An email message promoted from my email archives to my blog on 2012-09-26.
The golden age of April Fools’ Day parodies on the Internet was 1995-2000. After that, people got smarter, wire services changed their policies about parody press releases, and the jig was up.
In fact, Rick Klau and I had something to do with the wire service policy changes. In 1999, Rick and I won an award from InternetWire for our “press release” about Visa purchasing the Internet. Good times!
I’ve documented much of the past silliness on ParodyLaw.com.
The following was part of an April Fools’ Day joke that I pulled on my Verio colleagues in 2000. I had help from coworkers. We had signs of Verio’s “new” tagline printed up and displayed them on both floors of the office. Then this “newsletter” went out.
To: allverio@verio.net From: "Erik J. Heels" <eheels@verio.net> Subject: VINE 04-01-00 Date: Sat, 1 Apr 2000 00:04:07 <VINE> ================================================================= VINE Verio Internal News Etc. Vol. 2 No. 7 April 1, 2000 ================================================================= VINE is an internal publication of Verio Inc. VINE is published semi-monthly by e-mail (to allverio@verio.net) and on VIC (https://intranet.verio.net), Verio's Intranet, as a way to distribute internal company news. If you have information that you think would be of interest to Team Verio, feel free to send e-mail to Erik Heels, VINE's editor, at vine@verio.net. ================================================================= VERIO CHANGING ITS NAME TO "JAZZKEY" Verio was founded in 1996 as World-Net Access and was renamed "Verio" in 1997. And although the Verio name has been very successful, it only has five letters, making it difficult to create memorable toll-free numbers (such as 1-800-JAZZ-KEY). The new name, JazzKey, is intended to portray or more "jazzy" image of a company holding the "key" to the new world of business. JazzKey is also designed to sound like the name of Verio's CEO, Justin Jaschke. At this point, Justin has not decided if he will change his last name to match the company's new name. http://www.jazzkey.net VERIO TO ACQUIRE ROCK BAND In order to avoid a protracted trademark law suit, Verio has agreed to acquire the rock band Love Riot, whose domain name includes the phrase "verio." If you are planning a company social event, be sure to check with the band to see if they are available before booking outside entertainment. The band will be adding jazz songs to its repertoire. http://www.loveriot.com A SPICY PROMOTION Another trademark-related development (also involving a company that happens to have the phrase "verio" in its domain name) is the upcoming promotion between Verio and Oliverio Italian Style Peppers. The West Virginia company will be including links from its home page to Verio. And Verio customers will be eligible for discounts. Stay tuned to VINE for details! http://www.oliveriopeppers.com VIRUS-FREE VIC The intranet team is pleased to report that many people have been uploading documents to VIC. However, some uploaded documents have contained viruses. In order to maintain the integrity of VIC, the procedure for uploading documents has been modified. Users will now have two options for getting content uploaded to the intranet. Option #1: mail your content on a floppy disk to Verio's corporate headquarters where the disk will be scanned for viruses. Option #2: e-mail your content to ponyexpress@verio.net, where the files will be printed out and then new documents will created by scanning the printed ones to ensure there are no viruses present. We know that these procedures may take a bit longer, but we thank you for helping us to make VIC a virus-free place to get information. VERIO OUTFITTERS Thanks to strong sales of Verio-branded merchandise from the "Verio Stuff" section of the intranet, Verio is launching a new division to focus exclusively on selling Verio-branded merchandise to end users. The position will be run by Krista Tamburino, President of Verio Outfitters, who will be launching Verio Outfitters' fall line in Paris next month. Since the 2000 budget has already been set, no marketing funds are available for the launch of this new division, so please let your friends and family know. Hats and shirts make great gifts! The business plan calls for items to be sold at cost in 2000, but what we lose in margin we expect to make up in volume. VERIO ON ICE Verio is pleased to announce international expansion into Iceland. Although inhabited by only 270,000 people, Iceland has the world's highest number of Macintosh computers per capita of any country in the world. Plus it's usually cold so people tend to stay inside and surf the web. A Microsoft NT and FrontPage promotion is planned for 2000 Q2 with co-marketing funds from Dell Computer. http://www.rhi.hi.is/utgafa/frett/94apr/1.html NEW TAGLINE FOR 2000 Verio's current tagline is "the new world of business," but Verio is going to test launch the new tagline starting in 2000 Q2. The new tagline is "business is booming and is fun." A new website is in development to test the effectiveness of the new tagline. The test launch will be restricted to Colorado companies, so IP addresses outside of Colorado will not be able to access the new site. http://www.VerioBusinessIsBoomingAndIsFun.com DID YOU KNOW ... THAT VERIO ORDERMASTERS ARE THE BEST? In a recent head-to-head competition between postmasters, webmasters, hostmasters, and ordermasters, Verio's ordermasters came out on top. Congratulations ordermasters! http://www.VerioOrderMastersAreTheBest.com MARK YOUR CALENDARS April 1, 2000; April Fools' Day April 5-7, 2000; Los Angeles; Spring Internet World; http://events.internet.com/spring2000/ May 23-25, 2000; ISPcon - Spring 2000; Orlando; http://ispcon.internet.com/spring2000/ May 29, 2000 (Monday); holiday, Memorial Day June 1, 2000; 10:00 am; All-Associates Teleconference July 4, 2000 (Tuesday); holiday, Independence Day July 12-13, 2000; Summer Internet World; Chicago; http://events.internet.com/chicago2000/ September 1, 2000; 10:00 am; All-Associates Teleconference September 4, 2000 (Monday); holiday, Labor Day October 6-8, 2000; Fall Internet World; New York City; http://events.internet.com/ November 23-24, 2000 (Thursday and Friday); holiday, Thanksgiving November 30, 2000; 10:00 am; All-Associates Teleconference December 25, 2000 (Monday); holiday, Christmas Day In 2000, each associate has two (2) floating holidays to be taken at the discretion of local management or the associate. All eligible associates are entitled to observe their cat's birthday as a paid holiday. The cat holiday can be taken on any day the associate chooses. The associate should request the cat holiday as far in advance as possible and must receive prior approval from their supervisor. BROUGHT TO YOU BY Thanks to Lynn Rooney, Sharon Rogers, Sue Sievert, Darlene Elder, Cheryl Herman, Roy Schwalm, Janis Rossi, Cindy Lucas, Dan Grote, Michelle Calhoun, Sally Snook, Krista Tamburino, Elizabeth Hansen, Rob Lubeck, Heidi Strong, Louis Gottfried, and Matt Bell for contributing information to this edition of VINE! CONTRIBUTING TO VINE VINE is an internal publication of Verio Inc. VINE is published semi-monthly by e-mail (to allverio@verio.net) and on VIC (https://intranet.verio.net), Verio's Intranet, as a way to distribute internal company news. If you have information that you think would be of interest to Team Verio, feel free to send e-mail to Erik Heels, VINE's editor, at vine@verio.net. By the way, THIS ENTIRE ISSUE IS AN APRIL FOOLS' JOKE Doh! </VINE>
