big brand failures

DREAMING OF BRAND FAILURE

BUTTERFLY IS A LONDON BASED BRAND & INNOVATION SPECIALIST

WITH A SPECIFIC EXPERTISE IN EMERGING MARKETS

WE’RE EXCITED ABOUT BRAND FAILURES......THEY TEACH US SO MUCH

If your young brand manager makes an expensive mistake, do you want him to resign when you spent so much training him? Or keep him, to never have the mistake made again?

SOME BRANDS JUST LOST THEIR WAY A BIT...

BEER SHOULD STAY AS... BEER

Coors tried to extend into water, but this made no sense to

its own or water brand consumers. Its expertise was beer.

Although Pepsi consumers were drinking it at breakfast time, it made no

sense to an audience when the brand specified when it was to be drunk.

Keep it classic;Keep it American;Keep it Coke...

Changing the original Coke formula was as un-American as

changing the constitution. Classic Coke rescued the brand.

Pear’s soap loyalists were shocked when new brand owners changed

the original recipe, and they were forced to change it back.

Missing the moment... of the digital age.

Kodak had had its moment when it failed to answer the call of the digital age.

Polaroid was about instant gratification for reliving a memory. The brand offer was true but the business was too product focused and died with the digital camera’s arrival.

It’s all in a name...

For a baby food to be named after something less-than-reputable

was a cultural oversight this French brand much regretted.

Danone wanting to lose the identity of this much-loved Hungarian biscuit proved misguided: locals wanted to access, not become, western.

Using white carnations in Hong Kong to celebrate a new route showed little thought for the local convention of this colour being for funerals.

Home made soup is so much better in Russia...

WE DREAM OF BRAND FAILURE,OF MAKING MISTAKES...Very smart people make mistakes. The trick is not to repeat them.

“Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new” Albert Einstein

“If you’re not failing every now and again, it’s a sign you’re not doing anything very innovative” Woody Allen

3 GREAT FAILURECASE STUDIES...

Your biggest competitor is stealing your share

Coca Cola seemed to listen to what Pepsi told

them about their own brand – was there really

something wrong with the flavour?

What Coke hadn’t realised was how deeply rooted the

relationship with the total brand (not just a product) was.

“Coca Cola is the sublimated essence of all that America stands for.” William Allen White

“We heard you” Chair of Coca Cola, Goizueta

Listening paid off: the consumer returned because of love

of the brand and knowing they had been listened to.

Even with only 2% share, Kellogg’s in India had the promise

of 18 million consumers. How could you go wrong?

But Kellogg’s failed to recognise that breakfast, like all foods,

is very cultural: what people traditionally eat in India for

breakfast is different to the UK and US.

Not recognising cultural preferences, including storing fresh milk

and cost per unit in a low per capita income country, all cost

Kellogg’s dearly, and gave them a beleaguered launch.

In its portfolio Kellogg’s now has porridge. This hot cereal,

a hangover from the Raj and the Scott’s Guards, is actually

already culturally imbedded in Indian culture

Nokia had been synonymous with all that was great in the early world of mobile phone technology.

But they didn’t keep up with technology and how phones now bring you email, cameras, music and the internet.

And they failed to understand the relationship people now havewith their phones as a communication partner, not just a phone.

Nokia had certainly understood they were about ‘Connecting People’.

However, had their brand promise just been ‘Connecting’, they would

have continued to live a more relevant brand vision.

With a much lowered market share the once dominant brand will now be playing catch up.

2009 2011

48% 29%

GOLDEN RULES TO BRAND FAILURESo if you want your brand to fail, here are our top 10 tips...

Look at the product not the brand...1

2Never beemotional...

3 Over extend...

4Give it a terrible name...

5Pay no attention to cultural nuances

6 Focus too much on yourcompetition...

7Abuse transparency of social media...

8Listen to what your consumers say...

9Think the PR campaign will save you later…. rather than doing the right thing immediately after the crisis.

10Brand Arrogance

HOW CAN WE FULFIL A BRAND DREAM?

Wonderful handbags, clothes and shoes… well made products in stunning designs. But their chair, Robert Polet, knows he doesn’t sell handbags, but a dream... He has understood the essence of his brand.

“People buy our brands because they want

to be a part of a particular dream...

so people before going into the store, they

decide ‘I would like to be a part of that

dream.’ And that is an emotional decision”

Robert Polet

TO CREATE AN EMOTIONAL CONNECTION...

“ Reason is not as ‘pure’ as most of us think it is or

wish it to be; emotion and feelings aren’t intruders

into the bastion of reason. we feel before we think.

In fact we feel in order to think.“ Descartes’ Error, Antonio Damasi

SO WE GIVE YOU THE SIMPLE

BUTTERFLY RULES FOR SUCCESS...

Understanding the dream

Consistency of message at all touch points

Celebrating

cultural nuances

Listen, listen, listen...But ask me the right questions

Understanding the dream

Consistency of message at all touch points

Celebrating

cultural nuancesListen, listen, listen...

But ask me the right questions

Simply 4 rules; just not always simple to realise effectively. Learning from the rest can help you do a great job...

Understanding the dream

If you don’t understand your own

brand’s DNA, & how the consumer

perceives it, then you simply cannot

help it perform in the long term.

Whether you are creating a new

concept or managing an existing

brand, it is the consumer, not you,

who truly owns the brand.

So don’t forget to listen, listen well

and listen often to what they tell you

they want and need from you.

THANK YOU

Find us on

Bianca Cawthornebianca@butterflylondon.com

Deirdre Findlaydeirdre@butterflylondon.com

www.butterflylondon.com