The Most

FailuresExtension

SpectacularBrand

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Colgate Kitchen EntreesColgate is a brand that is known for selling oral

hygiene products such as toothpastes, toothbrush-

es, mouthwashes, and dental floss. Colgate cre-

ated Colgate Kitchen Entrees in 1982 with the idea

that one would eat Colgate Frozen dinners and then

brush their teeth with Colgate toothpaste. Along

with entering the very saturated frozen food market,

consumers did not make a connection and in a lot

of cases were disgusted leading to a complete brand

extension failure.

Harley Davidson Perfume Harley Davidson is an American motorcycle manu-

facturer that has an extremely loyal brand following

around the world. Many consumers consider the

Harley Davidson brand to be a lifestyle and have a

long-term relationship with the brand. While the

motorcycle family has been successful in extending its

brand into apparel, even the most loyal consumers did

not see the connection between a high powered mo-

torcycle and perfume. This was an overextension of

the powerful brand.

Virgin Brides The Virgin Group Ltd is a British multinational con-

glomerate company that has many extensions that

have been successful. The company is known for

providing unique and exceptional customer experi-

ence. One idea that extended the brand a little too

far was Virgin Brides, a bridal gown store. Virgin

Brides opened its doors in several locations through-

out England in 1996 and was short lived venture.

Founder Richard Branson commented on the failure

by saying, “I think because there aren’t many virgin

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41 brides, it never really took off.”

Zippo Perfume Zippo is a company known for making the iconic

flip-top lighter with its first lighter dating back to

1933. Zippo developed a woman’s perfume with the

bottle resembling the iconic flip lighter. Most con-

sumers did not see the connection between a compa-

ny known for making lighters filled with flammable

liquids and a woman’s perfume which led to a failed

brand extension.

Jell-O Salad Gelatin Jell-O is a registered trademark of Kraft Foods for a

variety of gelatin desserts, puddings, and no-bake

cream pies. In the 1960s, there were a lot of peo-

ple enjoying the gelatin treat for dessert and so, the

company decided to make a healthier version. The

intent was to target an older age group and those

who enjoy eating vegetables. However, it was hard

for consumers to associate a brand that usually

stands for a sweet treat to something that

contained vegetables.

Gerber SinglesGerber Products Company is known for making baby

food and baby products but in 1974 decided to tar-

get adults as well. Gerber singles were small jars

containing fruits, vegetables, starters, and desserts.

This product did not survive long as adult consumers

were turned off by the idea of eating Creamed Beef

out of a baby food jar. The name “Singles” was also

something that many consumers did not

find appealing.

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New CokeCoca-Cola is a carbonated soft drink company that

began in the late 19th century. In 1985 the Co-

ca-Cola Company decided to change the century-old

secret formula and it enraged the loyal consumers.

Consumers loved the original formula so much that

many were so outraged that they refused to drink

New Coke and demanded the original back. This was

such a big failure because Coke failed to truly un-

derstand the power of the original coke and what it

meant to its consumers.

Crystal Pepsi Pepsi is a carbonated soft drink company that be-

gan in the late 19th century. In the 1990s, Pepsi

launched a new soda called Crystal Pepsi. Crystal

Pepsi was a soda that was clear instead of the usual

dark brown color of soda. There are many reasons

why people believe the clear soda was a failure but

two of the main reasons were the lack of coloring

and lack of explanation. Not only were consumers

thrown off by the clear soda, but Pepsi did not do a

good job of explaining why consumers needed a clear

Pepsi. Ultimately the soda caused a lot of confusion

to potential consumers.

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Cosmopolitan YogurtCosmopolitan is considered an international fashion

magazine that also features some sexy articles. Cos-

mopolitan is published in 36 languages and distrib-

uted in more than 100 countries. The link between

a magazine and yogurt was made when a study in

1999 showed that over 65% of people used edible

products in the bedroom. Along with consumers not

seeing the connection between the two, the yo-

gurt was pricier than its competitor and was off the

shelves less than 18 months after launching.

Thirsty Dog! WaterIn the early 1990s, the Original Pet Drink Compa-

ny based out of Ft. Lauderdale Florida developed a

water bottle that contained flavored water for dogs

and eventually cats. The flavors of the water were

supposed to be appetizing to pets with flavors such

as beef, chicken, etc. This product was considered a

failure when many pet owners did not want to spend

the extra money on a pricey flavored bottle of water

for their pets. Some pet owners also questioned the

nutritional value of artificially flavored water versus

good old H20.

Evian Water BrasEvian is a brand that bottles mineral water that

decided to expand into the female undergarment

category by creating the Evian Water Bra. The bra

contained a pocket that was meant to be filled with

water, preferably Evian mineral water. The bra was

marketed to consumers as a solution for “humid

breasts.”

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BiC Underwear BiC is a company based out of France that is best

known for making ballpoint pens. In 1998 BiC

extended their brand into a product category com-

pletely unrelated to anything they had made before,

disposable women’s underwear. The idea behind the

disposable underwear was that BiC had been very

successful in making disposable pens, lighters, and

razors, so why not make an underwear that wom-

en could use once and then throw away. The prod-

uct met an early demise when it was taken off the

shelves in early 1999.

Coors Spring Water The Coors Brewing Company is known for its Pil-

sner-style beer but tried to tap into the growing bot-

tled water market in 1990. However, many consum-

ers were thrown off by the bottle having the same

Coors logo font and label as the beer bottles. This

made people worry about drinking it or giving it to

their children because of the association of alcohol.

Frito Lay WOW! chips In 1998 the Frito Lay Company attempted to come up

with a solution to please those consumers who were

trying to lose weight but still wanted to enjoy potato

chips. Frito Lay introduced WOW! Chips that were

fat-free and made with olestra. The ingredient oles-

tra was made up of molecules that were too large for

the body to digest and would pass directly through

the digestive tract unabsorbed. Unfortunately, the

results of olestra were similar to that of a laxative

making the person who consumed it have stomach

cramps and diarrhea. Once the media started report-

ing on the discomforts that come along with eating

WOW! Chips sales started to drop and Frito Lays

WOW! Chips were no more.

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Trump University In 2005 Donald Trump started Trump University

which was an American for-profit education com-

pany that ran a real estate training program. The

organization was not an accredited university and

did not offer college credits, degrees, or grades to

its students. Many students of Trump Universi-

ty claimed they had been taken advantage of and

lawsuits started to pile up against the University. In

2010 Trump University closed its doors.

Smith and Wesson BikeGun Manufacturer Smith and Wesson has been mak-

ing police bicycles for about 20 years. In 2002 the

company tried to sell mountain bikes to the pub-

lic. The Smith and Wesson mountain bike became a

brand extension failure as consumers did not associ-

ate a gun company with biking.

Cheeto Lip BalmFrito Lay tried to expand into the lip balm product

category in 2005 by launching Cheeto lip balm. The

idea was that Cheeto lovers could experience the

Cheeto taste even when they weren’t eating the deli-

cious snack. The product got many negative reviews

as consumers could not wrap their minds around a

cheese snack flavored lip balm.

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AriZona Tea Nachos and Cheese DipAriZona is a beverage company that is best known

for their flavored iced teas. However, in 2012 the

company tried its hand in the snack department and

launched AriZona nacho chips. The product experi-

ence very limited success largely because consumers

associate the brand with a sweet refreshing drink,

not a salty snack.

Ferrari Luxury GoodsFerrari is an Italian luxury sports car manufacturer.

Along with developing race cars, Ferrari also manu-

factures cars that consumers can purchase for a very

steep price. Because the cars are considered a luxury

product, Ferrari tried to break into the luxury fash-

ion market. Consumers, however, did not see the

connection between an expensive car and an expen-

sive purse. Most people associate speed and adrena-

line with the Ferrari brand and not luxury purses.

Microsoft ZuneMicrosoft is one of the world’s largest software

companies and has many success to boast about.

However, in 2006 they launched the Microsoft Zune

to compete with the Apple iPod and was a miserable

failure. Apple iPod dominated the multimedia mar-

ket and the Microsoft Zune had no chance. Many

blame the failure on bad timing, lack of innovation

and insufficient marketing.

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21 Apple MapsAs Apple and Google are constantly competing in

many of the products and services they provide,

it was no surprise when Apple decided to drop the

Google Maps application from its mobile operating

system and create its own. However, quickly after

launching the Apple Maps application users began to

notice problems and it became a PR nightmare. The

failure happened when they tried to compete with

Google and might have rushed the application out

too quickly.

Sony BetamaxBetamax was created in 1975 and was the first home

video recording tape to hit the market. However, in

1976 JVC rolled out the VHS format and a format war

started. The sony Betamax failed because of multiple

reasons. Sony was slower to license the technolo-

gy to other manufacturers, VHS was less expensive,

Sony refused to let Betamax be used in the pornog-

raphy industry, and recording time. VHS could hold

two hour while the Beta Max could only hold one. As

a result to all of these things, forty production com-

panies adopted VHS instead of Betamax.

Cocaine the Energy Drink In 2006 Redux Beverage Company created an energy

drink and named it Cocaine Energy Drink and had

the tagline, “The Legal Alternative.” Along with the

controversy that came with the choice of name the

energy drink also caused health concerns for many

consumers. Cocaine energy drink contained 350%

more stimulants than the popular energy Red Bull.

Because of the association with an illegal drug and

the unhealthy ingredients, Cocaine Energy drink

became a quick failure.

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24 Life Savers Soda Lifesavers is an American brand of ring-shaped hard

candy. In the 1980s Lifesavers developed a soda that

came in the five flavors of the hard candy. Despite

doing well in taste tests before the launch, the soda

was taken off the shelves shortly after because con-

sumers just were not interested in the idea of drink-

ing liquid candy.

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More Books by Pete Canalichio

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Is You’re Brand Ready To Stretch Into New CategoriesUse a proven scoring system to decide if your brand is ready to stretch, avoid catastrophic failures, know how to get your brand ready to expand and extend if it scores badly and build on your brand’s strengths if it scores well.

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