By: Seo Mavens

Launching and maintaining a new brand or project can be challenging. There are so many factors to consider—promotion, branding, and pricing—but one of the most important is marketing. Marketing can be the difference between success and failure.

Regarding marketing and project management, Researching common marketing mistakes can help you avoid them and effectively build a stronger brand.

We’ll cover tips helpful in marketing and business, or if you’re studying a related qualification like a Graduate Certificate in Project Management. You can learn from and apply many brand marketing blunders to your projects.

What Is Brand Marketing?

Brand marketing can be described as the ‘art of promoting a brand and its products or services,’ but that’s only the surface. Effective brand marketing also elevates the brand’s identity and helps establish it on the market.

A good brand should embody the company or product’s personality and ideals. Brand marketing is showcasing this to the world, highlighting why the brand is unique, and reflecting the company or product’s core values and beliefs. 

Why Is Branding Important

As consumers are dealing with a saturated market, branding is more essential than ever—it’s arguably one of the important assets for an organization. It’s integral to make your organization and products stand out and separate it from the competition.

Biggest Brand Marketing Blunders

When your brand becomes more recognizable and widespread due to marketing, consumers are more likely to choose it over competitors. Marketing also helps increase brand awareness and loyalty, both essential for a successful business. 

Statistics have shown that customers prioritize brands above all else when shopping. In a recent survey from Yotpo, 54.7% of Australians responded, ‘I tend to purchase  from the same brand.’ 

Data and research from other sources, like Statista, also support this statement. Brands, brand loyalty, and marketing are all significant factors in a business’s success and play a huge deciding factor for consumers. 

That’s why effective brand marketing is the key to building your customer base. So, if you’re researching brand marketing strategies—the way to learn is from the mistakes of others. Here are some of the biggest marketing blunders from the past decade.

Pepsi Advertisement With Kendall Jenner (2017)

This is an infamous brand marketing blunder from PepsiCo. The company collaborated with the celebrity and influencer Kendall Jenner for a commercial. Whilst the idea sounded great on paper, the execution was tone-deaf.

The commercial featured Kendall Jenner joining a protest, and handing a police officer a can of Pepsi. After taking a sip of the beverage, the police officer and protestors have the sudden realization they share their love of Pepsi, and the protest comes to a halt.

The commercial only lasted a day before the company pulled it from media platforms. It was criticized for making light of social issues and disregarding problems like police brutality and the importance of protesting.

This Pepsi advertisement should be a strong reminder for anyone working in branding or project management. Always research the current social climate when planning a marketing strategy, and run advertisement tests with your target audience before releasing it.

Burger King’s Women’s Day Tweet

Even good intentions can result in marketing blunders, and Burger King is no exception. On International Women’s Day in 2021, the company’s UK division published a thread, with the first tweet being ‘Women belong in the kitchen.’

The following tweets covered gender inequality in the hospitality business, and how only 20% of women are chefs. The initial tweet was just supposed to be controversial—which it was—and get people’s attention.

However,  people didn’t read past the first tweet, as it missed the mark and came off as misogynistic. Burger King just wanted to announce their new scholarship initiative to help women get a degree in culinary arts and reduce the gender gap in the industry.

The key lesson here is to not only think about the message but also how it’s presented. Burger King wanted to reduce the gender gap and encourage female equality, but their presentation came off as misogynistic and poorly planned. 

Zara’s Insensitive Ad Campaign (2023)

In November 2023, the famous Spanish fashion brand, Zara, released a new ad campaign featuring mannequins surrounded by rubble and covered in white sheets. It was immediately met with criticism, and called out as ‘tasteless’, considering the current issue in Gaza.

Zara’s campaign sparked outrage, resulting in the company quickly addressing the poor time and insensitivity.

This marketing campaign is a great showcase of how important timing and being socially aware are. Insensitive marketing can lead to damaging brand reputation, alienating consumers, and loss in sales.

Learning From Mistakes

Crafting a brand marketing strategy can be difficult, as pointed out in the examples—even the biggest brands can miss the mark sometimes. It’s always important to do research before crafting a marketing strategy.

When you’re putting together a strategy for brand marketing, we always recommend considering:

• Thoroughly researching any data and analytics. This includes how similar marketing strategies have performed for competitor’s products and the target audience for your brand.
  
• Consider the potential market and audience for your product. The brand and message should resonate with the consumer.
  
• Think about the placement and format of any brand marketing material. For instance, marketing on a social media platform with pictures or a video is different to physical marketing with an event or through posters.
  
• Being open to feedback and criticism is vital for any marketing strategy. A brand marketing blunder doesn’t have to be the end of your business or project. Take in feedback and work it into your next strategy.
  
• Ad testing can be a great way to get a potential idea of how a marketing campaign will be received. 

Published by: Martin De Juan