Fails and Fixins

When a popular outdoors brand like The North Face makes a bad marketing decision it can affect how its perceived by loyal customers. Even worse, it can affect how potential future customers make decisions. This episode looks at a recent misstep made by Leo Burnett Tailor Made in an attempt to get The North Face on top of Google search results.

In 2013 the Fox series Kitchen Nightmares sent Gordon Ramsey to Scottsdale, Arizona. Amy's Baking Company quickly became the most infamous episode of the entire series, and the only one where Chief Ramsey walked away. The resulting press gave Amy and her husband, Sammy, a chance at financial redemption but could they keep cool long enough to cash in? Spoiler alert: No, they could not. 

In 2006 there was a movie. One with a title so outlandish, yet so on the nose, there was no way it could ever get made. Thanks to Samuel L. Jackson, the movie was made and an internet sensation was born. This episode dives deep into Snakes on a Plane and the reason it's box office results didn't match it's hype.

Game of Thrones has been the biggest hit on TV for years. With its end in sight, HBO tried to find a way to capitalize off of the GoT brand by tapping its show runners to create another series about an alternate reality. How could any of that go wrong? The title of this episode should tell you everything you need to know. 

Microsoft's Internet Explorer has a rocky history. In 2009 they finally seemed to figure out what the people wanted out of a web browser. However, the public had already decided they didn't want another IE. Microsoft decided to run a marketing campaign to change the public's mind. Instead, they turned the public's stomach. 

In April of 1991 the Ratner Group was the premiere British jewelry company. They owned about 50% of the market and were the place where "Working class boys bought rings for working class girls." It took Gerald Ratner minutes to cost the company nearly half a billion pounds. Today that's known as "Pulling a Ratner"

 In November of 2012 Nintendo released its follow up to the massively successful Wii home gaming console, the Wii U. The original Wii sold over 100 million units in route to becoming a hugely successful platform for hardcore and non-traditional gamers alike. Five years later the Wii U was dead. As of June 2016, Nintendo reported they had only sold 13.02 million units.

How could an award winning campaign go sailing off the rails? A bad tweet here and a tone def label there is all it took for Bud Light to find out being #UpForWatever wasn't always a good thing.

Over the past 50 years Tim Hortons has moved from regional coffee joint to Canadian way of life. That doesn't mean they are impervious to bad press. In fact, a company decision from 2003 seems to still be haunting them today. On this episode we take a deep dive into the world of Canadian doughnuts and "double, double's."

The Volkswagen Jetta won "Green Car of the Year" in 2009. In 2015, VW's entire line of "clean diesel" engines had been recalled for breaking EPA emission regulations. In this episode we look at how Volkswagen mishandled this crisis communication and how they could have done better.