Jacaranda 94.2 launched the station's new look website through the clever use of an April Fool's Day prank. Headlines in both the Star and the Pretoria news announced that closed meetings were being held at the Metro Council where the proposed name change for Johannesburg was being tabled. Both papers reported that several names were under consideration and the public was invited to vote for the city's new name at www.joburgnamechange.co.za.
Newscasts on Jacaranda 94.2 announced the "breaking story" and heated debate followed throughout the morning shows.
Of course, clicking through to the Jacaranda 94.2-created domain at the www.joburgnamechange.co.za site, led visitors directly to the newly designed www.jacarandafm.com site, a fresh look for the station that has seen recent programming changes and also launches its new logo, pay off line and strategy today, 1 April 2005.
Niki Rakgoadi, marketing manager for Jacaranda 94.2 says that the recipe of a controversial topic, April Fool's Day and the station's partnership with The Star and Pretoria News for the day, provided the perfect platform to create a novel tool with which to launch the new look website.
"As web-surfers clicked through to the 'joburgnamechange' site, they were redirected to the 'jacarandafm.com' site where a banner announced the name change and a voting and opinion page was created to capture audience opinions."
Not only did Jacaranda 94.2 manage to launch and expose its audience to the new website, but throughout the interactive experience, the April Fool's Day prank was also followed through. Visitors to the site were still able to vote for the proposed Johannesburg name change within the environment of the new jacarandafm.com site.
