own it.

But how can we dare to claim that April Fools Day belongs to us?

Russians don't celebrate April Fools Day

the way they used to in the past, but the need for having fun is still there.

If April Fool's Day was in danger than we could save it

and help Russians. But it wasn't. So, we decided to put it in danger.

And then have Paramount Comedy lead the campaign

for saving the only official fun day of the year

for good and fun-loving people of Moscow and St. Petersburg.

We partnered with ornithologists to have them initiate

a campaign against April Fool's Day.

Online petition, official announcements were made on RBCU website, which was a kickoff for initial coverage in digital and TV.
We launched pro-RBCU social network groups and promoted them among relevant online communities like WWF and Greenpeace.

Soon we launched opposing groups for users who disapproved petition and favored the Fools' Day.
As conversations heated, in groups we introduced Paramount Comedy which called for a movement "Save April Fools' Day",

with: Videotaped prank against ornithologists

which went viral: a giant inflatable rubber duck unexpectedly invades an ornitologists' meeting and literally squeezes them out of the room.
Aprilfools.ru - ultimate pranking site launched to encourage users to keep the Fools' spirit, make and share pranks in social networks.

Finally, we attracted major media to cover the story for free given its intense background and relevance of the cause.