branding failures

7/29/2019 Branding failures

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GROUP

MEMBERS:

NIKITA PARMAR


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BRANDING

FAILURES (IDEA)


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INTRODUCTIONThere are numerous reasons Why Brands Fail ????.

Sometimes it is because the MarketMarketthey are associated withhas become Obsolete.

Other times it is as a result of extending into an UnsuitableProduct Category.

In some, dramatic cases it is the result of a High-profileScandalwhich causes the public to boycott the brand.

They are simply Bad Ideas that havent been properlyResearched.


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KELLOGGS CEREALMATES


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KELLOGGS CEREAL MATES

Warm milk, frosty reception

Cereal Mates were small boxes of Kelloggs cereal packed with a

container of milk and a plastic spoon.

An increase in working hours in the United States, combined with the

rise in fast-food chains, led Kelloggs to believe that there was a

demand for an all-in-one breakfast product.

To maximize Cereal Mates chances of success, the line included the

four most powerful Kelloggs brands in the US namely Corn Flakes,

Frosted Flakes (Frosties), Fruit Loops, and Mini Wheats.


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Here are some of the main factors behind Cereal Mates brand

failure:

Factor one: WARM MILK.

As each container of milk was aseptically packaged, itdidnt need refrigeration. However, consumers didnt like theidea of warm milk.

Factor two: COOL MILK.

In order to accommodate for the consumers preference forcool milk, Kelloggs eventually decided to place Cereal Mates inrefrigerators to imply that consumers should have the milk

cold. The expense of trying to re-educate the consumer to lookfor cereal in the dairy case proved too enormous waybeyond, apparently, what Kelloggs wanted to spend on sellingthe new line.

Factor three: ADVERTISING.As if the consumer wasnt confused enough, Kelloggs


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Factor four: THE TASTE.

Even when picked up from a refrigerator, the product was

often consumed at work or away from home. In other

words, when the milk was warm and tasted terrible.

Factor five: THE PRICE.

Retailing at way over a dollar, Cereal Mates was

considered too expensive by many consumers.

These factors, working in conjunction, caused the Cereal

Mates brand to fail. And so, after two years on the shelvesor in refri erators Kello s ulled the lu on the


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Lessons from Kelloggs

Cereal Mates Consumers dont like warm milk on their cereal.

Dont mix your messages. On the one hand, Cereal Mates

was an eat anywhere product. On the other, Kelloggs wasimplying it needed to be stored in a refrigerator.

Sell the brand in the right place. Cereal Mates was,

essentially, a cereal rather than a milk product. Consumers

would have therefore expected to see it on the shelves next to

the other cereal products.

Be the best in at least one thing.As a cereal product Cereal

Mates failed because there were tastier and equally healthy


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THIRSTY CAT! ANDTHIRSTY DOG!

Bottled water for pets

Thirsty Cat! and Thirsty Dog! brands

of bottled water designed for

pampered pets. Although the water came in such thirst-

quenching flavours as Crispy Beef and

Tangy Fish, pets and their owners

remained unimpressed.


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SONYS GODZILLASONYS GODZILLA


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Movie As Brand conceptMen in Black, The Lord of the Rings, Harry

Potter, Toy Story, Monsters Inc. and

numerous others have replicated StarWars' cross-branded success.

While this means the Hollywood studios

can make potentially more money thanever before from a movie, it also meansthey have more to lose if things dont goto plan.


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ABOUT THE MOVIE

Godzilla is a 1998 military sciencefiction monster movie co-written anddirected by Roland Emmerich

It was a loose remake of the 1954 giantmonster classic Godzilla.

The film relates to a fictional taleinvolving a nuclear incident in the SouthPacific which causes an abnormalmutation to occur in a reptile.

The beast migrates to North America and

wreaks havoc on Manhattan.


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PROMOTIONSPROMOTIONS With the 1998 release of Godzilla, Sony believed it had created a

monster

movie hit.

Indeed, it is difficult to think of a movie that looked more likely tobecome a blockbuster.

Sony had spent US $60 million implementing the teaser campaign.

They had Puff Daddy rapping his way through one of the most expensivepromo videos ever made for the Godzilla theme tune.

Furthermore, a replica of the star of the movie a skyscraper-high green

monster was guaranteed to make a fantastic toy

Most significantly, owing to Sonys newly consolidated cinema holdings,

the film was shown on more screens in its opening weekend than any


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PROBLEMSPROBLEMS

The only trouble was that for all the money spent on a slickad campaign, the word of mouth publicity surrounding thefilm was pretty bad.

Even before the movie launched, news was spreading onthe Internet of just how terrible it was.

However, Sony was determined to get the online reviewersonside. The company even paid for Harry Knowles, the

owner of the highly influential site AintItCoolNews, to fly outfor the premiere in New York. But nothing could stop thegrowing number of terrible reviews.

Here is an extract from James Berardinellis one star review

which appeared on the moviereviews.net site on the daythe film o ened:


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MOVIE REVIEW Godzilla is the ultimate culmination of the who cares

about plot summer movie. A loose remake of the 1954classic Japanese monster movie, Godzilla, King of theMonsters, Roland Emmerich and Dean Devlins big-budgetlizard-stomps-Manhattan disaster flick has been writtenwith the brain dead in mind.

The script isnt dumbed down, its lobotomised. [. . .]Worst of all, Godzilla isnt even exciting. With the possibleexception of a mildly enjoyable car chase near the end,thereisnt a sequence in this film that raises the pulse.

Even the scenes with dozens of aircraft attacking themonster are so devoid of tension and suspense that theyare yawn-provoking.

Independence Day may have been dumb, but it was full of


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OPINION

Towards the end of the review, Berardinelli emphasized theinsignificance of his opinion:

Ultimately, it doesnt really matter what I (or any other

critic, for thatmatter) have to say about the movie.

Sonys TriStar has assumed that Godzilla, like all self-proclaimed summer event motion pictures, is pretty much

critic-proof. It may also be word-of-mouth-proof. Those whowant to see the movie will see it no matter what I write ortheir friends say.

So, when I go on record to assert that Godzilla is one of the

most idiotic blockbuster movies of all time, its like spitting


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INFLUENTIAL POWER OF THEINTERNET

One online discussion group even included a listof 63 fundamental flaws within the movie (typicalexample:' Godzilla can outrun helicopters but hecant keep up with a taxicab).

1998 was the year the movie industry finallyrealized the influential power of the Internet hadover the movie-going public.

Not only did it play a fundamental role in makingsure Godzillas excessive marketing budget hadbeen a waste of money, but it was also proving

(through the example of the Blair Witch Project


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LESSONS FROM GODZILLA Remember That Bigger Isnt Always Better:

Everything about the movie had been big the star, thespecial effects, the marketing budget, the brand tie-ins but ithadnt been enough.

Ironically, the slogan for the film was Size matters. In thiscase, it clearly didnt.

Dont Over-market Your Brand:

The excessive amount of hype and brand extensions Sonyhad created for Godzilla ended up working against it. Asbranding guru Tom Peters has put it, leverage is good, toomuch leverage is bad.

This view is supported and expanded by anti-brand guruNaomi Klein who predicts in No Logo that the current maniafor synergy will collapse under the weight of its unfulfilled

promises.


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MAXWELL HOUSE

READY-TO-DRINK COFFEE


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MAXWELL HOUSE

READY-TO-DRINK COFFEE General Foods launched cartons of Maxwell House ready-to-

drink coffee in 1990.

Problem I: Manufacturer General Foods plopped up with apackaging stated that the coffee was brewed with crystalclear water, and promised that the fresh brewed flavourand aroma are locked in this exclusive foil-lined fresh-pack.

& complete with an image of a mug of steaming hot coffeeinto supermarket coolers right next to jugs of ice-cold milk,prompting a certain amount of cognitive disconnect.

Problem II: Promotional materials promised the drink wouldbe a "convenient new way to enjoy the rich taste of Maxwell


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RJ ReynoldsRJ Reynolds

Smokeless CigarettesSmokeless Cigarettes

the ultimate bad idea


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RJ Reynolds Tobacco Company isknown for brands such as Camel,Winston, Salem and Doral.

In 1988 when passive smoking hadbeen officially recognized as a

serious danger to health, thecompany decided to conduct trials ona smokeless cigarette.


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PROBLEMS Taste issue: One person who smoked Premier

complained that it tasted like shit and he was RJReynolds chief executive.

Difficulty of using the product : Inhaling thePremierrequired vacuum-powered lungs, lighting it

virtually required a blowtorch, and if successfully litwith a match, the sulphur reaction produced a smelland a flavour that left users retching.

There was a rumour that the smokeless cigarette

could be used as a delivery device for crackcocaine.

One of the major forms of controversy was the brandspossible appeal among younger people.

The real problem though was that smokers


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BUT THE STORY DOESNT ENDHERE

By the mid-1990s, concerns about passive smokingled the company to believe there was still a market forsmokeless cigarettes.

In 1996 it therefore spent a further US $125 million ondeveloping an updated version, this time called

Eclipse.

In a press statement, a company spokesmanannounced the potential appeal of the brand. I thinkwe can all agree that for many non-smokers and

for many smokers, second-hand smoke is anannoyance, and to be able to reduce and almosteliminate that annoyance is a very positive stepin the right direction.

The new cigarette made less smoke than standardcigarettes because it didnt burn. Instead charcoal was


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PROBLEMS

However, whether the cigarette actuallylowered the health risk of smoking either fordeliberate or passive inhalers remainsquestionable.

An independent study commissioned by theMassachusetts Department of Public Healthfound that when it was compared to ultra-lowtar cigarettes, the Eclipse cigarette had higherlevels of several toxins, especially when the

charcoal tip burned very hot from heavysmoking.

This information was clearly damaging to the

Eclipse brand, because from the start themarketing activity was designed to accentuate


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CONTROVERSIES

Many of the medical experts who hadsuggested that these cigarettes wereless dangerous than standard brandshad been doing research paid for by the

tobacco company itself.

Furthermore, independent medical

analysts soon discovered that Eclipsecigarettes presented one health riskwhich was actually worse than standardcigarettes glass fibers.


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LESSONS FROM SMOKELESSCIGARETTES

Dont baffle consumers with research:

RJ Reynolds spent a great deal ofmoney researching the healthaspects of its two brands of smokeless cigarettes.

Although RJ Reynolds research concluded that in many ways thebrands were safer, they couldnt be considered entirely safe.

Furthermore, RJ Reynolds research prompted opposition from

other health authorities who published their own independentfindings. Rather than end up looking as if it was acting in thepublics health interests, the tobacco firm only ended up lookingmanipulative.

Dont sell ice cubes to cocker spaniels: Smokeless cigarettes appealed to people who didnt like the smell

of smoke. These people are called non-smokers, and generallytend not to buy cigarettes. Why create a product for a consumerwho wants nothing to do with you?

Realize that if it has failed once, it will fail again:


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CLAIROLS TOUCH OFYOGHURT SHAMPOO


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Launched in 1979, Clairols yoghurt-

based shampoo failed to attract

customers: Largely because nobody liked the idea of

washing their hair with yoghurt.

Of those who did buy the product, there were

even some cases of people mistakenly eatingit, and getting very ill as a result.

The Touch of Yoghurt concept is made even

more remarkable by the introduction three

years earlier by Clairol of a similar shampoo

called the Look of Buttermilk.

CLAIROLS TOUCH OF

YOGHURT SHAMPOO


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CONCLUSION

The cleverest brand strategy in theworld cannot make consumers buy aproduct they dont want.

If a product is truly bad or trulypointless it will be unable to find

eager customers.

Branding isnt about products, it isabout erce tion. This is the new


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