Branding Isn't Easy: Here are 6 Companies That Got It Wrong

Branding is a powerful marketing tool that, when used correctly, can bring myriad benefits to a company. From making products, stores and shopping bags instantly recognizable to establishing an ethos associated with a company, brand awareness is key.

While some of the best branding looks effortless, it’s easy to get it wrong. And it’s not just small, inexperienced organizations either. Plenty of big name brands have made monumental mistakes that have tarnished their reputations.

Brand awareness mistakes

There are a number of traps to fall into that will make your brand awareness strategy ineffective. They include:

• Not defining your brand strategy based on audience research
• Failing to invest in quality logo design
• Not focusing on what differentiates you from your competitors
• Connecting with the wrong audience
• Overextending your brand into new areas
• Negative interactions leading to a bad customer experience
• Failing to protect the business name and visuals through trademarks and copyright
• Inconsistent application of the brand’s colors, fonts and logos across multiple platforms
• Not identifying the need for a rebrand if your current approach is outdated
• Failing to live up to your brand promise

Brand awareness fails

Bad branding can mean your business goes unnoticed, but in some cases it can have an even worse effect, gaining attention for all the wrong reasons. Often, these problems are the result of cultural nuances that have been overlooked during the development stages.

Here are some examples of companies that saw their brand awareness campaigns go awry.

1. American Dairy Association

One of the most famous branding slogans of all time was the American Dairy Association’s “Got Milk?” It was simple and delivered the message efficiently to the US audience and remains recognizable to this day. When it was translated for Spanish-speaking markets, the meaning became “Are you lactating?” which wasn’t quite the same question as the original.

2. Parker Pens

Another memorable translation fail was that of Parker Pens, which fell into a common trap with the verb embarazar in Spanish. This false friend has a very different meaning in Castilian to what it sounds like in English. It can only be assumed that the translator was inexperienced when they transformed the tagline “It won’t leak in your pocket and embarrass you” into “It won’t leak in your pocket and make you pregnant”.

3. Powergen Italia

Consistent branding across platforms means looking at potential issues that never presented themselves in the pre-digital age. For example, Powergen Italia never had to worry about how the two parts of its name came together until it bought a domain name for a website to be rolled out in English-speaking countries. The result was www.powergenitalia.com.

4. Free People

If you’re trying to represent your customer in your ads, then they’ll be the first to recognize a fake. Free People made the mistake of using a model instead of a ballerina to showcase its ballet line and was immediately called out and parodied by those who were trained in the dance. Cutting corners is rarely worth the relatively small amount of money that’s saved in the process.

5. H&M

When H&M launched a new children’s range that featured a hoodie with the slogan “Coolest monkey in the jungle” on it, there was a certain amount of backlash. The item was modelled in branding campaigns by a young African-American boy, alongside a white child with a hoodie emblazoned with the words “Survival expert”.

6. Milwaukee Bucks

Context should never be overlooked in brand campaigns, which is something one basketball team learned the hard way. The Milwaukee Bucks announced the firing of their head coach on Twitter the same day as the franchise’s 50 anniversary, leading fans to be greeted with virtual balloons alongside information about the departure. It’s easy for mixed messages to be sent when different events butt up against each other without consideration.

Getting brand awareness right

As well as ensuring you don’t fall into any of the brand awareness mistakes highlighted above, you need a strategy for your business to get it right. Among the elements to include are:

• Establishing partnerships with other organizations that have similar brand values as your own
• Producing branded content marketing that’s in line with the message you wish to spread about your business
• Hosting events that will appeal to your target audience and encourage engagement with your brand
• Sponsoring a large-scale event, sports team or award to get your logo noticed and associated with the buzz around it
• Working with influencers to mention your brand in a positive light. These must be carefully vetted to avoid any branding fails in the long run
• Metrics to measure your brand awareness and ensure your methods are having the desired effect, as well as representing a good return on investment