When good marketing ideas go bad...

A strawberry deal for the unwary

By Greg Adams, Auckland | Friday, 14 December 2007
When driving around Auckland’s Tamaki Drive the other day, I noticed several purveyors of strawberries hawking their wares from the roadside. Accompanying them were signs advertising their ‘deals’. One in particular caught my eye: 1 chip for $2, 2 for $5 or 3 for $7!

While marketing may not be this seller’s strength, we shouldn’t snigger too much. A couple of days later I was talking to a PR guy from a sizeable IT company, who is having a hard time trying to convince some of his colleagues of the merits in ‘giving away’ products for reviews, competition, specials, etc, all in the name of ‘good publicity’. His colleagues reasoning is that the products should sell themselves – so, no freebies.

But do they really? Sure, there are the ‘more-by-luck-than-judgement’ super-sellers. Something goes down well in the blogsphere and everyone wants one. But generally even the best selling products – including must-have devices like iPods and Blackberrys – have a well-oiled marketing machine not far behind.

I can see his frustration.

On the flipside, for those companies that do see the potential for promotion, like our strawberry seller, even the best laid plans…

Take mobile communications company Orange who had to change its adverts in Northern Ireland. “The future’s bright… the future’s Orange,” so its launch campaign slogan proclaimed. Unfortunately, as many of you will know, the colour orange is closely associated with one particular side of the community. The implied message that the future is bright, the future is Protestant, loyalist ... which, understandably, didn’t sit well with the Catholic population.
When General Electric Company (GEC) and Plessey combined to create a new telecommunications giant, the proposed new name was GPT, standing for GEC-Plessey Telecommunications. Trouble was, in French GPT is pronounced as “J’ai pété” – which means “I’ve farted”.

In Italy videogame maker Sega changed the pronunciation of its name to ‘see-ga’ in ads. The reason? ‘Sega’ is a popular name for masturbation.

For some inexplicable reason, Scandinavian vacuum manufacturer Electrolux used the slogan ‘Nothing sucks like an Electrolux’. And American computer company Wang could not understand why its UK branches were refusing to use its latest motto ‘Wang Cares’. (Just say it quickly … ah, now you see.)

As the festive season swings into life, let’s finish with a couple of Christmas PR faux pas.

Last year Sony’s attempt at some viral marketing – in the form of AllIWantForChristmasIsAPSP.com – appeared to backfire rather badly. Perhaps believing it was more savvy than its target audience (teenagers on the internet, so go figure who’s likely to be more savvy!), the company ran a fictitious blog that claimed to be the ramblings of a couple of gamers as they tried to convince their friend’s mom to buy him a PSP for Christmas. It was quickly ‘outed’ by the online community as total tosh and left Sony with plenty of eggnog on its face.

Talking of which, spare a thought for the up-to-now untouchable Facebook, which has been accused of spoiling this year’s Christmas spirit. The site’s use of ad software Beacon has riled some users, by potentially revealing Christmas surprises through detailing their shopping habits to friends.

Thankfully, nobody knows how many strawberries I scoffed.