Top Branding Failures

Top Branding Failures

Companies are always looking for that next Old Spice campaign that will become viral on YouTube and get people talking.  Effective branding is crucial for a company’s success.  The American Marketing Association (AMA) defines a brand as a “name, term, sign, symbol or design, or a combination of them intended to identify the goods and services of one seller or group of sellers and to differentiate them from those of other sellers.”

Branding needs to be credible and motivate buyers.  According to MarketingAbout.com, “It’s important to spend time investing in researching, defining, and building your brand. After all, your brand is the source of a promise to your consumer. It’s a foundational piece in your marketing communication and one you do not want to be without.”

There have been many marketing blunders when advertising has missed the mark.  Bschool.com lists what they consider to be the 10 Most Ill-Advised Ads of All Time.  Remember those singing Quiznos rodents?  Some of us wish we could forget.  Check out the top 10 list by clicking here.

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2010 Advertising Successes and Failures

As the year comes to an end, many marketing departments are looking back at the year’s results to see if their plans were successful.  With the new year and the Super Bowl just around the corner, advertisers are analyzing what worked and what didn’t. 

One of my favorite ad campaigns was the Old Spice Guy.   I also enjoyed the Snickers Betty White ad.  The Wall Street Journal had a nice article about “The Best and the Busts” advertisements from 2010.  This article mentioned the Old Spice and Betty White ads.  I was curious as to the success of Old Spice specifically, as that was a product I had previously associated with older men and drug stores. According to their article, “Since February, the initial video has drawn over 25 million views on YouTube.  More important for Procter & Gamble, the Old Spice brand saw sales double from mid-June to mid-July versus the prior year, a period when the social-media part of the ad campaign heated up.”

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=owGykVbfgUE&fs=1&hl=en_US]

Not all campaigns have been as successful.  Some failures that were listed in the WSJ article include:

  • PepsiCo’s Crunch Time Sun Chips Ad
  • The Nike Tiger Woods Apology
  • Gap’s No-Go-Logo

In the marketing courses I teach, we often discuss advertising.  For current advertising examples of how to create a specific effect, I like a site called Adcracker.com.  Check out some examples of advertisement styles by clicking the following links:

Dramatic Conflict

Problem Solution

Personification

Exaggeration

Metaphor

Employee Brand

Reasons Why

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Do you Like the Old Spice Ads? Of Course You Do! But Have They Been Profitable?

It’s hard not to like the new Old Spice ads. I have to admit, when I think of Old Spice, I think of an older product that was around when I was a kid and associate it with older men or as a kind of cheaper product you’d find at drug stores.  Since I teach a lot of marketing classes, I was curious to see how those very fun and popular ads are affecting the sales of Old Spice.

As of July, Old Spice sales have increased 107%. 

 

 

 

images via mashable.com

In her new analysis of the Old Spice video push, Adweek’s Eleftheria Parpis has this summary: “According to Nielsen data provided by Old Spice, overall sales for Old Spice body-wash products are up 11 percent in the last 12 months; up 27 percent in the last six months; up 55 percent in the last three months; and in the last month, with two new TV spots and the online response videos, up a whopping 107 percent.”

For some fun short Old Spice clips, check out this compilation put together by adweek.blog. 

Also check out Mashable’s Top 10 Funniest Old Spice Guy Responses by clicking here.

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  • Hey Old Spice haters, sales are up 107% (adweek.blogs.com)

What is Visible Measures? Measuring the Popularity of Videos on the Web

I teach several different marketing and advertising college courses.  It can be a challenge to keep up with all of the different social media advertising trends.  Companies want to be able to know that their message is being seen.  One way to find out if your message is being picked up is through a company called Visible Measures.  Visible Measures is the independent third-party measurement firm for Internet video publishers, advertisers, and viral marketers. According to Forbes , “Visible Measures is a New York firm that counts the popularity of videos on the growing list of sites hosting them, of which YouTube continues to be the most important.”

On their site you can sign up to receive free public beta for trends and track the hottest viral videos on the web.  Once you sign up, you can chose a category such as media, dining, etc. You can also refine your search by agency, brand and even get specific about things like humor, reality, spoof, etc.  It will then generate a list of the top videos based on your parameters based on the dates your select.  I picked media for the week of September 6 and one of the top videos it picked up was YouTube Turns Five . . .see below.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tlmho7SY-ic&fs=1&hl=en_US]

Do you want to know the top 10 ad campaigns, top 10 film trailers, top 10 webisodes or those in 100 million view club?  They have the charts.  They have a paid program you can sign up for to find out even more detailed information.  Are you interested in following the Old Spice campaign?  You can type in Old Spice into their search bar and it will pull up a list of their videos, show their rank and their reach. 

To keep up with what Visible Measures has to offer, you can sign up for their blog by clicking here.