Are you Jason? ZUS pulls off bold April Fool’s “internal email” prank

ZUS customers were thrown into confusion and chaos after receiving a “leaked” email from ZUS Coffee’s marketing team, titled “Marketing Calendar update”, directed to a person named Jason from the tech department.

The email contained a request for assistance with deploying a RM1 coffee promotion, alongside in-app promo assets that needed to go live by 5pm on 1 April. Right below it was a marketing calendar attached for Jason’s reference.

Upon closer look, the calendar outlined ZUS’ planned marketing events for the next three months, spanning special promos, collaborations and launches, but also some highly questionable entries such as a “coriander series”, “tomyam americano” and “ayam gepuk latte”.

The whole idea is genius. The recipient opens the email in confusion, but is hooked to keep reading because, technically, they weren’t meant to receive this information.

ZUS also knew that Malaysians today would flock to social media to call it out, which they did. Some who genuinely believed the email had been leaked tagged the brand, asking if it needed to check its cybersecurity and alerting the team in case they were unaware. Others who caught on quickly, or read the email more closely, jumped into the comments to point out that it was a prank.

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The design of the stunt was immaculate, from hooking customers in to sparking organic buzz across Threads and other social platforms.

And of course, the brand had to address the “leak”. Here comes the next hook. A plain white post appeared with just the words: “Hi, it’s Jason.”

Naturally, questions followed. Did Jason from tech have to take the fall? Was this going to be an explanation, or even an apology?

The carousel continued with ZUS saying: “Some of you might know, our marketing calendar was leaked. In response, this is our statement.” But it all led to a big blue “We’re sorry (hehe)”, with the brand owning up to the calendar being fake. “But seriously, which one do you wish was true?” it added, referencing the bizarre product ideas.

To soften the prank, the coffee chain also rolled out a special promo code for its “ZUSsies”.

Like any other April Fool’s Day, brands rolled out their fair share of weird product launches and questionable creations that were clearly jokes. Instead of going down the usual route of “launching” a fake product, ZUS flipped the script, using a more unexpected channel to drive attention to its brand.

While clickbait-style EDM pranks are not new in global marketing, they remain relatively uncommon in Malaysia. A local example would be Nando’s Malaysia, which took a similarly unconventional approach to introduce PERi-BBQ, its first barbecue finisher, with a campaign that leaned fully into chaos, mischief and intentional “mistakes”.

To bring that feeling to life, the campaign embraced visual disruption at every turn. One standout execution was a digital out-of-home (DOOH) ad, a stark black billboard that simply read “[insert chicken image]”, with no imagery at all. No chicken, no food photography, no cues. The absence was the point, demanding attention precisely because it looked wrong.

Its EDM took the same approach further. The entire email layout was flipped upside down, while the subject line read “Nobody reads their email”. The contradiction was intentional, luring people to open it just to confirm whether it was real or a mistake.

This April Fool’s Day, brands in Malaysia were fully unserious, pranking netizens with fake launches and outlandish ideas. IKEA Malaysia unveiled its “MEÄTBÖMB bath bomb”, playing into the idea of a post-work soak that “smells like the real deal”.

Meanwhile, Subway Malaysia responded to calls for “faster” service with its “Blend Series”, reimagining its iconic subs as bottled drinks.

Branded as “your favourite subs, now in a bottle”, the concept turned flavours such as chicken teriyaki, BBQ chicken and seafood sensation into blended beverages. To blur the line between prank and product even further, Subway Malaysia actually created the drinks, complete with vegetables, chicken and sauce blended together.

Be part of #Content360 Malaysia, 13 May 2026, where creativity and community collide. Explore how AI-powered imagination, culturally resonant storytelling, and platform-savvy strategies are shaping the future of content. Gain practical insights, discover new tactics, and learn how the region’s top creators and brands are crafting campaigns that truly resonate.

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