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20/08/2012 by
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Any Press Is Good Press – Is It Always True?

Marketing is a crazy world. There are marketing campaigns that seem to be ‘works of a genius’, but fail in the end, and there are those that may not seem very good but ended up being a success.

Any Press Is Good Press – Is It Always True?

However, not all failed marketing tactics ended up as true “failures” simply because the main objective was reached – brand awareness was increased, or the product became popular. Here are some of the worst marketing tactics that paid off.

Casa Sanchez, a restaurant in the San Francisco area had the bright idea of popularizing their brand by having people tattoo their logo on their own bodies. Those who showed up with a tattoo of the Casa Sanchez Logo were given free meals for life. The strategy paid off and Casa Sanchez really placed the brand on the map, but it almost brought the company to its knees.

The number of people who were having the Casa Sanchez logo tattooed on different parts of their body started to increase. This would have meant that the company would be giving away free meals to hundreds or possibly even thousands of people for the rest of their lives.

Casa Sanchez Tattoo

Fortunately, the company was able to apply measures from this ever happening. They limited the number of people to the first 50 and set other requirements for the tattoo. The company was saved from total disaster – this strategy could have cost the company their future, but it certainly gave them popularity.

Another example is Calvin Klein’s Sex Sells Marketing Campaign. The company had the bright idea of using models in skimpy clothing doing sexual acts. The models were really young and so the ad was destined to become controversial. Well, it may not have been popular to parents, but the younger generation simply loved it.

Calvin Klein

Unfortunately, the company went too far. They placed another ad using even younger models in a more provocative sexual act. This turned out to be too much and people just hated it. The new ad was pulled after only a day.

There are some pretty irritating marketing campaigns that have somehow managed to increase the popularity of the brand. As some say – any press is good press.

However, too much bad press or good press can get a company in trouble. In the case of Casa Sanchez, too much good press got them into trouble.

Many marketers love to use controversial marketing tactics to improve the popularity of a brand or product. This may work sometimes, but it can also backfire.

As in the case of Calvin Klein who used a very controversial marketing advert. The company tried to ride on the waves of success of controversy but went too far.