When coming up with creative ways to promote your business, carefully think through your plans to avoid marketing blunders that might cause more harm than good. Millions of dollars are spent every year on marketing and public relations efforts. Companies hire so-called experts in the field. People who claim to have insight into how the public feels and what they will buy. Despite all of these efforts, some real dumb marketing ideas still produce embarrassing results.
For two years LifeLock ran ads in which CEO Todd Davis touted the security of the service, even going so far as to publish his Social Security number and daring people to steal his ID. But now customers are suing Davis claiming his service didn't work as promised and that he knew it. Turns out there were 87 instances where people tried to steal his identity and one succeeded. A guy in Texas duped an online payday loan company to give him $500 using Davis' Social Security number.
Coors put its slogan, "Turn It Loose," into Spanish where its translation was read as "Suffer From Diarrhea."
In 2007, Spirit Airlines didn't realize that their "Many Islands, Low Fares" promotion results in a very unfortunate acronym.
The Chevrolet Nova was a great selling car in the United States but a huge flop in Mexico. No va translates into no go in Spanish.
Scandinavian vacuum manufacturer Electrolux used the following in an American campaign: "Nothing sucks like an Electrolux."
But none of those can top the latest attempt to brand a new flavored vodka from Prozimo. What were the marketing gurus at Proximo thinking when they came up with the name RangTang for their new orange- and tangerine flavored extension of their Three Olives brand of vodka?
Sure, the premium vodka market is very crowded. Proximo's own portfolio includes five award winning premium brands: 1800® Tequila, Three Olives Vodka®, Gran Centenario® Tequila, Ron Matusalem® Rum, The Kraken™ Black Spiced Rum, Azul™ Tequila and Maestro Dobel® Diamond Tequila. Not to mention all of the various flavors from Skyy, Smirnoff, Absolut, Grey Goose, Hangar, Ketel on and Belvedere.
The marketing folks were probably pretty proud of their idea when they came up with RangTang, described as "a delicious blend of imported English vodka and the bold taste of outrageously juicy oranges and tangerines."
The problem is that the word RangTang has another, less appealing definition, according to Urban Dictionary (see second, original definition). It is so bad we don't want to print the definition on our web site. You'll have to go check it out for yourself.
While these examples of real life blunders in marketing might seem funny, the fact is that they represent very costly mistakes that actually happened.
If you think marketing research is too expensive for your company, stop and consider the real cost of marketing blunders before you make your final decision. At least check the Urban Dictionary first.
