Close to home for me -- Akron, OH -- I think back to NBA Superstar LeBron James' now famous "the decision", which was carried live on ESPN to millions across the world.
King James choice to ditch his home-state Cleveland Cavaliers for the Miami Heat was sure to upset his core fans in Ohio along with other teams' fans who'd been unsuccessful in wooing him.
Yet what James' team saw as a way to generate buzz and electricity -- along with some ad sales to benefit the Boys and Girls clubs -- became a Public Relations nightmare as sports fans cast James as a villain rather than an independent young athlete reaching out take on a new challenge. A year-long campaign that had steadily built momentum and interest in where the league's next big superstar would land didn't deliver as much as it enraged.
NBA legends came down hard on James, not to mention Cavs owner Dan Gilbert who lit up his former superstar in the press.
Raising money and creating buzz is a good idea and cuts to the core of many public relations and marketing schemes.
Still, didn't anyone see this backlash coming? Where were the PR advisers to the James camp? Where were the confidants and mentors who are supposed to be whispering in a young superstar's ear to keep him from putting his Nikes in his mouth?
The New York Times quickly dubbed the stunt a "new low" in sports.
NYT writer Lynn Zinzer penned " .. James, who just a few weeks ago was roundly considered a laudable, trouble-free superstar with otherworldly talent and a not-too-offensive ego, has been transformed into Exhibit A on why civilization is doomed."
That's harsh. That's the kind of stumble a top-flight superstar carries for a long time and for eternity on the Internet.
My research found plenty of ads that backfired, but most were doomed by bad planning, a lack of research, and often times a misstep by someone in the board room who thought something would be funny or creative and was instead an obvious flop that "even a blind man would have seen as a failure."
Yet in searching for good ideas with good intentions that just failed in the execution phase, a few obvious ones come up.
Everyone takes aim at the failure of New Coke, but I think the other attempt at revolutionizing the soft drink industry fits the category of "right idea, wrong execution" even better -- Crystal Pepsi.
Remember this gem?
In the early 90's Pepsi attempted to broaden its appeal with a clear version of its popular soda. The concept behind expanding its brand while also offering an alternative that might appear healthier because it's not dark in color was admirable.
Most business leaders would say that a company like Pepsi had reached a point where it was time to be bold and take risks.
What makes CP an even larger failure than New Coke is because NC came first!
Coca-cola took a risk with New Coke in 1985 and it failed miserably. So why in the name of Mean Joe Greene wouldn't Pepsi learn from that failure and not add their own chapter? Remember the old adage of "those who don't remember history are doomed to repeat it"? Apparently Pepsi's strategy teams didn't.
Twenty years after NC set the failure standard, MSNBC was still writing about both companies' mistakes.
Again, what channel was Pepsi watching that they didn't realize the guillotine they were placing their head inside?
David Novak, CEO of Yum Brands--which owns KFC, Taco Bell, and Pizza Hut, among others -- is most credited with the Crystal Pepsi concept and campaign and even discussed it in a 2007 web interview .. most notably admitting ..
".. It was a tremendous learning experience. I still think it's the best idea I ever had, and the worst executed. A lot of times as a leader you think, 'They don't get it; they don't see my vision.' People were saying we should stop and address some issues along the way, and they were right. It would have been nice if I'd made sure the product tasted good. Once you have a great idea and you blow it, you don't get a chance to resurrect it."Seems we really do learn more from our failures than our successes, eh? I'm sure Ogilvy would agree.
