The Greatest Marketing Disasters In History

 Let's take a look at brands that took a marketing miss step.

It is not always the case that marketing campaigns end up a success. Misreading your target audience can lead to some serious mistakes, which can formulate disasters. 

Here are some of the greatest marketing disasters in history:

The 1992 Hoover Company Campaign

A 1992 Hoover Company marketing campaign turned very sour when the offer of receiving free plane tickets when purchasing $100 of product cost the company $50,000,000. People were more interested in receiving free flights than buying Hoover products.

The Red Lobster Snow Crab Legs 

The popular seafood chain experienced a net loss of $3.3 million in 2003 because of a cheap marketing ploy. The restaurant launched an all-you-can-eat promotion that offered customers an unlimited supply of snow crab legs for only $20. With the crab legs, clients could also receive an array of side dishes. Red Lobster's management vastly underestimated the quantity of food that individuals participating in the promotion would consume. Around the beginning of the promotion, there was a drastic increase in the price of crabs. The company was destined to begin losing money, and 3.3 million dollars later they had learned a lesson about the mass consumption of food in America.

The American Airlines Free Flights Failure

American Airlines created a marketing campaign where they offered unlimited first-class tickets for a one-time fee of $250,000. Unfortunately, one of the customers who decided to partake ended up flying over 10,000 flights, which cost the company $21,000,000.

The New Coke Calamity

Coca-Cola made a colossal mistake in response to an ad by Pepsi, their competitor. They decided to replace their original Coke formula with a new product: New Coke. Consumers hate the product so much that they protested and, in response, Coca-Cola brought back their original recipe in July 1985.

The Tata Nano Fiasco

India built the world’s most inexpensive car: Tata Nano. Motivated by the fact that a car is a luxury good in India, they expected the car to sell adequately. It turned out that the car was perceived as too cheap and had horrible sales. The company ended up making huge losses.

The Nestle Free Formula Tragedy

In 1970, Nestle launched a campaign to provide mothers in Africa with free baby formula. The formula was meant to be mixed with water and then fed to infants. Unexpectedly, many children died from the formula because it was being mixed with unclean water. Nestle was coined as a "baby killing" company for the disaster as boycotts broke out all over the world.

LifeLock's Not So Secure Ad Campaign

Lifelock provides identity theft protection. It was co-founded in 2005 by Todd Davis and Robert J. Maynard. When Lifelock began promoting its services in 2006, it was so confident in its product that, as a symbol of trust, CEO Todd Davis’ Social Security number was displayed on its advertisement. In 2007, their security system was breached, and Todd Davis himself became a victim of identity theft. The crime was discovered when a company called on his wife’s cell phone regarding an unpaid debt. Upon investigation, it was found that someone used Todd Davis’ identity and obtained a loan of $500.

Four months later, Davis’ identity was stolen again. The person who stole it used it to open an AT&T/Cingular wireless account and racked up a sum of $2,390 which remains unpaid. Later, Davis’ identity was stolen 11 more times.

Any brand can be subject to a marketing disaster if they are not careful, fortunately even the worst campaigns won't totally ruin a company. It's ok to be brave, just be ready to react!