Latest

Product and Brand Failures: A Marketing Perspective

October 14, 2021
By James Gussie

This blog will explore the failures of products and brands in marketing, with a focus on how companies can learn from their mistakes.

A brand failure is an event that occurs when a company’s product or service fails to meet the market’s expectations. These failures can also be described as failures of products and brands.

Overview In most product-based businesses, product and brand failures occur on a regular basis to different degrees. The disadvantage of the development and marketing process is this. Most of the time, the “failure rate” phenomenon is really a numbers game. There has to be a certain ratio of successful goods to unsuccessful ones. If this does not happen, the company is likely to collapse, or at the very least have financial problems that prevent it from achieving its profit goals. The main aim is to learn from past product and brand failures in order to improve future product development, design, strategy, and execution.

Those involved in the planning and execution process may learn from the errors of previous product and brand failures by studying product failures. Each product failure may be examined to see what, if anything, might have been done differently to create and sell a successful rather than a failed product. It’s crucial to be able to recognize important indicators early on in the product development process. If a product makes it this far, evaluating risk before it is launched may save a company money and prevent the intangible costs of revealing a product’s failure to the market.

Determining the causes of product and brand failures When a product’s existence on the market results in the following:

The product’s removal from the market for whatever cause;
Inability of a product to achieve the necessary market share to maintain its market presence;
Due to whatever cause, a product’s ability to complete its expected life cycle as specified by the business; or
The failure of a product to reach profitability in the end.

Failures do not always occur as a consequence of poor engineering, design, or marketing. According to critics’ criteria, hundreds of “poor” films have achieved “cult status” and financial success, while many “excellent” films have failed at the box office. Other high-end goods have failed due to competing activities. Sony’s Beta format was obviously better than VHS, but the company’s refusal to allow the format to be standardized had a detrimental effect on distribution and availability, resulting in a commercial failure. In comparison to other vehicles on the market at the time, the “Tucker” was better. This failure was caused by GM burying the fledgling company in the courts in order to remove a future rival with a well-designed product that might threaten their market dominance. As they continue to battle for market dominance, Apple has had a string of product failures with a regular pattern.

Although bankruptcy may be the end consequence of a product failure, it is not always a financial failure. Many commercially successful goods were subsequently shown to be hazardous to one’s health and safety. These goods were both financially and in terms of market share a success:

Insulation, floor tile, and “popcorn” ceiling materials manufactured by a number of firms are among the asbestos-based construction products now recognized as hazardous.
Nestle’s baby formula had inadequate nutrition for babies, causing retardation.
American Home Products (http://www.settlementdietdrugs.com/) produced the “Fen Phen” diet medicine combination of Pondimin and Redux that caused heart value problems.

What successful items are likely to follow? The use of Advil on a regular basis and at large doses has been linked to liver damage. Some people believe that using electric blankets for long periods of time increases the risk of cancer. Some doctors are concerned about Sudafed’s over-the-counter availability and widespread usage, which is presently being investigated by the US Food and Drug Administration.

Failures of products and the product life cycle Most goods go through some version of the product life cycle, where they go through that familiar—or a variant—form depending on time and sales volume or income. Most goods go through the phases of the life cycle, which include:

Introduction
Growth
maturation (or saturation)
Decline

Some product categories seem to be in constant demand, while others never seem to find their niche. These items lack a well-known product life cycle curve.

Is it a fad, a fashion, or a style? It’s critical to differentiate between a product craze, style, or fashion cycle and a product failure. A fad’s product life cycle is the most extreme. Fads have a short life cycle by nature, and are often expected to undergo fast growth and rapid decline over a short period of time—a few years, months, or even weeks in the case of internet fads. According to one music critic, “The Bay City Rollers” were supposed to be on par with the Beatles. Do you recognize them? And the pet rock survived much longer than it should have, earning its creators millions of dollars.

The acceptable replication of trends in many sectors, such as clothes and home furnishings, is referred to as “fashion.” Clothing, as well as art, architecture, automobiles, and other esthetic-based goods, follow the product life cycle of a “style.” These product life cycles’ “ends” do not indicate failures; rather, they signal the end of an anticipated cycle that will be replaced and repeated by variants of other goods that fulfill the same requirements and perform the same tasks.

The advantages of researching failures To assist avoid future failures, it’s critical to get a deeper knowledge of product failures. Studying the history of product failures may provide insight into why products fail and help you build a list of criteria that can help you succeed, but there are no guarantees.

Failures of products as examples An abridged list of product failures that may offer insight into product and brand success elements is provided below:

Transportation and automobiles

Cimarron Cadillac
Fiero Pontiac
Chevrolet Corvair is a car manufactured by Chevrolet.
Edsel Ford
The Back to the Future DeLorean
Crosley
The Tucker, on the other hand, is a
The Gremlin, the Javelin, and a slew of additional American Motors vehicles
The passenger diesel engine from General Motors
Wankel rotary engine from Mazda
Tire Firestone 500
The Ford Explorer is equipped with Goodyear tires.
Concorde is a supersonic aircraft that flies faster than the speed of sound.

Industry of computers

The IBM PCjr was released in March 1985.
The Newton is an Apple product.
Lisa is an Apple product.
Adam from Coleco
Percon’s Pocketreader is a hand-held scanner that is now known as PSC.
The software version of Bumble Bee’s book “What Color Is Your Parachute?”

Entertainment

Audio equipment with quadraphonic sound
The World Football League (WFL) is a professional football
The Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) is a professional basketball league for women
The American Football World League is a professional football league based in the United States
The National Football League is a professional football league in the United States.
Every year, hundreds of television programs are produced, including “He and She,” “Berrengers,” every spinoff produced by the former cast of “Seinfeld,” and dozens more.
“Of Gods and Generals,” “Heavens Gate,” “Water World,” “The Postman,” and other films, with Kevin Costner producing a disproportionately large number of them.

Drinks and food

Veal parmesan from Burger King
Pita salad from Burger King
McRib—and it’s still being tested.
Nestle’s New Cookery was a flop, but its replacement, Lean Cuisine, is a huge success.
Early 1970s: Gerber’s Singles—dinners in jars for adults
“Baby beer,” says Chelsea.

Photographic and video documentation

Instant home movies with Polaroid
SX-70 (Second Generation) (Polaroid instant camera)
RCA Computers is a company that makes computers (Spectra-70)
Players for video discs
On DVD, there is a DIVX version.

Currency in the United States of America

Susan B. Anthony dollar coin—selective distribution in San Francisco and Las Vegas
A two-dollar note
A twenty-cent coin

Additional items

CORFAM is a synthetic leather developed by DuPont.
Aquarius by Mattel
Sinclair Sinclair Sinclair Sinclair Sinclair Sinclair Sinclair Sinclair Sinclair Sin
Touch of Yogurt Shampoo by Clairol (1979)
Sparq is a portable mass storage device.
Tampons from Rely
Vibrating chair Relax-a-cizor
The gondola at the Louisiana World Exposition

Product failures are caused by a variety of factors. Some of the most frequent causes for product failures, in addition to a flawed idea or product design, fall into one or more of the following categories:

An concept that does not suit the target market is pushed by a high-level executive.
Market size was overestimated.
The merchandise is positioned incorrectly.
Ineffective marketing, including packaging messages that may have included deceptive or unclear marketing messages about the product, its characteristics, or its use.
Lacking knowledge about the target market segment and the branding approach that would offer the greatest value to that group.
Priced incorrectly—too expensive and too low.
Costs of research and/or product development that are excessive.
Competitive action or retaliatory response is underestimated or misunderstood.
Distribution was not done in a timely manner.
Market research that was misleading and did not properly represent real customer behavior for the targeted category.
Marketing study was conducted, but the results were disregarded.
Key channel partners were either not informed or not engaged.
Margin levels are lower than expected.

While writing your marketing strategy, consider these possible reasons of product or brand failure as a guide to avoid making the same mistakes. Learning from these “lessons” may help you avoid some of these problems and improve your chances of success with your future product or brand launch.

Product and Brand Failures: A Marketing Perspective is a blog post about product failures. The author discusses the reasons for product failure, how to avoid them, and what can happen if they do happen. Reference: product failure reasons.

Table of Contents

Frequently Asked Questions

What is a product from a marketing perspective?

A product is anything that has been created to serve a purpose.

Why do products fail in marketing?

There are many reasons why products fail in marketing. One reason is that the product does not have a clear purpose for the target audience. Another reason is that the product has no unique selling point, or its just too expensive to be worth buying.