Key Lessons from Top 10 Fails in Marketing History

When you’ve got a new idea for a promotion, take care that you're not making these cringe-worthy mistakes that even the best minds in marketing made:

Takeaways:

• Don't enter a campaign where you can't control how much free stuff you’re giving away. McDonald’s “When the US Wins, You Win” campaign in 1994 was a costly mistake—it was dependent on factors that the company couldn't directly control.
• Think long and hard about the consequences of a campaign, or you might end up damaging your reputation. Facebook Beacon ended up alienating its market when it failed to respect its members’ privacy.
• Be careful about using humor--it might cross over to creepy and/or hurtful territory. Burger King’s mascot was an unruly stalker…which didn’t improve the brand’s image a bit but spiraled it into unsavory territory.
• Your product name can destroy your brand from the get go. The 70’s popular diet candy AYDS died when AIDS—which can cause extreme weight loss, not to mention that it was a deadly disease—came around.
• Make sure your idea, product or service works before debuting it to the world. Honda’s Asimo robot's first outing was an outright fail—when it didn’t do what it was supposed to do, in front of a worldwide audience. (Ouch!) If you can’t deliver the goods, don’t even think about offering it!
• If it ain't broke, don't fix it. Sweet Coke actually won the taste test...but it failed to bring in the dollars. Mainly because Coke Classic was doing a right good, winning job already. Sweet Coke nearly made a huge dent on the beverage giant’s market share.

All these marketing campaigns had one thing in common—the failures led to huge losses, both in dollars, market share, and reputation.

The moral of the story: something may be a good idea, but execution’s key—don't take it out of the equation.