COMMENTARY David Packard, the iconic cofounder of HP (HPQ), once said, "Marketing is too important t...

1. 10 companies with insanely bad marketing
COMMENTARY David Packard, the iconic cofounder of HP (HPQ), once said, "Marketing is too
important to be left to the marketing department."
Besides being true, Packard's insightful statement points out the greatest challenge of marketers
everywhere. Everybody has an opinion, everybody wants to have a say and everybody thinks their
"focus group of one" is more important than the actual target audience.
Maybe that's why there's so much bad marketing out there. There's no accountability because David
Packard let all the marketers off the hook. Nah, I'm not buying that either.
Speaking of marketing screw-ups, these 10 companies and campaigns are clear standouts, at least
from my focus group of one. If lousy marketing were a crime, they'd all be indicted, for sure:
Motorola Droid Razr Maxx. Over the years, Motorola (MMI) has had some of the worst marketing on
the planet. I mean, who taught these people about branding? They're always giving products more
names than anyone can remember. Besides having four names, this phone is even dual branded with
Verizon and has 4GS stamped in big letters on the back. Maybe they should have called it the
Motorola Verizon Droid Razr Maxx 4GS. Rolls right off the tongue, just like iPhone.

2. Quiznos. At a time when Subway has grown to become the largest global restaurant chain and
shares of McDonalds (MCD) and Yum! Brands (YUM) are trading near all time highs, Quiznos
somehow managed the steepest decline of any major fast-food chain, getting sued by thousands of
franchisees, and narrowly avoiding bankruptcy, at least for now. One of the main reasons is bad
marketing, including an ad campaign that featured horribly disfigured, annoying, singing rodents
called spongmonkeys, although my wife can't stop laughing when she sees them. Go figure.
Sony's synergy campaign. For the past two years, Sony's (SNE) been trying desperately to get Wall
Street and consumers to believe there's synergy between its
http://www.celtichunt.com/here-are-some-great-tips-straight-from-the-blogging-gurus/ movie and
consumer electronics businesses. For example, watching a Sony movie on a Sony TV streamed
through a Sony PS3 somehow makes a difference in the user experience. It's all smoke and mirrors,
but it is amusing to watch CEO Howard Stringer struggle to explain in this
http://www.radiosoundsystem.org/?p=27 interview. And last year alone, Sony lost over $3 billion.
Sprint CEO Dan Hesse's TV ads. While Sprint (S) was falling apart at the seams, losing subscribers
in droves and $3 billion or so a year, every year, CEO Dan Hesse was doing those amazing TV
commercials promoting the virtues of "unlimited data service" that WSJ Deal Journal imagines "took
4,000 takes apiece" to film. So how are those unlimited service plans working out for you, Dan? Not
too well, huh?
Research In Motion. Come on, do I even have to say it? Matsushita finally took the hint and changed
its company name to Panasonic (PC). Nissan got rid of Datsun. It's only a matter of time for Daimler
AG. RIM's (RIMM) own consumer ads say BlackBerry; they don't even mention the company name.
Change it. But fix the products first. They're the biggest marketing crime, by far.
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