Jumbo Benji April Fools Campaign

“

Sorry to the 3,500 or so who have already signed up to buy Bearaby's Jumbo Benji plush toy, which is four times the size of its regular weighted plush toys and twice as heavy as its heaviest weighted blanket. This isn't actually going to be sold.

— USA Today

— Veronica Levinsky, Head of Marketing at Copyfolio

01 — Project details

Playing off the popularity of Bearaby's real weighted plushies (the Bearabuddies), we teased launching a giant, extra heavy "Bearabulky" for April Fools Day, which generated 3,500+ customer sign-ups.

The day after April Fools, we announced the real product launch: four new weighted plushies.

02 — Creative process

My goal with this campaign was to generate customer engagement by creating a story that was borderline believable, but clearly playful if you looked a little closer.

The April Fools prank generated interest in a real follow-up launch of four new weighted plushies, and the one "Bearabulky" used for our photoshoot was donated to the Child Mind Institute in Harlem.