How Can We Advertise Our Brands Through Failure?

There is no secret that perception is important in branding, and we cultivate our reality based on those impressions. Great marketers have an uncanny ability to advocate the positive highlights of a brand. They have an incredible gift of engaging with their customers to promote the positive features of their products and services. However, most marketers love sweeping negative aspects of their campaigns under the rug. This begs the question: Why are we so conditioned to disregard our failures? We rely on our “flawless” perception as a form of reality that allows us to exclusively share our achievements, disregarding the tribulations and overall process it took to accomplish these achievements. The myth of perfection Many brands have been programmed to strive for perfection. They are conditioned to play it safe and refrain from risking a misstep. Sometimes, mistakes can lead to controversy and consequences like customer outrage or potential loss in profit. When a company runs a contentious campaign, other brands will quickly run parallel campaigns to entice the outraged customer to purchase their products and services instead. It Pays to Embrace the Embarrassment of Failure These advertising campaigns can reinforce a social comparison among brands in the same industry: The social psychologist Leon Festinger developed the idea that individuals determine their own social, personal and professional worth based on how they stack up against others. With the advent of social media, many brands evaluate their self-worth through vanity metrics such as the number of followers, views, likes, comments and shares that we get in comparison to others, much like we do on a personal level. All brands are susceptible to failure at some point. Consumer dissatisfaction with advertising is inevitable. Nonetheless, there are ways we can rebound from these failures and continue to build our brand. Case study: Kendall Jenner Pepsi commercial In 2017, Pepsi produced a commercial that featured Kendall Jenner. The advertising campaign was designed to promote global unity, peace and understanding. However, the commercial achieved the exact opposite. Upon release, the commercial was met with heavy criticism. Pepsi received major backlash for using a social issue to promote its product. Despite this failure in the public eye, Pepsi’s revenue increased by 2% to $15.7 billion at the end of the second quarter of 2017. In addition to the uptick in profits, the company’s stock also rose by 0.3% to $113.93. A key lesson from Pepsi’s campaign is that we can still make a profit from a trending topic, but we should make sure we’re not putting the brand at risk by pandering and ultimately losing customers. Humble portfolio Though many marketers don’t see the benefit of reflecting on their failure, there are some benefits to be gained through the shortcomings of a campaign. We can begin by creating a document that lists all the failures or losses our team or brand has experienced throughout advertising efforts or throughout our personal careers. Moreover, we can use this document to be transparent and connect with the audience through the lens of overcoming obstacles. How do we structure a humble portfolio? List your failures, not your achievements, including dates and the types of products or services being promoted at the time. Here are some questions to guide your notes under each section: Overview: What was the intended goal of this campaign?Backlash or consequences: Did the brand experience a loss of revenue? Did the brand ever experience a product recall, service failure or customer outrage from this campaign?Key takeaways: What lessons did we learn from this campaign? How did the company bounce back? In this portfolio, we can share how we were able to rebound from each negative experience and develop strategies to implement in the future. Companies can publish a press release that displays their humble portfolio while elaborating on past advertising struggles and thanking their loyal customers for support. Brands can take it a step further by creatively implementing an introspective end-of-year advertising campaign that demonstrates how they have overcome their marketing failure, in an effort to be proactive and not simply respond to controversy as it arises. For example, a brand can launch a “Think Small, Dream Big” campaign that highlights how they temporarily scaled back marketing strategies to overcome a series of small losses while remaining resilient enough to achieve large organizational objectives. While most brands take pride in sharing their profits, companies can run a humbling campaign that includes typically private information like revenue loss, employee turnover, number of rebranding efforts, store closures and product recall. Top Branding Fails of 2021—and What (If Anything) Brands Learned Companies can cultivate a story behind their struggles, sharing their initial expectations and different possibilities as to why they failed in certain areas. These companies can also share how they were able to remain strong thanks to the support of loyal customers. A humble portfolio can serve as a proof of concept, letting customers know that all brands aren't perfect, but most brands have a unique way of bouncing back from failure. Everyone loves a good comeback story. Why not let your brand stand out?

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How Can We Advertise Our Brands Through Failure?

Consider a humbling campaign that showcases your brand's unique way of bouncing back

The myth of perfection

Eli Joseph

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Eli Joseph