The Great Marketing can be bad for products. In marketing history we have witnessed some of the worst marketing campaigns.
Taking the Tata nano as an example, it is marketed as “cheap” and shockingly turned into a great marketing disaster. as we know, big brands can do anything to launch their new products in the market. Sometimes their creativity and uniqueness cost them too much.
These campaigns can be called marketing disasters in marketing history.
So let dive into the topic.
The Bunny fight:
Energizer a battery company used a pink Bunny in its advertisement. The ad became popular. But the company’s profit went to half.
On the other hand, Duracell, their rival actually doubled their profits. Later Energizer found the loophole and are still regretting it.
Actually the loophole was…
Duracell used a similar pink Bunny as a mascot a few years back and Energizer was using a similar pink Bunny in its ads.
Energizer actually managed to advertise its competitor Duracell. Viewers thought it as an ad of Duracell and the rest is history.
From that very day, Duracell started using that bunny in there ads.
Tropicana’s packaging design fiasco:
Over the years, consumers have come to associate the Tropicana brand with the plump orange with the red-and-white straw poked into it. Thus, most consumers who are familiar with Tropicana orange juice recognize the packaging on the left.
However, in 2009, Tropicana attempted to re-design their packaging for a more “modern” look (picture on the right) and launched it in stores.
It was a disaster.
- Tropicana spent $35+ million to design and advertise their newly designed orange juice packaging.
- Consumers got confused in stores when they were looking for Tropicana orange juice. Many thought the stores ran out or didn’t stock Tropicana or walked past the juice altogether.
Why? Because they were probably looking for that plump orange with the red-and-white straw.
Many customers who noticed the new design didn’t like it – their emotional bond to the original design, and thus the brand, was severed. Many criticized the new design openly on social media.
- More bad news: this led to consumers flocking to competitors to buy their orange juice.
- Tropicana sales quickly dropped by 20%, resulting in millions of dollars in lost revenues.
- Tropicana renounced their new design and returned to the original packaging.
Overall, this marketing fiasco cost Tropicana a lot of time, $50+ million dollars, and diluted brand equity. Plus it helped boost the sales of their competitors.
All in 1 month.
For a fruit juice brand, this was a pretty expensive disaster.
Adidas: Boston Marathon Email:
Customers who participated in the Boston Marathon in 2017 received a very poorly worded email from Adidas.
The subject line simply read, “Congrats, you survived the Boston Marathon!”
In the context of any other fitness event, this might seem harmless. In fact, many people use this phrasing when they refer to completing an event. For example, some might say they survived their first Cross fit class.
However, this message was sent on the heels of the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing, which killed three people and injured more than 250 people. Needless to say, many people were offended.
A disgraceful marketing email.
Remember that! You can’t use disaster for marketing, ever!
Source: Quora