[Intense trailer guy voice] In a world…
Where everyone and everything is scrutinized under the magnifying glass of the internet…
One man will lead a marketing agency team to the brink of the failspace…
All to bring entertainment and joy to the readers of a blog.
This is that man. This is his story.
We’re back, with more marketing fails, and what they can teach us!
Crispy Criminals
In the early days of brands taking to the social media space, gaffes such as the one we’re about to get into were quite prevalent, and rather forgivable… it’s was a new medium after all. After some time, most major brands caught on, and things became a little easier. Now, in efforts to capitalize on massive online followings, brands are bringing new and innovative technologies to the social space, trying to engage follows in new and exciting ways. Sometimes it works, and sometimes, as we’ve discussed before it does not. British “crisp” (potato chip, for those of us in the colonies) maker Walkers learned recently the hard way that relying on new technologies alone without much oversight is a bad call.
In May of this year, Walkers launched a new social campaign: #WalkersWave. In this, their spokesman and former world football (soccer, for us Americans) star Gary Lineker appeared in a video holding up selfies that were submitted by followers, talking about the shot. Then, the photos would join others in a massive “wave” of the sports variety—you know, when fans stand up and sit down in a consecutive order to make a wave of people. If you’re not sure what it is, check this out.
Because this is the internet, people submitted all sorts of terrible selfies, including those of notorious world dictators and British criminals, serial killers, and mass murderers. And because an algorithm was all the helm of weeding out the bad eggs and no one was giving final approvals for the video to post, we ended up with videos of poor ol’ Gary with these awful humans, including Stalin:
Needless to say, the internet noticed, and Walkers retreated in embarrassment.
Lessons learned:
- One more time for the people in the back of the room: HAVE A HUMAN VERIFY ANY AUTOMATICALLY CREATED CONTENT BEFORE YOU LET THE ENTIRE INTERNET SEE IT.
- If you give people a way to screw with your brand, they will take it every single time.
- Calling potato chips “crisps” is ridiculous, but I will concede that the football thing makes sense—soccer is played with your feet, after all.
Irony, thy name is Todd Davis.
Here’s a little confession. I have a folder on my browser that holds the links to hundred of ad fails. I’m a bit of an obsessive. Some I just like to chuckle to myself about, and lots I love to share with you. Sometimes I find a great fail, store it away, and then forget about it until it’s time to write a new blog post. On occasion, when I’m going back through my list, I find an old fail that now is given a timely twist due to current events. And boy howdy, is this one fine example of that.
LifeLock is an online identity protection service. They promise to help keep your identity safe while you do the things online that you love to do, and help to ensure that no one is buying things with your name or social security number, like that time that Bryan Aungst in Iowa spent $440 at Zales.
Online identity protection is a huge deal, but how do you get people to trust your brand? Well, for LifeLock, CEO Todd Davis agreed to share his personal (REAL!!!) social security in web ads, billboards, and on their website. He was so confident in their product, he’d stake his own identity on it.
And well, you can guess what happened. Since ’06 when the campaign first launched, Todd’s had his identity stolen—13 times. Couple that with a nasty lawsuit last year over false advertising claims, and LifeLock’s reputation isn’t so hot these days.
Lessons learned:
- Only walk the walk if the talk you’re talking can be backed up.
- Know the limitations of your product. LifeLock wasn’t designed to protect someone who threw their SS number around like it was candy at a Halloween parade.
- Don’t write checks your tush can’t cash. False claims will land you in hot water 9 times out of 10.
Source: https://serpstat.com/blog/10-worst-marketing-fails-of-all-time/
What would sell more cars? A man in a turkey suit?
The last fail up on today’s list is from one of my favorite subcategories of ad fails: local tv ads.
Sport Durst is a family of dealerships located in North Carolina, and while they have a YouTube channel filled with blog-worthy ads, I wanted to share this gem due to the seasonal significance.
What better way to capitalize on Thanksgiving being around the corner then to feature a turkey prominently in your ad? Here’s how Sport Durst incorporated that simple idea into their 2012 promotion:
That laugh at 0:15 is my favorite thing about the spot. The whole thing is over the top and cringe-inducing, and the pace is so harried I had to watch it three times before I caught everything. The only redeeming quality about this whole thing is the fact that the two people are such bad shots and the turkey lives long enough to exact his revenge at the end. They followed up in 2013 with another spot featuring the turkey. This one, a bit more subdued, but still crazy enough to make you say, “Who the hell approved this?”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0hEHls5KNx0
Do you think Spam’s people know about this?
Lessons learned:
- Nothing really. This was just entertaining. Car dealerships are their own breed of advertisers. Do you.
On the Flip Side
I’ve had my fun and talked my trash, but as an ad fanatic, I also keep a folder of ads that I love, or that elicit some kind of emotion or reaction from me that they shouldn’t be able to.
Recently, I spent some time at my cousin’s house on a Friday night. She has two little ones, both under three, and boy I underestimated how much havoc they could create. The entire visit was a high-energy excitement fest, with each, “No don’t touch that,” driving another activity that was sure to elicit scolding from their mother. The insane energy that these kids possess was astounding, and frankly, terrifying.
The next week, AdWeek featured this spot as their Ad of the Day:
The insanity of French retail brand Petit Bateau’s ad captures perfectly the experience I had that night, and I can’t stop watching it. Enjoy!
About the Author: Bryan Aungst is the Account Director at Martin Communications. He has promised his wife that we won’t start preparing for Christmas by hanging tinsel and ornaments from his beard until after Thanksgiving.