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Top 3 Worst Marketing Campaigns you Can Learn From

Digital Marketing is an uphill battle. Every campaign, every post and every client needs fresh ideas. Virality, as we discussed last week, is hard to achieve and even harder to maintain. Creating the perfect marketing campaign to boost your digital presence is one of the toughest challenges a marketing company can face. Sometimes, no matter […]

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Digital Marketing is an uphill battle. Every campaign, every post and every client needs fresh ideas. Virality, as we discussed last week, is hard to achieve and even harder to maintain. Creating the perfect marketing campaign to boost your digital presence is one of the toughest challenges a marketing company can face.

Sometimes, no matter how hard we try, Marketing campaigns can go wrong. This week, The Wildfire Team brings you our favourite marketing campaign blunders and some top tips to learn from them!

The Happy Meal Ambassador

Ronald McDonald is remarkably lean for a guy who only eats at the Golden Arches. Alas, McDonald’s did not see the fast-metabolising clown as a marketable health ambassador in 2014, when they decided to push the Happy Meal as a healthy food product for kids. Instead of the iconic Maccies Maestro, they spent a considerable budget pushing the new and creatively named ‘Happy Meal Ambassador’!

…Lovely. ‘Happy’ was immediately recognised as the absolute nightmare fuel it is by kids and adults alike. Perhaps McDonalds found out that screaming burns 1.3 calories a minute? Worst of all, this creature found its way into adverts and designs well into the late 2010s –  never becoming iconic in the way McDonalds intended.

If there’s a lesson to be learnt here, it’s to trial designs on your target audience before even beginning to push them out. ‘Happy’ has all the hallmarks of a kid-friendly design, but if you show any British youth this mascot, you might turn them off chicken nuggets for good.

‘Mo’s Mad for Menthol’

Sir Mo Farah is a long-distance running legend. His stamina is practically unmatched, his lungs in prime condition. That’s why it took many Londoners by surprise to see the Olympian on the side of a bus, advertising vape liquid:

Except it wasn’t him! Not only was this a terrible choice for an endorsement by Diamond Mist Eliquids, but it also wasn’t legal. The ASA quickly banned the advert, and legal proceedings began.

Whilst Diamond Mist claim this was unintentional and the man in the photo is not Mo; this is a classic case of bad marketing optics. Check and trial every campaign before it goes out. Public and legal opinion can quickly turn an expensive campaign into a disaster. Ensure both are on your side before putting your product on the side of the Capital’s bus.

AAirpass

Bad Marketing Campaigns existed well before Digital Marketing. Take this classic blunder by American Airlines, the AAirpass. Everyone loves a bulk purchase, customers save money, and companies get a tidy lump sum in return. When American Airlines found themselves strapped for cash in 1981, they created a campaign around an impressive bulk deal. Unlimited First class flights with AAirpass, only $250,000!

People quickly began to take the offer up, perhaps more than American Airlines was expecting. In the short term, the deal did solve their cash flow issues and provided solid marketing. The problem was, people really like flying. The kind of customers who can afford a cool quarter million are the kind of customers who fly enough to spend more than that in a year. Every year. From 1981 onwards. American Airlines quickly found themselves losing an impressive amount of money on their AAirpass flyers. Revocation of passes ensued, followed by lawsuits and bad PR.

There’s a lot of marketing campaigns, both digital and otherwise, that sound brilliant on paper. But the customer is typically more intelligent than the marketing board, and they’re hungry for a loophole. Provide ironclad, realistic offers in your campaigns. If you promise half the world, don’t be surprised when someone finds a way to take the whole thing.

If you’re looking to avoid a marketing campaign disaster like this one, trust the number one SEO Agency in Leeds – Wildfire Marketing. Our Expert Team has countless years of experience in Social, Email and Content Marketing. We can create the next great campaign. Check out more of our blogs for helpful Digital Marketing tips and lists. Contact us today to begin your Digital Marketing journey.