A year after presenting the possibility of a new mascot, the office of web and new media turned its attention for April Fools’ Day 2016 to a different avenue of campus life: Parking on campus.

The team developed the concept of Missouri State Valet, an exciting (but made-up) service that would give students the option of having valet attendants park their cars for them.

The prank carried a key message: Students should utilize the orange commuter parking lots on the north end of campus. Those parking lots usually have plenty of available spots at all hours of the day. The department of safety and transportation has made that a key point to help students mitigate the frustration of full commuter lots on the south side of campus.

What we did

Web and new media partnered with photographic services and safety and transportation to create the April Fools’ Day digital package, which included a basic website that was linked to from the Missouri State homepage and a downloadable parking pass and a video that promoted the service.

The pass also included a reveal of the April Fools’ Day component along with a message about the orange parking lots.

Chris Nagle, videographer and editor and Sara Silkwood, videographer (and on-screen talent), recorded and produced several versions of the video content to make it fit multiple social media platforms.

Chris Austin, graphic designer in Web and new media, developed the valet website and parking pass that featured design elements from Missouri State’s brand refresh project. Kevin Agee, new media specialist, developed the content for the website and parking pass. Tom Johnson, director of safety and transportation, contributed his acting skills to the video as well.

The numbers

8,000 pageviews

5,900 from the MissouriState.edu homepage

1,600 from Missouri State Facebook

400 from Missouri State Twitter

40 from Missouri State Instagram

20 from MarooNation Facebook

Facebook Stats

185,000 fans reached

47,000 video views

427 shares

73 comments

490 reactions

61 new fans

Twitter Stats

9,600 impressions

2,000 video views

54 retweets

76 likes

45 new followers

Instagram Stats

2,200 video views

27 comments

233 likes