Helping the competition
Although most people failures are a result of unscrupulous decisions or vicious personality clashes, on rare occasions people let their brands down despite having the best of intentions. This is what happened to Michael P Schall’s brand, Guiltless Gourmet, when he gave away the secrets of his success to his chief competition.
In the […]
From pop to flop
The UK reality TV show, Popstars, was the first programme to document the making of a band from obscurity to pop superstardom. The aim was to create a pop ‘brand’ that would not only be able to sell albums and singles, but also a wide variety of merchandise.
Hear’Say was the end product […]
From catwalk to catfights
Although it eventually proved to be a flop, Planet Hollywood spawned a number of imitators. David Hasselhoff tried to launch a Baywatch Café chain complete with waitresses in red swimsuits. Magician David Copperfield reportedly ploughed millions into a magic-themed restaurant chain which later vanished in a puff of smoke. Steven Spielberg invested […]
Big egos, weak brand
Celebrity endorsements can help greatly in boosting sales of a product or service. For instance, when Oprah Winfrey recommended books via her branded book club, they were guaranteed bestseller status. Some brands also benefit from having their founder evolve into a celebrity, à la Richard Branson.
Then there are cases of celebrities turning […]
When honesty is not the best policy
One of the most popular and influential books ever written about marketing is The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing¸ written by Al Ries and Jack Trout and first published in 1993. Their fifteenth ‘law’ is ‘the law of candour’. This states that if a company admits a negative aspect […]
Shredding a reputation
If the Enron scandal proved anything, it was the interconnected nature of the modern business world. After all, Enron had a lot of corporate connections, particularly in its home state of Texas. ‘Within two or three degrees of separation, virtually everybody would have a connection to Enron,’ said Richard Murray, director for the […]
Failing the truth
Little remains to be said about the rise and scandalous fall of Texan energy giant Enron. In the relatively short space of 15 years, Enron rose from nowhere to become the seventh largest company in the United States, and the most well-known energy supplier in the world. It boasted over 21,000 employees and […]
