There are times when you see an ad you can’t look away from, a commercial you can’t stop watching, or a new YouTube video you want to share with everyone you know. If you’re a marketer, you can spot really good marketing from a mile away. Even if you’re not a marketing expert, you can recognize when a brand has done an amazing job of catching your attention.
Some brands hit the marketing nail on the head with a viral video or an amazing ad – becoming an internet sensation overnight. Naturally, other brands want to imitate their success. But, too many brands get caught up in the idea of a viral marketing campaign and forget to cover all of their bases before launching a campaign.
When this happens, the brand can end up with a marketing fail. The internet is not a forgiving place. People will not hesitate to point out disasters in a poorly-executed marketing campaign, especially online. Major reputation management needs to happen when a campaign goes down in flames. This is something you want to avoid at all costs. But, there’s something we can learn from these big brand marketing fails: exactly what not to do. So, let’s take a look at some of the most painful marketing fails and what we can learn from them.
Apple Puts Content On Users’ Devices Without Consent
In September of 2014, Apple took to the stage for one of their famous events to announce new products. The iPhone6 and 6 Plus, Apple Pay, the Apple Watch, and more were unveiled that day. However, in all the excitement, Apple did something strange. The band U2 joined CEO Tim Cook on stage to announce Apple would be giving all iTunes subscribers a free copy of the band’s newest album.
No one really gave this announcement a second thought, until a few days later when loyal Apple fans started to notice the U2 album on their devices. These users didn’t download the album and had no idea how it came to be on their phones, iPods, iPads, and more. Enter our marketing fail – Apple added the content to millions of devices without their consent.
Angry and upset customers took to the internet to air their complaints and let everyone know how unhappy they were with Apple’s invasion. This was clearly a creepy move, and made users question their security and their privacy. The backlash was so severe that Apple had no choice but to answer by creating a button that would allow users to manually remove the tracks from their iTunes library. 100 million dollars and a few apologies later, people haven’t forgotten this marketing fail.
What Can We Learn?
Your customers would probably love getting free things from you. What they wouldn’t love is your brand invading their privacy. Personalization is all the rage for ecommerce brands today. And for good reason – users tend to respond well to products that are catered to their interests.
In this case, Apple went too far when they didn’t consider the wants of their customers. Did all of their iTunes subscribers want the U2 album automatically added to their devices? The answer was obviously “no.” From this marketing fail, we can see that it’s so important to consider the wants and needs of your customers, and work hard to meet them without invading their privacy.
Kenneth Cole’s Insensitive Tweet
In 2011, the designer brand Kenneth Cole found themselves in some hot water after a tweet was sent out comparing the unrest in Egypt to frenzy of releasing their new spring collection. The tweet was sent out from their corporate account. To make matters worse, the offensive tweet was signed with “KC,” which meant Kenneth Cole himself was responsible.
Not surprisingly, thousands of people were upset. The designer had managed to compare a serious global issue to something as seemingly unimportant as a new clothing line. Less than two hours after the tweet was sent out, Kenneth Cole acknowledged the insensitivity and offensive nature of his failed advertising joke. However he was not quick enough to stop the satire accounts created to mock the brand with more fake, but insensitive tweets.
Unfortunately, Kenneth Cole didn’t learn from his first mistake. In 2013, he sent another tweet, this time from his personal Twitter account, mocking the unrest in Syria. He was quick to delete the tweet, but this time there was no acknowledgement of the social media blunder from the brand and the designer. Mostly, people couldn’t believe the designer would be careless enough to make the same mistake twice.
What Can We Learn?
Practicing good social listening is a skill many brands don’t develop, but should. Regardless of how funny or light-hearted Kenneth Cole was trying to be in 2011 and 2013, it didn’t work. The brand and the designer should have understood their customer base and realized that was not the type of message people wanted to be associated with.
Even worse, when Kenneth Cole did it again, they surely lost even more respect and customers. It’s hard to say whether the second tweet in 2013 was just a desperate attempt at publicity. But, we can learn that no matter how much you want to get people's attention, being rude is never the way to go. You need to listen to your customers and fully understand what they care about. Making a mockery of a serious issue is never a good idea.
This marketing fail is by far the most tame and least harmful of the lot, but no less cringe-worthy. In 2013, the fast food chain’s Twitter feed was stormed with a string of truly strange tweets. Most of these made little sense and users started to speculate that Chipotle’s Twitter account had been hacked.
A few hours later, Chipotle announced their Twitter feed was back to normal after a small issue. They also took to Facebook to let customers know they were aware of the issue. So, it seemed like they had been hacked.
However, a brand representative announced later that week that the hack was nothing more than a stunt. The brand was running a promotion to celebrate their 20th anniversary and thought the stunt was a great way to celebrate. The brand managed to gain 4,000 new Twitter followers that day (compared to their usual 250 per day.) But, they also lost a lot of trust and respect.
What Can We Learn?
Despite Chipotle gaining more followers than a normal day, the increase didn’t last long. The jump in follower count was not enough to outweigh the criticism from fans and the internet.
Most importantly, the stunt caused a decrease in trust for the brand. Many people were confused and thought the tactic was a poor attempt at getting attention. You never want to sacrifice your brand image and brand trust for those few moments of press coverage. Sure, it may be great attention in the beginning, but the feelings of uneasiness and distrust left in your customers’ minds will linger much longer.
Marketing fails are quite painful. The general public often reacts with outrage and distaste if the brand goes too far. Sometimes a marketing campaign that may seem fun and outrageous (in a good way) doesn’t translate well to your customers and internet users.
Of course you want your marketing to be unique and drive people to your brand. To protect your brand image and the trust you have with your customers, steer clear of crazy marketing stunts. Unless you really think you can pull off something off-the-wall, it’s best to stay true to you. A few minutes of press coverage isn’t worth years and years of rebuilding your brand.