Memorable Marketing
John Gerits
Looking for marketing controversies, negative, positive (publicity), campaigns,
positioning. Successful at building brand identity or alienating the target
market.
Also negative situations that were approached as an opportunity resulting in
publicity leading to positive brand identity, increased sales.
These can also include social responsibility attempts. Also involving product,
price, promotion, distribution.
Some that come to mind:
-Datsun to Nissan, never regained the #1 position.
-New Coke launch resulting in classic Coke *jump* over Pepsi.
-Lexus increasing price resulting in increased demand.
-Benetton focus on AIDS resulting in decreased sales, damaged brand.
-LA Gear shoes, too many places, decreased sales.
Look forward to all input.
BTW, I will be researching at one of my favorite places; b-school library after
any and all specific cases:-)
Brian Pomeroy
In article <3338a1ad...@mbmm.gerits.nl>, ger...@REMOVEnijenrode.nl
(John Gerits) wrote:
> Looking for marketing controversies, negative, positive (publicity),
> campaigns, positioning. Successful at building brand identity or
> alienating the target market.
When Infiniti cars first hit the market several years ago, their first TV
ads showed trees and mountains... but no car. The ad campaign only
confused people, and it nearly sank the fledgling nameplate.
And let's not forget the granddaddy of all marketing turnarounds -- the
damage control campaign by Tylenol in the mid-80's after several people
died from taking poisoned capsules.
--
Brian Pomeroy * lu...@voicenet.com
http://www.slackinc.com/yoursite/ * http://www.ison.com/pomeroy/
Author, "BeginnerNet: A Beginner's Guide to the Internet and WWW"
http://www.slackinc.com/books/33225hom.htm
Raman Chadha
John Gerits wrote:
: Looking for marketing controversies, negative, positive (publicity),
: campaigns, positioning. Successful at building brand identity or
: alienating the target market.
: Also negative situations that were approached as an opportunity resulting in
: publicity leading to positive brand identity, increased sales.
: These can also include social responsibility attempts. Also involving product,
: price, promotion, distribution.
: Some that come to mind:
: -Datsun to Nissan, never regained the #1 position.
: -New Coke launch resulting in classic Coke *jump* over Pepsi.
: -Lexus increasing price resulting in increased demand.
: -Benetton focus on AIDS resulting in decreased sales, damaged brand.
: -LA Gear shoes, too many places, decreased sales.
: Look forward to all input.
: BTW, I will be researching at one of my favorite places; b-school library after
: any and all specific cases:-)
- Tylenol taking aggressive PR action when the cyanide scare occurred in
82-83. Resulted in a solid revenue increases and package protection
standards for OTC medications.
- Swatch founder realizing that there was a niche in providing
Swiss-quality, great-looking watches at low-cost at a time when watch
sales were drifting from European dominance to the Japanese. I'm not
positive, but I believe during the '80s, the Swiss increased their
market share of watches from about 5% to 40%.
- Harley-Davidson ignoring the entry of Honda into the US market in the
'70s, due to their historical dominance. They thought Honda's bikes
were 'wimpy' and Americans wouldn't buy them. HD nearly went bankrupt
in the mid-late '80s, and ended up visiting Honda's plants to get ideas
to return to profitability!
BTW, each of these from b-school cases! ;)
Looking forward to reading about more...for us marketers, these
real-life stories help our clients understand some of the basic
principles of marketing.
Raman
--
Explorit Entrepreneurial Services
Business planning, coaching, and marketing
to help entrepreneurs build their ventures and achieve their goals.
Member of International Small Business Consortium (http://www.isbc.com)
John Gerits
Raman Chadha wrote:
Thanks Raman and Brian!
<snips>
>- Swatch founder realizing that there was a niche in providing
>Swiss-quality, great-looking watches at low-cost at a time when watch
>sales were drifting from European dominance to the Japanese. I'm not
>positive, but I believe during the '80s, the Swiss increased their
>market share of watches from about 5% to 40%.
Swatch saved the Swiss watch industry. Best selling watch in history.
>BTW, each of these from b-school cases! ;)
Yep. In my day, the b-school cases were from guys like Joe Rasic; inventor of
the wheel, Henry Ford, and the Wright Brothers <g>
>Looking forward to reading about more...for us marketers, these
>real-life stories help our clients understand some of the basic
>principles of marketing.
Absolutely, there are a lot more. Anyone else??
Scott Buckner
In article <3338a1ad...@mbmm.gerits.nl> ger...@REMOVEnijenrode.nl (John
Gerits) writes:
>Looking for marketing controversies, negative, positive (publicity),
>campaigns, positioning. Successful at building brand identity or
>alienating the target market.
>Some that come to mind:
> -Datsun to Nissan, never regained the #1 position.
Interesting you should mention this one. It's worth a little food for debate
over whether the name change was meant to retain its market share given the
reason why Datsun was in the US to begin with.
As I recall, the person who was chosen to head Nissan's US operations (his
name escapes me) was given the job mainly because of his "American" ideas, not
only in the management sense, but also because he kept insisting that
there was a huge market for Nissan's pickup trucks in California, but the only
way US consumers would buy them is by radically changing the way they were
styled, named and marketed. Nissan gave him his wish, mainly because they were
convinced he would fail (and his failure would've made quite a few of the
Nissan muckety-mucks very happy). Nissan put the Datsun nameplate on their
trucks to distance the parent company in the future from what would be his
failure. His failure didn't happen, of course, and the Datsun name was dropped
(I believe) to provide a consistent identity to their entire product line once
their cars also sold well.
Interestingly, the film "Gung Ho" is loosely based on the Datsun guy's story.
Scott
--
Artists shouldn't have to wait until they're dead to make a living.
Sample my print/radio ad, graphic and web page design work at:
http://homepage.interaccess.com/~dsisbuk/sbc.htm
John Gerits
I've started a different thread so that any other memorable marketing can be
more organized reading.
dsi...@interaccess.com (Scott Buckner), wrote:
>>ger...@REMOVEnijenrode.nl (John Gerits) writes:
>> -Datsun to Nissan, never regained the #1 position.
>Interesting you should mention this one. It's worth a little food for debate
>over whether the name change was meant to retain its market share given the
>reason why Datsun was in the US to begin with.
Well, we're going back to 1983, when Datsun changed to Nissan, so I'm a little
fuzzy:-)
As to the question of market share or being the #1 import in the US, It wouldn't
surprise me if they didn't take that into consideration but just went with the
Nissan name because of it known and established in the Japanese market. Could be
something to do with *saving face* to not change a name that has been around for
50 years. Now, this would not be a marketing issue per say but one of culture.
Have to dig out my Japanese books for this one:-)
>As I recall, the person who was chosen to head Nissan's US operations (his
>name escapes me) was given the job mainly because of his "American" ideas, not
>only in the management sense,
His name is Katayama or as from the ad campaign "Mr. K" Incidentally, he retired
six years before the name change. He was a black sheep at the corporate office
and as you say was expected to fail, so I question whether he was given the job
because of his "American ideas" since that would have reduced his chances of
failure.
Those mucky-mucks were probably laughing so hard with a bottle of Johnny Walker
Black Label when they decided on him <g> Actually, it wouldn't surprise me that
he was selected, to rid him from the corporate office and with expected failure,
to lose face and retire, exit Nissan. Thus a cultural thing.
But it *was* his drive for innovation, understanding of the American market or
as you mention American ideas, and the oil crises and EPA push that propelled
Datsun to the #1 spot. The successful *Datsun saves* campaign period. Of course
it was the oil crises and EPA push that propelled the other Japanese auto
makers, as US auto makers couldn't compete. And the Japanese auto makers never
looked back.
Tidbit: The 240Z arrived as the Fairlady and Katayama had the nameplates pulled.
The car would never have become a classic under the Fairlady name :-)
>but also because he kept insisting that there was a huge market for Nissan's
>pickup trucks in California, but the only way US consumers would buy them is by
>radically changing the way they were styled, named and marketed. Nissan gave him
>his wish, mainly because they were convinced he would fail (and his failure
>would've made quite a few of the Nissan muckety-mucks very happy). Nissan put
>the Datsun nameplate on their trucks to distance the parent company in the
>future from what would be his failure.
I also recall Katayama did see the pickup truck potential but you are incorrect
about placing the Datsun nameplate to distance the parent company.
Datsun came about a little after Henry Ford's model T, and the Nissan Motor Co.
was established in the mid thirties but the cars the company produced continued
being marketed under the Datsun name.
>His failure didn't happen, of course, and the Datsun name was dropped
>(I believe) to provide a consistent identity to their entire product line once
>their cars also sold well.
Yes. Nissan had decided to market globally under one (brand) identity and
decided to go with the company name rather than the product name. This also had
to do with setting up global manfacturing/assembly plants, especially the US
plant that opened the same year in Tennessee. I believe the name change took
place with the opening of the plant.
It may also have to with Nissan wanting its other businesses to piggy-back on
the success of its auto business,especially Nissan Marine - marine equipment,
including boats, the US being a lucrative market. Interesting to see the impact
on Nissan Marine.
>Interestingly, the film "Gung Ho" is loosely based on the Datsun guy's story.
I don't remember it being a box office hit but it was so stereotypical of both
sides and Keaton played it perfectly.
I'm sure the *what if* as to name change has been debated, but I question if
I'll find any *what if* studies that also take into consideration the
competitiveness of Toyota and Honda as to what degree it played in Nissan's
fall. My initial thoughts are the name change was not as significant as it might
appear in Nissan's fall.
If Chrysler changed its name to Eaton-Lutz Motors, would the company face the
same fate as Nissan? IMO, not likely, as Chrysler has become a well oiled
machine with all the *right stuff* and pulls the synergy, not only from within
but also with its channel partners.
BTW, Nissan was also a recipient of the Deming Prize, thought you might
appreciate knowing this if you hadn't already:-)
observer
BAD -
HP telling the founders of Apple (who worked for them at the time)
that personal computers would never, ever be a market.
IBM's Peanut Jr. ('Nuff said...)
GE buying RCA, trying to get rid of the name, and losing market share
because their own brand name was associated with poorer quality and
low positioning in the market for electronics.
Pringles on going struggle to find a market for potato crisps.
Good -
Dell almost going bankrupt, deciding to go to direct marketing to go
to PC owners who were experienced users, and looking for their second
or third machine. Excellent positioning against expert's prediction
of collapse.
Howmet (casting firm) opting to go after high tech, quick turnaround
market in a low tech industry. Higher profits, good positioning,
ongoing market leader.
B. J. Arnold-Feret
ppsltd at airmail.net