Jagermeister - Pool Party

An event can be seen as an easy way to promote efficiently a product or service. However even in the most basic event every precaution must be taken to avoid any mistake that could damage the brand.
And that is exactly what Jagermeister didn't do.
Jagermeister, the well-known alcohol brand whose consumers are hype and love to party decided that a sponsored pool-party in Mexico would be a great event to remind everyone that the brand is for hype people that love to party. During the whole set up the organizers decided that, in addition to gorgeous ladies in bathsuit and sexy dudes surrounded by jagermeister, it would be really interesting to have some kind of mist coming out of the water.
This is how they decided to add liquid nitrogen to the pool. What they certainely didn't expect was the chemical reaction provoked by the liquid nitrogen and the chlorine.

The Jagermeister pool disaster

Combine nitrogen and chlorine and you obtain some nitrogen trichloride, a very toxic gas that immediately knocks out whoever breathes it.
As a result, 9 people have been hospitalized and one person has even been in coma for a few days. More than 4 complaints were filed with the government.

Morale of the story: Curiosity kills the cat... But nitrogen trichlorine is better at it

Gerber - Singles

Some companies do have the right idea, only it just doesn't come up at the right time... Or with the right shape.
In 1974, Gerber, a baby food enterprise, tries to extend its brand to the adult food market. Willing not to spend too much money in new manufacturing tools or in brand re-positioning, Gerber decided that the niche market of the single living adults would suit its expertise. Single people don't need to buy a lot of food at the same time, they only need small portions. And this is how Gerber launched a baby-food-jar similar product range for adults. I have to admit that they thought about that very carefully, since nothing is omitted : vegetables, appetizers, mashed potatoes and meat, desserts... You could truly feed you with that single brand.

The for-adults-baby-jars

Thing is that the company didn't think about the consumer's motivation. Why would this single 35 years olds man buy this product ? So that he remembers that he is alone ? Or that, as he is single, he cannot be seen as an accomplished adult ? Or that not only he is single but he also doesn't have friends to go out and eat with ? The product range didn't work at all and has quickly been removed form the shelves. No need to ask if Gerber did a market research before its launch. If it had done that maybe it could have been one of today's leader in the single-portion food, in plastic or aluminium package, that are made for busy people...

Moral of the story : The end justifies the means... Or maybe not !

Facebook - Facebook Home

Facebook. The phenomenon of the last decade, that had reached a billion users in 2012, and had a movie dedicated to its creator. Well, facebook had its failures too.
In 2013, Facebook decided that its customers, who are using more and more their smartphone for basically... everything, would probably like an alternative user environment, closer to them and that would facilitate their communication with their friends. And this is how Facebook launched Facebook Home, an Android app, aimed to replace a smartphone home screen. You could thus view your friends' updates and notifications on a full screen environment, which was also made in order to hide as much as possible the Android shape of the phone : the research bar is not visible for example.
On its app launching, facebook collaborated with HTC in order for the phone company to sell its new smartphone, the HTC First, with the pre-loaded app.

The facebook Home design

The problem is, no one wanted the facebook Home app. Not the users, not the phone sellers. The app was too invasive on the consumers' phones, and quickly on internet topics were created with a "how to get a rid of Facebook Home on the HTC First" subject.
Another face of the failure arose, that is quite embarrassing for Facebook : the app has been created by... Iphone users, who were therefore not aware enough of how an Android user thinks. The thing is, Android' USP (Unique Selling Point) is its personalization possibilities. Widgets, folders, or docks are all things that Apple doesn't offer in its smartphones. The constat is simple: How can you possibly create something that personal for a target that you don't even know ?

Morale of the story: Don't pull all your eggs in one basket !

Harley-Davidson - Perfume

When someone asks you to think about a good motocycle, you have two solutions: to think about a japanese brand, or to think about an american brand. Would you think about Yamaha, or rather Harley-Davidson ?
Well, whatever was your answer, today is about the american brand, which is responsible for a wonderful and full-of-lessons failure.
Harley-Davidson's customers are extremely loyal to the brand due to its values: liberty, authenticity, power, testosterone. This brand has an iconic stature, and many customers even have the brand's logo tattooed on their body. In a noticeable logic, Harley-Davidson's marketers thought that if customers were that loyal, then they could buy tons of derived products. Starting from baby clothes to ties and lighters, Harley-Davidson developped a whole range of derived products that had nothing to do with the original product.
In the 90's, the motocycle brand finally crossed the red line when it launched the Harley-Davidson perfume and aftershave range. The purist fans strated to accuse the brand of "disneyfication" and to believe that Harley-Davidson was fallen into the "more products = more purchases" trap. Isn't that the worst thing that could happen for a supposed authentic brand ?

Does anyone see the authentic biker in this ad ? No one ? Great, me neither.

However Harley-Davidson didn't suffer that much from this mistake, which has finally been recognized and corrected by the company.
In 2014, the brand's market share was 57% in th US, with an increase of 20,5% in Asia and 8,2% for Europe. It is still the leader in front of Ducati, Suzuki, or Triumph.

Morale of the story: All that glitters is not gold !

Just For Feet - Racist Ad

Sometimes the marketing strategy is good, and the fail is in it application. That has been the case of Just for feet, an american shoes brand. In 1999, as the company was becoming more and more popular, it decided to (and could afford to) do an advertisement that would be seen during the Super Bowl, that would gather more than 127 million homes in front of their TV. Here is the video of it:

Just for feet Super Bowl ad (1999)

A huge storm of protests immediately arose from the population to denounce this fully racist and violent ad. By what right dared the company to compare an african man with a wild animal hunted by a white man ?
Just for feet reacted in alleging that they trusted Saatchi&Saatchi, their communication agency, and relied on their expertise. The shoes company sued Saatchi&Saatchi for damages in advertising malpractice, and finally dropped the lawsuit.
Not only this ad was racist and violent, but also pointless: how would the consumers want to buy shoes that a top-world athlete doesn't even bear ?

Today Just for feet doesn't exist anymore as the last shop closed in 2004.

Morale of the story: An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure !