When you hear a buzzing sound on your ear, what’s your first reaction? Swat it or let it? People have that tendency to swat buzz as an instinct because, for one, it might mean danger. The trick is to craft the buzz to a way that the audience would not feel threatened by the novelty of it. Creating buzz is not easy and the last thing you want is for it to be put to waste. Some brands are guilty of this, unfortunately.
Here are three failed campaigns and why they failed:
1. BP Spends Millions on Advertising in the Middle of a Crisis – I’m sure you’ve heard about the Gulf oil spill. This is a reminder that not everything can be solved by advertising. The fault of BP was they tried to create a buzz in the middle of another much louder (not to mention contrasting) buzz.
2. Kentucky Grilled Chicken – KFC tried to market grilled items on their menu for an effort to go healthier. Unfortunately, sales were disappointing and the emphasis on the healthiness of the new items put a bad light on their usual menu items. In this case, KFC created a buzz so different from their brand identity it failed. It’s like hearing a cat moo. They should have just renamed their company to KGC.
3. The New Coke – With the threat of Pepsi’s booming sales, Coca-Cola marketed The New Coke but consumers hated it. The mistake of the company, in this case, was they tried to create a buzz but the product didn’t live up to it.
As OrCom students, it’s our responsibility to avoid these booboos and create buzz that people wouldn’t dare to swat.
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