Oops! “The 13 Biggest Brand Fails of 2014”

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mchappyThey say we learn the most from failure. If that is the case, then this list “The 13 Biggest Brand Fails of 2014” (Adweek, December 16, 2014) should give these companies a lot to think about. Maybe our students can learn from these mistakes without having to suffer the consequences. These mistakes are mostly made by big brands. Many of the failures involve social media and raise important questions about monitoring and control of social media channels.

On the other hand, we cannot be so concerned about failure that we forget to take chances. We may want to remind our students that brands seeking breakthroughs are forced to take chances so failures are inevitable. These examples might be useful when you cover promotion, social media, and creativity — or when you simply want to inject some humor or reality to class.

Home Depot Reinvents the Bucket – Finds New Opportunities for Customer Value

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While there are many examples of breakthrough high-tech products, we (at least I) often forget the power of design with common everyday products. Take the bucket — Home Depot did. Apparently Home Depot looked to a design leader for inspiration, which you can read about in “How Home Depot Copied Apple to Build and Ingenious Bucket” (Wired, December 31, 2013). We have also posted this at Learn the 4 Ps.

The video below would be a great addition to a class on new-product development. But it could also be used when you discuss customer value. Ask your students who would be the target market for this bucket? How each new feature adds value — and how much more some customers might pay?

 

IBM Uses Smarter Advertising in “Smarter Cities” Campaign

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IBM’s long-running “Smarter Planet” campaign has evolved into its “Smarter Cities” effort. IBM thinks that big data and better planning and management can make cities smarter, more effective, and more efficient. Of course IBM can sell some of these solutions to cities, so this makes the video a good B2G example for your classes. It is also a neat example of “useful” advertising — that serves more than one need. Works as an example of creativity or positioning, too.

Case: IKEA’s Magic Mittens Help Customers and Create Buzz for New Catalog

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As IKEA prepared to launch its new iPad catalog app in Norway, the retailer thought about the challenges its customers would face. Norwegians like to be outdoors — even in weather many of the rest of us would find too cold. Of course they still wear mittens in the cold, but those wouldn’t work with the touch screen technology — so they couldn’t skim through their new IKEA catalog app. A clever new product helped conquer that problem, generating additional sales and plenty of buzz for the new catalog.

The video below provides a short, creative example you can show in your marketing classes.

Getting the Attention of Doctors Willing to Work in Africa

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There is a severe shortage of qualified medical doctors and healthcare professionals in Africa. An organization called Africa Health Placements has the task of trying to address this challenge. It recently developed a direct mail campaign to get the attention of medical professionals. While it would be nice to have data about the success of the campaign — the idea is creative, interesting and gets attention. It also shows a non-traditional use of promotion.