Read This Before Your Next Digital Marketing Disaster. — Lessons Learned from Epic Fails

 

Digital marketing is a crazy, fast-paced industry and not every campaign will be knock-out. Some campaigns go viral in good ways and others miss the mark, often with brand-killing circumstances. These digital marketing mistakes to avoid can offer a lot of experience for brand marketers. And, these teach us the necessity of knowing your audience with credibility to brand values as you navigate today's convoluted digital universe. Here are a few of the most unforgettable digital marketing disasters and what we can learn from these epic fails.

1. Pepsi's Cringe Worthy Kendall Jenner Ad

A commercial Pepsi aired in 2017, featuring Kendall Jenner bringing about unity and peace. The commercial cuts to Jenner abandoning a photo shoot and joining the protest, terminating tensions by handing an officer with what appears to be an ice-cold can of Pepsi. The advertisement drew almost instant backlash, with detractors slamming Pepsi for trivializing social justice movements. The ad was pulled within 24 hours and Pepsi issued an apology, saying they "missed the mark."

Lessons Learned:

Sensitivity to Social Issues: Brands must be cautious when addressing social or political issues. Misrepresentation or oversimplification can lead to accusations of insensitivity or exploitation. A deep understanding of the issue and collaboration with authentic voices are crucial.

Authenticity Matters: Authenticity is key in digital marketing. Audiences can quickly discern when a brand is trying to capitalize on a social issue for commercial gain. Genuine support for a cause should be reflected in a brand’s actions, not just its advertising.

Authenticity If anything authenticity is vital in digital marketing. Your audience can always tell when a brand is trying to cash in on a social issue. More than just ads, support for a cause should all the way back to your brands actions.

 2. The Racist Hoodie Outrage Surrounding H&M

In January 2018, H&M received massive backlash after a picture of black child donning the words "Coolest Monkey in the Jungle" on his hoodie appeared online. In a social media firestorm of commentary and accusations around the world, racism was one of many hot button issues addressed head on. Celebrities that had worked with H&M such as The Weeknd came out and ended their partnerships. H&M promptly deleted the photo and gave an official apology, but everyone had caught on.

Lessons Learned:

Cultural Sensitivity: Cultural contexts and connotations are important. And when we make the assumption that something is impossible or difficult, especially if it seems innocuous to us, then maybe we are about close-minded as Ben Stein. The offending content, in other words, can slip through the cracks if brands are not careful about reviewing everything.

Wider Perspectives Prevent Mistakes: The simplest way to avoid this happening is by involving a wider pool of people on your marketing team. Varied viewpoints can expose angles that even if unintended by a homogeneous team, may otherwise be considered offensive.

 3. Take McDonald's and the “Dead Dad” Ad.

McDonald's: Boys have a support group helping them overcome their troubles on the way to McDonald's, while one boy can't find much of a shared love experience with his father who died, (UK 2017). The only common ground he can find is the fact that they both like a Filet-O-Fish sandwich. The move to try and elicit an emotive response bombed, with viewers accusing McDonalds of using grief drives sales. The backlash was so severe that McDonald's had to remove the ad and responded with an apology.

Lessons Learned:

Emotional Triggers Must Be Treated with Respect: While it may seem an attractive marketing move to appeal directly and emotionally, these need exercising prudence. Using touchy subjects such as grief or loss to sell a product just makes the company look like vultures feading on carcasses and is very insensitive.

Align Brand Image with Message : Brands must make sure that each brand related message aligns as per the image of its own. It is not in orations that an ot fast-food chain will be trusted with deeper, more emotional issues; hence the skepticism and subsequent backlash.

 4. Rihanna Ad Ruin Snapchat

Screenshot taken in March 2018 of advertisement for game called "Would You Rather?" posing the question to users: "Would you rather … Slap Rihanna" or "Punch Chris Brown." The campaign, of course, was a bad idea given the rancorous past between two celebrities. Rihanna slammed Snapchat, claiming they trivialized domestic violence with the ad and as a result it cost them at least half-a-million dollars off their stock price.

Lessons Learned:

- Why Deserve Attention Written By Brands Distribute Big Advertising ContentsVERSUSTheir Include Alliances Must Have Regular Review Dream. This lack of oversight and access control make it easier for offensive or inappropriate content to slip into the system.

Respond Quickly and Honestly: When a mistake has been made, responding quickly with an honest answer can do a lot to prevent further damage. Recognize the mistake, apologize and detail measures in place to prevent future incidents. Snapchat was seen as not doing enough to remedy the situation in their reaction.

5. The Dove Body Wash Package Disaster

While Dove has a history of encouraging people to accept their own bodies, they made the mistake in 2017 when that celebrated image was contradicted by the brand. Dove created body wash bottles inspired by various shapes and sizes. After all, this tactic even was met with backlash over the idea that women are not merely shapes of bodies. Some people felt it was a misguided gesture in the name of “celebrating diversity and body positivity.”

Lessons Learned:

Stay True to Brand Values: Brands must remember they marketing strategies are an extension of their core values. There was a backlash against Dove's bottle shapes to represent body diversity because the idea of shape did not resonate with their real beauty authentically.

– Interact with Your Audience: Including your audience in the campaign creation process will help you ensure that your message better connects. Qualitative feedback, such as focus groups and surveys are often used involved in developing campaign ideas and can tell you how your idea is going to resonate with audiences or stakeholders.

 6. American Apparel's Ill-timed Hurricane Sandy Ad

American Apparel used Hurricane Sandy as an opportunity to promote a sale, offering 20% off for consumers in the states that were hit by the superstorm in order "to shop it out." Such was the heated response, and rightly so — people saw it as opportunistic piracy on a disaster that blighted much of the United States which left them horrified for thousands upon thousands. As a result, American Apparel was forced to grovel.

Lessons Learned:

3 – Don't Take Advantage of Tragedy: Trying to capitalize on disaster or tragedy is more often than not going to be seen in a negative light. Brands need empathy, and tolerance during this time — it is not about sale oriented its all support-based.

Timing is a Factor: When you launch your marketing campaign, it will reflect greatly on how well that works. As the figurehead of a brand, it is important to re-evaluate during times of crisis and ensure that your message hits just right.

 7. Burger King's Google Home Ad

Back in 2017 Burger King screened a TV commercial that concluded with the final line 'Okay Google, what is The Whopper burger?'. And this caused Google Home devices, which were in the homes of viewers to read a Wikipedia entry covering everything about Whopper. That was novel, but it also opened up the app to make users annoyed by what felt like a breach of its existence. Moreover, Wikipedia pages changed wording to make the Whopper sound not so appealing, which Goggle Home Polite Assistant sounded out.

Lessons Learned:

Ensure Optimal User Experience — Out-of-the-box marketing strategies are great, but never at the cost of user experience. However, entering a user's personal space unannounced can often produce less favorable results.

/ Control Your Message: Depending on third-party platforms or user-generated content for information can backfire. Chances are brands that have flourished in the noise over all these years will cry out to prevent their message from being someone else's or worse, a mere pawn.

 Chapter 7: Deep Cleanup and Healing

While these disasters are tough, they teach us a lot about digital marketing. So if these businesses can shed some light on what not to do, it will undoubtedly help brands from wallowing in the wilderness of digital confusion. Here are some key takeaways:

1. Know Your AudienceThis is one of the absolute necessities that any good marketing campaign will have. Based on valuable research, what content is produced should fit within that already existing structure so it resonates with whomever you are trying to target without offending others.

2. Keep it Real: Being real builds trust. Brands must stand for their values and never use social issues to exploit sales. And the fact remains that supporting causes is not just about kind words and it should be visible in action as well.

3. Be Sensitive and Empathetic: Sensitivity to cultural, social and emotional issues are important. When it comes to sensitive topics, brands need to be extremely careful and keep the exploitative tactics out of marketing.

4. Undergo Rigorous Review Process: A comprehensive review process will provide an added layer of security in preventing issues from reaching the public. Having more varied eyes on the content review line can help surface things that would be likely not as easy with a narrower collective viewpoint.

5. Have Your Response Ready: All of us make mistakes, but how a brand deals with those makes all the difference. If a mistake is made, the ability to quickly and genuinely apologize alongside outlining what you are going to do about it can significantly help regain trust.

The outreach of a brand has come around to exercise its influence through digital marketing and here is how you can on the basis of the same create something meaningful with your audiences. Brands that want to find their way in the digital woods can learn from others who have trip and fallen on a root by avoiding gotchas, pitfalls and whatnot to put together campaigns that really resonate with end users.