Marketing is more than just advertising your product, it’s also an art.
A great marketing campaign and careful marketing project management can get your customers excited about your product or service and boost your sales.
One of my favourite examples of a great marketing campaign is what Kelloggs did with their packaging. Kelloggs discovered that using simpler and more consistent packaging makes their cereal boxes easier to recognise, so that’s exactly what they did.
The result? Kelloggs discovered that 70% of their customers could now locate their new boxes much more easily and purchase intent went up by 50%!
It’s amazing how such a simple idea can make such a big difference. But marketing is a double-edged sword and not all marketing campaigns work out so well.
Here are three of the biggest marketing failures ever and what we can learn from them!
1. New Coke: A flavour no one asked for
Way back in 1985, Coca-Cola decided to try out a new formula for their iconic drink using a new flavour. The result was a marketing failure that became the stuff of legend.
As a Coca-Cola fan myself, I couldn’t imagine why they wanted to change the taste! But surprisingly, people didn’t think the flavour was bad, in fact, some even claimed it tasted better than the original. So, what went wrong?
People still prefered the old taste.
Coca-Cola is an icon of American culture and people wanted to drink the same coke their parents, grandparents and movie stars from the golden age of Hollywood drank. People hated the new flavour and Coca-Cola received over a thousand complaints a day!
Pepsi, Coca-Cola’s age-old rival, didn’t waste any time trying to profit from Coke’s blunder. They made several ads poking fun at the new Coke, which even led to them getting coke fans on their side!
Needless to say, Coca-Cola quickly pulled the new soda from the market.
What did we learn?
If it’s not broken, don’t fix it. Sometimes, customers like a product for what it is and they wouldn’t have it any other way.
EA’s The Godfather II: One of gaming’s biggest marketing failures
As a gamer myself, I’m quite familiar with the gaming giant, Electronic Arts (or EA for short).
They’ve released many great videogame franchises over the years, and in 2009, they made a new game, The Godfather II (never heard of it? You’ll find out why in a bit.) based on the iconic movie.
It’s not uncommon for video game companies to ship early-release copies of their games with some novelty items. So, what did EA ship their new game with?
A shiny set of brass knuckles! A must-have for thugs, mafia bosses and wannabe gangsters everywhere!
It’s not too hard to see why this was a really bad idea, right?
Brass knuckles are classified as lethal weapons in the US and upon realising this (seriously, who thought this was a good idea?) and before they received any complaints about shattered cheekbones, EA recalled all copies of the game along with the brass knuckles.
The game went on to sell only a measly 400,000 copies and faded into obscurity, deeming it a financial failure.
What did we learn?
Never try to promote your products using items that can be used to inflict bodily harm, no matter how “cool” they may look.
The Cairo tweet by Kenneth Cole: A tone-deaf tweet that impressed no one
Fashion company Kenneth Cole decided to get a little edgy with marketing their spring collection. How edgy? Well, here’s what they tweeted back in 2011:
They released this tweet during the Egyptian revolution that led to the deaths of 840 people.
As you can imagine, this post triggered a firestorm on Twitter, where people started calling out Kenneth Cole for their awful tweet.
In response, Kenneth Cole put the fiasco to rest—only to release a similarly insensitive post during the Syrian refugee crisis.
I guess some people just don’t learn :/
What did we learn?
Using human crises and suffering as part of your marketing campaigns is never a good idea, especially if you’re using it to push your products. No matter how big your brand is, you’re not beyond public censure.
So there you have it—three of the biggest marketing failures ever. Marketing is an art. Just make sure you don’t do what these guys did!
Good luck.