Photo by Puneeth Shetty on Unsplash
Through my experiences writing blog posts, I have highlighted a series of campaigns that act as a guide for those in the process of starting their own. However, looking at a collection of marketing campaign fails can provide lessons to those in the public relations industry.
In 2017, Pepsi released an advertisement featuring Kendall Jenner. To reflect on a year of protests across the nation, the soda company decided to build the ad’s storyline around a protest for peace. The commercial ends with Jenner handing a police officer in a barricade a Pepsi, which he takes a drink from and begins to celebrate. While in theory this ad was set up for success (a celebrity, diverse actors, strong storyline, etc.), it failed because their political message was weak or even unidentifiable. Because there were so many protests in 2017, people were upset about how Pepsi portrayed the idea of protests. All actors in the commercial seemed to be happy to be speaking out about the issue and the police officers were easily swayed to join them, when in reality protests are often full of people who feel it is necessary for them to speak out about an issue, and police aren’t necessarily allowed to join in on the job. This is one ad that would have benefitted from a stronger, realistic political message.
Gap’s logo is widely recognized by consumers in America. Some even categorize the logo as iconic because of its simplicity and how it is so recognizable. However, in 2010 the brand decided to redesign its notable, serif font, all caps logo for a lowercase, sans serif logo with a blue square. The new logo had so many people upset that the new design only lasted six days before they changed it back. This marketing campaign fail is a lesson for professionals because it shows how necessary aesthetic and consumer research is to branding. In 2016, the brand redesigned its logo again but kept the same aspects which had consumers in love with it from before: font and colors. If Gap had conducted more research prior to changing their design in 2010, they may have avoided a large marketing campaign fail.
- New Coke
In the 1980s, Coca-Cola created a new formula for their popular cola in hopes of defeating Pepsi. In the process of changing their formula, they had surveyed over 200,000 people to try Pepsi, old Coke and New Coke, and New Coke was the most popular among the group. After spending nearly $4 million dollars on creating New Coke and rebranding, consumers were furious to find New Coke on the shelves of stores. Three months later, New Coke was removed from stores and replaced with the old formula, now called Coca-Cola Classic. This marketing fail goes to show that consumers’ preference goes beyond a product itself. Success comes from more than taste itself. Joe Benjamin wrote in Business 2 Community, “Consumers make purchasing decisions based on habit, nostalgia, and loyalty as well.” As mentioned above, marketing research is essential to a successful campaign, and while Coca-Cola seems to have done that, they did not completely evaluate the consumers’ thought process.
Clothing brand Calvin Klein has faced numerous reactions from their controversial ads. One campaign in 1995 is one of the more well-known and hard-hitting controversies. This specific campaign featured young models in denim and underwear which took place in a basement-esque background with wood panels. These photos were advertised on multiple platforms: print, television, billboards, buses, etc. This made the photos seen by a large portion of people, many who complained about the creepy feeling they gave them. The appearance of each young model, poses and backdrop led people to believe it may involve child porn. From the amount of complaints, the Justice Department got involved and investigated the ages of each model, which was later proven that all involved were adults. Despite the confirmation, Calvin Klein still pulled the ads from the public eye and announced they had not aimed to make their ad appear that way. This fail can teach professionals how important it is to know your audience and how advertising on specific platforms will benefit brands. This is understood more now since social media enables people to measure this, however this failure could have been avoided if the ads were placed in specific magazines or websites to allow for a specific audience to view them. Along with this, it is important for brands to know what is tasteful, and how much risk is safe to take.
Netflix original and award-winning TV show “Stranger Things” is the new “face” of Burger King’s famous Whopper. The fast-food company created the “Upside Down Whopper” to play with the idea of the alternate universe the Upside Down in “Stranger Things.” However, the lack of creativity has consumers unhappy with this menu item. This special item is simply just a normal Whopper served upside down. In terms of marketing campaign fails, this is less harming to the company than the other examples were, however; the fail here is because the product had so much potential to be great and was overhyped. Burger King could have created a special sauce, package or bun to make a more fitting product tied to the show.
These marketing campaign fails are a lesson professionals can learn from and avoid. One successful campaign professionals can look toward is Chipotle. Read more about their success in their recent campaign and how they did it here.