2018 Brand Failures

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We generally focus posts on clever, interesting, and/or effective marketing news but this post is all about marketing failures.  Marketing Dive recently posted an article titled “Relive the year’s 6 biggest brand fails — they carry important lessons for marketers” that covers failures from Facebook (via Cambridge Analytica), Papa John’s, McDonald’s, Heinekin, Snapchat, and the digital media ecosystem.

The causes of these failures are varied but the impact is significant.  For instance, following a redesign of the Snapchat app, influencer Kylie Jenner tweeted that she didn’t use the app anymore.  That tweet erased $1.3B of Snapchat’s market value overnight.  McDonald’s tried to show support for Women’s Day by flipping their golden arches upside down but it wound up being perceived as a publicity stunt and drew attention to some of McDonald’s own issues related to it’s female employees.  The article covers these issues and more as well as talking about some of the lessons to be learned from each case.

Facebook’s Slow Burn

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Facebook has been plagued by negative publicity for the past couple of years but according to this article from AdAge, they don’t appear to be losing any advertising dollars.  From all appearances, Facebook seems immune to issues resulting from high-profile hacks, Russian political interference, privacy issues, negative press, and more.  Perhaps Facebook’s plethora of problems stems from their long-time motto:  Move Fast, Break Things.

The lack of impact in advertising dollars to Facebook seems to fly in the face of a consumer society (primarily millennials) who value transparency and social responsibility.  According to the AdAge article, many industry executives are urging caution and suggesting the tide might turn against Facebook if they can’t get a handle on their business.

I find the situation interesting, especially considering the fact that Facebook is now considered “old person social media” (at least according to my students).  Perhaps the millennial desire for social responsibility won’t have an impact if advertisers aren’t focusing on that demographic.

As a side note, the article also talks about efforts made by a firm with ties to the Republican party that have tried to push lawmakers off of Facebook and onto Google and Apple.  This can provide a good example for students of how the political/legal environment can potentially influence the business environment.

Cannabis Coca-Cola

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Coca-Cola is looking at getting into the cannabis-infused drink business.  You won’t be able to get high off the drink since it uses a non-psychoactive component (CBD) in marijuana.  Nevertheless, the story is garnering a lot of media attention and Coca-Cola says the industry has significant potential.  You can read more about the story here.

Ask your students to put together a marketing strategy for the new Coke drink.  Who do they define as the target market?  Why?  Students often see themselves as the largest market segment for products that they like and this can be a good opportunity to push them to think more broadly.  Beyond the target market, what would their marketing mix look like?  How would they treat the cannabis component?  Would they downplay it or make it front and center?  Why?  Would they have to implement new logistical processes or distribution channels?  There are many different directions you could take this discussion.

Taking Chances

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Nike recently made the controversial decision to use former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Collin Kaepernick as the focus of their most recent “Just do it” ad campaign.  Many criticized Nike’s decision to use such a socially and politically divisive individual but the early results look like it was a gamble worth taking.  According to this CNN article, Nike is getting the results they wanted with 170,000 Instagram followers and a Kaepernick Instagram post becoming the second-most liked post in Nike’s history (the first being a World Cup post).  The Instagram post and commercial appear to resonate well with Nike’s core demographic of 18-34 year old consumers.

Not all gambles like this work out so successfully.  Ask your students what made this a success?  Watch the video (linked above) with the class and see if they pick up on what Nike did to keep the message positive and inspiring rather than polarizing.

IHOP Publicity Stunt

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Over the summer one of the most talked about marketing campaigns was the IHOb campaign.  The International House of Pancakes announced they were changing from IHOP to IHOb and later announced that the “b” stood for “burgers”.  Shortly afterward they admitted it was all a publicity stunt to help build awareness of their line of burgers.  This campaign has potential for a couple of class discussions.  First, was it successful?  Clearly they succeeded in getting people talking about their company but whether it drove sales is more ambiguous.  This article from the USA Today suggests it did not drive a material increase in sales.  Another article from geomarketing.com indicates that there was an increase in male traffic but the net result was negative due to lower traffic by females.

Another angle to discuss is the ethicality of the campaign.  Is it ethical for a company to say “we’re changing our name” when they have no intention to do so?  Does this create a bad precedent or does it cause other companies to push the boundaries of deceptive marketing?  How far is too far when trying to gain publicity?