Jim Haysom | This Is Your Life an internet professional in digital advertising

Flipping Crazy April Fools’ Day 2010 Hoax Is Successful

It's the 1st of April 2010, and I wake up at 6am excited that it's April Fools' Day.  More often than not, the opportunities to do something fun will escape me by the deadline of midday, normally due to being too busy or ill prepared.  This year it was going to be different.  The aim would be get a fake news story published online and share it with friends and colleagues who'd find it tough to figure out whether it was true or not.

I jumped out of bed and it's bloody cold and grab the necessary props to pull this off.  I make my way to work preparing myself with the rough script inside my head and trying to work out exactly how and where to pull this one off.  I only have approximately 1 hour to execute this.

The April Fools' hoax: Announce that I'm going to set a new world record running the fastest London Marathon and flipping 15,000 beer mats.

Now it goes without saying that a lot of people know that I can flip a beer mat or two.  And a lot of people know that I'm going to be doing the Virgin Money London Marathon 2010 on the 25th April.  What better than to mash these up and convince people of the impossible, or downright craziness of a stunt.

Well the day is almost over and I can proudly announce it was a resounding success!  Work colleages were particularly the most gullible, and many good luck wishes were hailed at me as I walk through the office during the hours that followed having sent a company wide email.  The premisce was a request for sponsorship for the London Marathon, with a subtle final comment saying I was attempting a world record at the same time.

The email had a link to the www.beermatflipping.com website, click the link to read the post called London Marathon Beer Mat Flipping World Record Attempt.  There is an intro video, a brilliant photo of me in Richmond with the River Thames behind me, and a few quotes that add to the realism.  Check it out and leave me a comment.

One final note, I actually got my video onto Sky News.  Brilliant.  Click the image below to see for yourself.

Add to the promotion of this April Fools' Day hoax, and retweet or share the orginal post; London Marathon Beer Mat Flipping World Record Attempt.

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