THE FESTIVAL THAT NEVER WAS
April Fool's stunt that got the press talking
WE'RE NOT FOOLING
TOTAL MEDIA COVERAGE of 2.13 BILLION
NATIONAL COVERAGE
INCLUDING BBC, THE TIMES, DAILY TELEGRAPH THE SUN, DAILY EXPRESS
INTERNATIONAL COVERAGE
FROM AS FAR AFIELD AS ITALY, BOSNIA & HERZEGOVINA, AND RUSSIA
What was the challenge?
Following the success of its April Fool’s Day stunt in 2023, Blenheim Palace challenged us to come up with another funny and engaging idea - a ‘fame moment’ which would not only have everyone talking about ‘Britain’s Greatest Palace’ but in a context not normally associated with the 300-year-old UNESCO Heritage Site and family seat of the Duke of Marlborough.
Our approach
We wanted our April Fool’s stunt to be quirky but as believable as possible - like all of the best ones, have an element of credibility about it to make the reader think twice - could it be actually true?
There was minimal budget to spend on the idea in terms of visuals, filming, photography etc so we had to think smart.
Our idea played on the fact that Blenheim Palace is located in the Oxfordshire village of Woodstock - the same name as the famous 1969 music festival in upstate New York.
Our embargoed release revealed that archivists at Blenheim had unearthed documents which seemed to show a music festival had been held there in 1769 - exactly 200 years before the famous Woodstock festival. We even threw in Vincent Furnier (aka Alice Cooper) as one of the performers at the 18th century version.
What we hadn’t banked on, however, was the BBC actually believing the story and running it as genuine. Once it was revealed as an April Fool’s stunt, coverage went through the roof, with most of the key national newspapers running stories, with several including it as one of the year’s best April Fool’s Day jokes by famous brands - putting Blenheim Palace in the same bracket as the likes of Adidas, Dulux and Krispy Kreme.
“The merit in Cab Campaign’s press release was that, despite it being completely fictional, the link to the Oxfordshire Woodstock and the American Woodstock gave it credibility resulting in huge media coverage for Blenheim Palace.”
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