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An April Fools’ Day prank by a London baseball staff has despatched its merchandise gross sales skyrocketing because the staff prepares to play two video games below its made-up moniker this season.
The London Majors pranked their followers on April 1, asserting on social media that the franchise was rebranding to grow to be the Forest Metropolis Cobra Chickens, a “tongue-in-cheek” nickname for the feisty and typically aggressive Canada Geese that decision London residence.
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What they didn’t anticipate is simply how a lot their followers would flock to it, demanding merchandise with the Cobra Chickens brand.
“They’ve been a few of our hottest objects ever. We’ve seen numbers we didn’t count on to see,” Matt Hiscox, social media supervisor for the Majors, mentioned. “Within the first six hours of gross sales, we offered over 500 hats. We offered about 100 jerseys. It was loopy.”
The Majors launched a cartoon brand of a teeth-bearing Canada Goose in a child blue baseball uniform outlined in pink to accompany the April 1 prank announcement.
The Cobra Hen nickname for Canada Geese comes from the animals’ propensity to hiss and be territorial, significantly throughout the spring nesting season, and their resemblance to a garden-variety barnyard chook.
Followers reacted to the joke instantly, urging the Majors to promote merchandise with the novelty brand.
The Majors rapidly rolled out a roster of Cobra Hen gear – together with hats, shirts, hoodies and a jersey – that went on sale April 11. A primary spherical of orders has already been positioned with the provider, Hiscox mentioned, including there’s no timeline but on how lengthy the limited-run objects can be obtainable.
“It’s been actually cool to see the traction we’ve acquired to this point,” Hiscox mentioned. “None of us anticipated our April Fools’ joke to go this far.”
The Majors will play because the Forest Metropolis Cobra Chickens for 2 video games this season, Hiscox mentioned, one in mid-June and one in August. The precise video games can be introduced quickly, he mentioned.
“We’re attempting to verify followers can get their merchandise earlier than the primary recreation, in order that there can be Cobra Chickens within the stands and never simply on the sector,” Hiscox mentioned.
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