Whoever thought that the scariest horror stories are about ghosts and demons, has for sure never seen the marketing strategies that will be shown in this article.
Nowadays, it’s a fact that there’s a lot of companies who misunderstand the concept of publicity and make a lot of mistakes when it comes to marketing. Such mistakes usually drive companies to lost clients, decrease sales, and tarnish their brand reputation. In other words, the worst of the nightmares for your company.
For that reason and because of this Halloween season, it couldn’t be a better time to discuss which have been horrific strategies used by other companies that you shouldn’t try ever!
Caution: If you’re already using some of them, this might keep you up all night!
Pepsi’s Chinese Ancestors’ Revival
One of the most important rules for successful marketing campaigns is to know your audience, which is in fact the main and most important step to consider in order to determine the core of the content proposed.
If you don’t know what your audience wants and needs, whatever you think you are doing, you are doing it wrong.
Identifying your target should also include a market study in consumer behavior according to its culture and that’s for sure an important aspect to emphasize, if not ask Pepsi-Cola.
In 1965 Pepsi launched a campaign based on joining the Pepsi generation, which was featured in English ads like ‘’Come Alive! You are in the Pepsi Generation’’ that ended up to be translated in China as ‘’Pepsi brings your ancestors back from the grave!’’
We know that’s what Halloween is about, but no thanks Pepsi. We don’t want our ancestors back from the grave.
Colgate’s Bad Taste
Brand extension is for sure a good strategy to grow your market share by creating new products or services that are related to your core business industry.
A good example of this is Starbucks, a coffee-based beverage store that added energy drinks to its product’s portfolio.
A bad example of this was without a doubt Colgate, a toothpaste company that decided to extend its own brand with frozen beef lasagna, and other frozen dinner options. Yes, they were brave enough to sell beef lasagna.
Unsurprisingly Colgate’s frozen dinner left a bad taste in most people’s mouths which made them realize that this line of products should not stay in the market.
Thank you, Colgate, after all, you made the right choice.
London’s Olympic Logo?
Visual elements such as brand logos of products and services say a lot about your company. For that reason, it is important to never take for granted the message of what you want to communicate with your brand.
With this in mind, the logo design should have a clean and artistic form. Finding the right connection between brand representation and a clear image is the key to successful brand recognition.
Apparently, the international Olympics committee had a tough time finding that connection, if you find it hard to believe then judge yourself:
The audience had a polemic debate trying to understand the meaning of the logo. Some thought it was a swastika, while others felt completely offended by the Olympics organization since they perceived it as the catholic spiritual center of ‘’Zion’’.
And the worst part is yet to come: the logo design cost was about £400,000! No doubt about their reputation, everything in London is for sure more expensive.
To conclude these were some good considerations of what NOT to do for your company’s marketing strategy unless you want to scare your clients out.
Hopefully, this article will help you comprehend the importance of planning a good marketing strategy before coming up with any delusional idea.
Hope this was not scary enough for you to have a good sleep tonight!
