Introduction:
The one thing that is certain in any kind of business is You and the people around you will make mistakes. Improving upon these mistakes and creating an innovative plan out is all we strive for. Let us have a look at some of these branding blunders. However, a brand or a company should always look forward to conveying the values and commitments to its targeted audience or consumer group. If this opportunity of communication of brand’s value lags, it might be disastrous. The value proposition is a must to be communicated to the targeted consumer.
Likewise, this is the main reason what makes small business lag behind. A small company often thinks that they are close enough to the consumer group so they do not need to communicate the perception of their brand. In the very beginning, it becomes necessary for a brand to examine how they as a brand would communicate to their market group. Doing this will enhance the process of reviewing and then thoughtfully working on how to enhance customer satisfaction and doubles up the marketing efforts.
Mistakes often break a brand in two. Therefore, it becomes necessary here to stay in constant touch with the consumer group, and asking for a review can be a hit. This also helps in understanding the pertaining mistake and avoiding them in the near future. This in turn helps in generating higher returns on marketing and branding investments. As the CEOs are the leads of any company, it becomes necessary for them to understand mistakes and enhance their brand message in order to grow their brand in the market.
Some branding blunders or mistakes by the brands:
Now, what can we as a brand should do to improve upon this brand value to impress the customer base? What are these frequent or common mistakes made by some brands?
What’s new/unique:
So, first of all, what new you as a brand would provide to the targeted customers? What inspires customers to ask what is that brand? Not only a unique name but also something new or unique should be delivered to customers to enhance this brand identity and perception.
Importance of branding:
Secondly, branding also plays a key role in the ideation of a good brand value. How branding can be important? A brand is an identification of a product. It can be in the form of a name, symbol, tagline or design, etc. This branding is not only done to identify the seller or producer but also to make your product superior to the competitor’s product. Although, branding is much more than an identification mark. The seller promises to deliver quality and the satisfaction to deliver to the buyer is the concept.
Hence, branding efforts inspire more conversations about the company. Thirdly, the brands should be consumer-facing, instead of being company-centric. In this case, the big companies often lag behind. This is because small companies have an edge over the big companies, as they are in constant touch with the consumers and are close to their voice. This step can be very crucial for the brand to enhance its engagement.
It is often said that a good brand is the one that is in constant touch with its customers. The focus of the brands should be to maximizes interaction and communication with the customers. Additionally, if a brand, is planning for a brand refresh, the change in logo, design style or color, would lead to the betterment of the positioning of the brand as well.
Include professionalism:
While on the other hand, when we talk about blunders by the brands, that can include professionalism as well. A big brand should depict professionalism in itself. Being crisp, clean, and consistent in packaging, designing and branding is all that can be expected by a national brand.
This in turn helps in improving the brand image and the desired message too can be communicated for a memorable experience. Although to increase engagement and communication, brands can encourage the customers by social media marketing where the CEOs are the main spokespersons. Customers too have some desires and hopes with the brands and this can be fulfilled through social media marketing. This will also initiate a good brand-customer relationship as the interaction increases. Rather than social media marketing, customers often tend to interact with the websites and ads as well.
Some examples of branding blunders by big brands:
Let us look at some examples of branding blunders by big brands:
Dove- Branding Blunder:
The packaging as discussed earlier plays a key role in communicating the message of the brand to its valuable customers. Here, in the case of this brand namely Dove, what backfired? In May 2017, the brand launched a body wash that comes with restricted edition bottles with a separate shape design. These shape designs were of different body shapes of women. This was the fallout of the brand.
Estee Lauder- Branding Blunder:
Being a cosmetic brand. Estee Lauder released 30 shades of a foundation namely, ‘double wear nude water fresh makeup SPF25. Most of the shades of the foundation were suitable for light skin.
H&M-Branding Blunder:
The major default was in the tagline as discussed earlier, any brand refresh, that changes the logo, tagline, color, or design changes the brand perspective and provides it with a whole new look. So, here the Brand H&M dealt with a fallout of displaying an African American model to advertise the hoodie with the tagline ‘coolest monkey in the jungle’. For this blunder, the brand had then apologized as well.
Tropicana-Branding Blunder:
The beverage company, Tropicana when in 2009 decided to rebrand all the elements. As a result, a simpler packaging strategy, new color, and logo designs were followed with a new marketing campaign. How it became a disaster? The consumers failed to recognize the product on the shelves. The look and feel of the product was way too far from the recognizable product
Hershey’s-Branding Blunder:
After been working for 120 years with the same logo, in 2009 the confection company decided to change the logo. The new logo was perceived as a good amount of critiques and jokes over social media.
In conclusion:
Why it becomes necessary for a company or a brand to go through the market and keeping a touch with its consumers? It helps the company to study the market and make changes accordingly. These changes should be acceptable keeping in mind the geographical reach of the brand. This also helps in building brand perception, a good brand reputation, and a satisfied consumer group.
Because understanding the emotional bond that customer enjoys with the brand is all. Be original in your designs, ensuring that the logo is designed in such a way that it survives in the future. Making the logo easy and understandable. Hence, in the end, a perfect brand strategy can build or completely destroy the brand. Because the branding efforts enhance sales, while marketing efforts establish a better relationship with its customers.
