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Seven Marketing Blunders that Were so Bad, They Became Famous
Seven Marketing Blunders that Were so Bad, They Became Famous
Seven Marketing Blunders that Were so Bad, They Became Famous - Yahoo! News
Steven Bryan Steven Bryan – Sat Sep 4, 2:47 pm ET
Although many marketing campaigns sound great on paper, companies have missed the mark by a country mile in some cases. Here are 7 famous advertising campaigns that have since become the stuff of legends—and lost careers:
New Coke. Twenty-five years ago, the Coca-Cola Company committed what is now a textbook marketing blunder. Figuring that consumers wanted a sweeter cola that tasted like its chief rival Pepsi, Coke executives tinkered with the classic formula. The result was public outrage, a run on bottles of "Old Coke" and a grassroots movement to force Coca-Cola to throw out the new and bring back the old. By mid-July 1985, New Coke had left a bad taste in everyone's mouth, especially in the executive suite at Coca-Cola.
Jack-in-the-Box* temporarily becomes Monterey Jack's. 1985 also was the year that Jack-in-the-Box restaurants gave themselves a makeover of sorts. Aiming for a more mature customer base, Ralston Purina, the parent company, renamed the chain Monterey Jack's in two test markets, St. Louis and Seattle. Like New Coke, though, this experiment was a disaster. Ralston Purina executives soon learned not to mess with Jack, who got sweet revenge for being "blown up" in a series of 1980 television ads.
Three Endings, One Movie, No Clue. With the release of Clue, the live-action adaptation of the classic board game, 1985 officially became the year of horrifically bad marketing ideas. Paramount created three different endings for Clue, forcing viewers to see the film three times in order to see all the solutions (movie ads indicated which theaters were showing the 'A', 'B' and 'C' endings). The "pay three times to see one movie" concept did not catch on, but Paramount wisely included all three endings on subsequent VHS and DVD releases of the movie.
The Last Action Hero crashes and burns. In the early 1990's, few stars were as bankable as Arnold Schwarzenegger, with both Kindergarten Cop and Terminator 2: Judgment Day attracting large paying audiences. In 1993, Columbia Pictures was so confident in Schwarzenegger's bankability that they put both his name and the name of his new movie, The Last Action Hero, on a NASA rocket. Unfortunately, Jurassic Park became the hit of the summer while Schwarzenegger crashed and burned. That half-million dollar piece of marketing quickly became an example of hype on a galactic scale.
Budweiser Chelada. Did someone at Anheuser-Busch have a fondness for regional beers—or were they trying to sabotage the corporate takeover by InBev? Combing the brewery's signature beer with tomato and clam juice, the Budweiser Chelada was born. Looking like the punch line to a bad joke—or the payoff to a bar bet—the Chelada did not make a big impression on the beer-drinking world. Noting that tomato beers are common in some regions, the nicest reviewer on the Ratebeer.com website said "Not bad. Not great. It is what it is."
"Saved by the Bell" actress strips down. Elizabeth Berkley, who played cute, smart student Jessie Spano on NBC's "Saved by the Bell," shed her school uniform in 1995 to play the ingénue role in Showgirls. The attachment of Berkley and Paul Verhoeven to this project led to almost a year of marketing hype, including articles and spreads in national magazines like Premiere. When Showgirls hit theaters, though, it became a classic example of how not to make a movie.
Vanna White as Venus, the Goddess of Love. She can turn letters, she looks great in designer outfits, but official "Wheel-of-Fortune" letter-turner really can't act. At the height of her game show popularity, White landed the starring role in Goddess of Love, a 1988 made-for-TV movie. As Venus, White had to find her true love on Earth, but she never really found an acting career. Fortunately, she and Pat Sajak are still spinning that wheel for fabulous cash and prizes.
* I think my boss planted this one so he could say Jack's was indeed puppy chow (Ralston Purina) and not go driving in ever widening circles in search of fulfilling my JIB craving at the next conference. Tough noogies it's my rental car!
Seven Marketing Blunders that Were so Bad, They Became Famous - Yahoo! News
Steven Bryan Steven Bryan – Sat Sep 4, 2:47 pm ET
Although many marketing campaigns sound great on paper, companies have missed the mark by a country mile in some cases. Here are 7 famous advertising campaigns that have since become the stuff of legends—and lost careers:
New Coke. Twenty-five years ago, the Coca-Cola Company committed what is now a textbook marketing blunder. Figuring that consumers wanted a sweeter cola that tasted like its chief rival Pepsi, Coke executives tinkered with the classic formula. The result was public outrage, a run on bottles of "Old Coke" and a grassroots movement to force Coca-Cola to throw out the new and bring back the old. By mid-July 1985, New Coke had left a bad taste in everyone's mouth, especially in the executive suite at Coca-Cola.
Jack-in-the-Box* temporarily becomes Monterey Jack's. 1985 also was the year that Jack-in-the-Box restaurants gave themselves a makeover of sorts. Aiming for a more mature customer base, Ralston Purina, the parent company, renamed the chain Monterey Jack's in two test markets, St. Louis and Seattle. Like New Coke, though, this experiment was a disaster. Ralston Purina executives soon learned not to mess with Jack, who got sweet revenge for being "blown up" in a series of 1980 television ads.
Three Endings, One Movie, No Clue. With the release of Clue, the live-action adaptation of the classic board game, 1985 officially became the year of horrifically bad marketing ideas. Paramount created three different endings for Clue, forcing viewers to see the film three times in order to see all the solutions (movie ads indicated which theaters were showing the 'A', 'B' and 'C' endings). The "pay three times to see one movie" concept did not catch on, but Paramount wisely included all three endings on subsequent VHS and DVD releases of the movie.
The Last Action Hero crashes and burns. In the early 1990's, few stars were as bankable as Arnold Schwarzenegger, with both Kindergarten Cop and Terminator 2: Judgment Day attracting large paying audiences. In 1993, Columbia Pictures was so confident in Schwarzenegger's bankability that they put both his name and the name of his new movie, The Last Action Hero, on a NASA rocket. Unfortunately, Jurassic Park became the hit of the summer while Schwarzenegger crashed and burned. That half-million dollar piece of marketing quickly became an example of hype on a galactic scale.
Budweiser Chelada. Did someone at Anheuser-Busch have a fondness for regional beers—or were they trying to sabotage the corporate takeover by InBev? Combing the brewery's signature beer with tomato and clam juice, the Budweiser Chelada was born. Looking like the punch line to a bad joke—or the payoff to a bar bet—the Chelada did not make a big impression on the beer-drinking world. Noting that tomato beers are common in some regions, the nicest reviewer on the Ratebeer.com website said "Not bad. Not great. It is what it is."
"Saved by the Bell" actress strips down. Elizabeth Berkley, who played cute, smart student Jessie Spano on NBC's "Saved by the Bell," shed her school uniform in 1995 to play the ingénue role in Showgirls. The attachment of Berkley and Paul Verhoeven to this project led to almost a year of marketing hype, including articles and spreads in national magazines like Premiere. When Showgirls hit theaters, though, it became a classic example of how not to make a movie.
Vanna White as Venus, the Goddess of Love. She can turn letters, she looks great in designer outfits, but official "Wheel-of-Fortune" letter-turner really can't act. At the height of her game show popularity, White landed the starring role in Goddess of Love, a 1988 made-for-TV movie. As Venus, White had to find her true love on Earth, but she never really found an acting career. Fortunately, she and Pat Sajak are still spinning that wheel for fabulous cash and prizes.
* I think my boss planted this one so he could say Jack's was indeed puppy chow (Ralston Purina) and not go driving in ever widening circles in search of fulfilling my JIB craving at the next conference. Tough noogies it's my rental car!
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