Brand Failures

Brand Failures Matt Haig Kogan Page London and Sterling, VA 2003 309 pp. $29.95 (hardcover)

Keywords Product failures, Brand failures, Branding mistakes

Review DOI 10.1108/07363760410549212

As part of my MBA Product Management class, I always direct students to Web sites listing some of the worst products of all time. This class is typically a popular success, as students enjoy discussing the real disasters from "classics" like Edsel and New Coke up to the present day. Many of the examples fall into the "what were they thinking" category, and students generally get a good laugh. Beyond the humor, however, there is always a real lesson to be learned. These products were all launched with good intentions and sizeable budgets, usually by well-known and hugely successful companies, and yet something still went terribly wrong. With 20/20 hindsight, and after the laughter dies down, the students begin articulately discussing why Company X neglected to market-test its product, forgot to check whether its product was filling a customer need, or should have tried a different brand name or positioning.

Brand Failures, by Matt Haig, offers 100 short lessons in "what not to do" when developing brand strategies. Those familiar with the work of Robert McMath at the New Products Showcase and Learning Center, or the Web site www.newproductworks.com, will no doubt be entertained by the examples, which range from Mattel's Earring Magic Ken doll and Ben-Gay aspirin to Planet Hollywood and pets.com. Inevitably, there is some overlap with previous studies of bad products. Haig, however, effectively complements the familiar examples, such as Clairol's Touch of Yogurt shampoo and Gerber's Singles entrées, with several recent e-business failures and also a healthy proportion of British and European examples (he is based in the...