Not every marketing campaign is successful. Even successful companies with tons of resources available to them miss the mark sometimes. Mistakes are a part of life, but mistakes in your marketing strategy can be costly. Sometimes, you don’t understand the customer’s wants and needs like you think you do. Here are 10 marketing campaigns that failed to deliver and cost major companies time, money, and other resources.

1. Pepsi’s “Pepsi A.M.” (1989)

As you’ll probably notice, Pepsi has had quite a few failed marketing campaigns in their time (there’s multiple on this list).

This failed marketing campaign is from 1989, when Pepsi tried to reposition a product to enter into a new market with “Pepsi A.M.”. They wanted to attract coffee drinkers, so Pepsi A.M. was made with 25% more caffeine.

It didn’t last very long. The product was discontinued in 1990 after a few failed regional test markets. It never made it to full-launch due to the lack of interest. The product just failed to resonate with their target market.

Soda isn’t exactly the first thing that comes to mind when most people think of breakfast drinks. I could see this doing better marketed towards night shift/late night workers, but the market may not have been large enough to justify it. At least they decided to run a test market before spending the money rolling it out nationwide.

2. Marlboro’s “Marlboro Friday” (1993)

On April 2, 1993, tobacco company Philip Morris made the decision to drastically cut the price for Marlboro cigarettes. They were losing market share to cheaper, more generic brands, and they wanted to remain a market leader for cigarette sales.

When they pitched the plan to stakeholders, and investors rushed to sell their stock. Stakeholders in other major companies, such as Wal-Mart, Coca-Cola, and Nabisco, worried about the sudden drop in price and sold their stocks as well. This triggered a dip in the Dow Jones by about 67 points.

3. Mountain Dew’s “Dub the Dew” Contest (2012)

In 2012, Mountain Dew launched a campaign aimed at promoting user engagement. Various users and Mountain Dew enthusiasts submitted names for the new Mountain Dew flavor, and submissions were not moderated. Online users submitted wildly inappropriate names, and naturally, people voted those to the top. The contest idea had to be scrapped because they couldn’t name their new flavor something like “Hitler did nothing wrong”. That would be a PR disaster.

4. Bloomingdale’s “Spike Your Best Friend’s Eggnog” (2015)

Bloomingdale’s holiday ad featured a suggestive message about spiking a friend’s eggnog, and the Internet reacted negatively to the ad. Many people found it offensive and denounced it for promoting inappropriate behavior. A lot of customers referred to it as “creepy”.

Bloomingdales attempted to apologize for their ad, calling it “inappropriate and in poor taste”. Customers were slow or unwilling to forgive and forget the ad. Sometimes, it takes time to build customers’ trust back after a mistake.

5. Coca-Cola’s “New Coke” (1985)

In 1985, Coca-Cola was losing market share, as well as customer awareness and consumer preference for Coca-Cola. They tried to change their cola formula to help their position. Customers were outraged, and Coca-Cola experienced a lot of backlash for the change. Their 1-800 hotline was flooded with calls, mostly wanting them to change the recipe back (1500 a day, their normal call volume was 400). They also received some nasty letters from customers. Coca-Cola reverted back to their old formula and labeled it “Coca Cola Classic” due to customer demand.

6. PepsiCo’s “Tropicana Redesign” (2009)

Tropicana’s dramatic packaging redesign led to customer confusion and a 20% drop in sales. After facing some backlash, the company quickly reverted to its original design due to the negative response. Customers were describing the redesigned packaging as “ugly”, “stupid”, and resembling a “generic bargain brand”.

7. Budweiser’s “No” to Craft Beer (2015)

In 2015, Budweiser created an ad for the Super Bowl that mocked craft beer drinkers. Craft beer was experiencing a boom at this time, particularly among Millennials. This ad alienated a lot of consumers, as well as breweries within the craft beer industry.

The Craft Beer Industry fought back with content of their own.

8. Amazon’s Fire Phone (2014)

Amazon thought they could enter the smartphone market and take a significant share of it. They were confident they could compete with other big names, like Apple and Samsung.

Amazon has traditionally been associated with cheaper pricing and convenience, but they wanted to position themselves as a more premium brand with their smartphones. A lot of Amazon customers ended up thinking the phone was too expensive for the quality. Its operating system couldn’t even handle Google Maps.

Amazon didn’t do adequate customer research before developing this product, and consumers didn’t find it useful. Always do significant market research before developing a new product or service.

9. Pepsi’s “Crystal Pepsi” (1992-1993)

Sometimes product color matters to customers. In the early 1990s, Pepsi introduced a clear cola called “Crystal Pepsi,” which failed to resonate with consumers. Clear soda that tastes like a traditionally dark cola was just too strange to catch most consumers’ attention. This ,combined with an inadequate marketing campaign, caused the product to fail.

Crystal Pepsi was brought back for the 30 year anniversary of its’ release in 2022. The product did manage to gain a cult following that was excited about the re-release.

10. J.C. Penney’s “Fair and Square” Pricing (2011-2013

In 2011, J.C. Penney attempted to make a more straightforward pricing system called “fair and square” pricing. They eliminated sales discounts and coupons and implemented an everyday price instead.

They thought it would help J.C. Penney’s performance, which suffered during the Great Recession. It turns out, people really like their sales and discounts. J.C. Penney’s sales declined sharply after implementing this pricing strategy. Sales tend to give people an adrenaline rush and create a sense of urgency. Everyday prices don’t have the same effect.

Conclusion

Not every marketing campaign gets the results you expect, and sometimes companies have to adjust their marketing strategies to better reflect the wants and needs of the customer. These 10 marketing campaigns may have failed, but you can learn from their mistakes. Learn to adapt your strategy as you go, and if your marketing campaign isn’t producing results, do more research and don’t be afraid to change direction!