Wacky marketing stunts that failed

As a follow-up to Wednesday's article, I want to present you with some marketing stunts that didn't achieve their desired goal. These are hilarious, but the funny factor isn't the only reason I am posting these.

Marketing requires planning! Don't waste time and money doing a stunt that won't work because you didn't plan it properly. Here are a few prime examples of that:

1. Snapple

Snapple ambitiously set out to make the world's largest popsicle made of frozen Snapple juice. The problem? 80-degree weather! The 25-foot tall, 17.5 ton kiwi-strawberry popsicle melted and juice ran out of Times Square and into the streets of Manhattan. This snafu is now infamous -- but they say any publicity is good publicity? Right?

Marketing Lesson: Check external factors and come up with a Plan B.

2. Vodafone
At a rugby match, two streakers interrupted the game wearing only strategically-placed Vodafone logos. Streaking is against the law, so of course, the police got involved. The streakers were arrested before the game was over, and a Vodafone rep was forced to apologize for encouraging the unlawful action. The company ended up donating $30,000 to a campaign aimed at reducing sports injuries.

Marketing Lesson: Any marketing stunt that requires you to break the law is a bad stunt.

3. Pepsi

In the Phillipines, Pepsi has always been #2 to Coke. In an attempt to overtake Coke, Pepsi started a "Number Fever Promo" -- they offered prizes of up to P1 million to those who had bottle caps with winning numbers on them. When #349 was announced as a winner, tens of thousands of Filipinos were winners -- but Pepsi refused to pay them all, claiming that the caps did not contain the proper security codes because of a computer glitch. Lawsuits and riots ensued and Pepsi remained at #2.

Marketing Lesson: Cross your T's and dot your I's when executing a stunt like this!

4. Dell
This year, to celebrate the release of the new Dell Streak tablet, a sales manager decided to boost employee spirit and make the release a memorable event. To do this, he got a person dressed as a biker in all black (including a mask) storm into the building and gather all 400 employees in the lobby. The stunt was designed to show the Streak working with Harley Davidson, but it just made people afraid and prompted them to call the police -- especially after seeing the man carrying "two metallic objects" in his hands. To  make matters worse, the man refused to cooperate with the officers and tried to continue with the stunt. That landed him in jail. This was definitely a marketing fail.

Marketing Lesson: In this age of violence, don't make people panic.

Hope you enjoyed!

Wacky marketing stunts that worked!

Hello everyone! Hope your day has been as good as ours.

Recently, I was reading an article about some interesting marketing tactics that big companies have successfully executed. Marketing is all about thinking outside of the box, and here are a few examples of where this was done.

1. Maui Beverages
Because this company wasn't well known, their PR department suggested something fun to reflect what their company was all about. They changed their executive titles from "Chief Executive Officer" and "Chief Technology Officer" to "Chief Entertainment Officer" and "Chief Tasting Officer". Then, the company founders hosted an annual conference of food and beverage trade writers. They threw a huge island-themed party  where they gave out free sunglasses, and of course, free samples of Maui Beverages. Naturally, after all of this, the company started getting a lot of press coverage, which translated into big money. Their annual sales have gone from $6 million in 2004 to a projected $10 million by year's end.

Marketing Lesson: Don't pray for someone to notice your under-the-radar company. Be exciting and creative, and guarantee that people will.

2. Half.com

Half.com is a retail site with serious discounts on a variety of products. To promote the site, Half.com paid Halfway, Oregon, to change the name of their town to Half.com for one year. They gave Halfway $100,000, computers for the local school and other financial subsidies. This caught the media's attention and Half.com became very well known. Five months later, eBay bought Half.com for $300 million.

Marketing Lesson: Creativity works and money talks.

3. GoldenPalace.com
Online casinos are legally restricted from advertising in traditional media, GoldenPalace.com had got to be creative to grab the public's attention. They have done stunts that include paying people to tattoo their logo on  body parts to purchasing William Shatner's kidney stone and auctioning it off for charity. But their most famous stunt had to be when they bought a partially-eaten grilled cheese sandwich for $28,000. This pricey sandwich was special because the Virgin Mary's likeness had been burned into the bread. All of the big news networks covered the purchase, which was an advertising steal at under $30,000. After the purchase, they extended their publicity by buying the pan that cooked the sandwich and selling t-shirts with the image of the sandwich. The sandwich even went on a world tour and later sparked the GoldenPalace.com World Grilled Cheese Eating Championship.

Marketing Lesson: Sometimes being outlandish pays off. Just make sure that the marketing stunt fits your the character of the business.

Hope you all enjoyed these marketing success stories. Use them as inspiration when designing your marketing stunts. If you need some help, get in contact with us at sageedenmedia.com!

Christmas is the Time for Sharing!

Well it's that time of year when everyone looks forward to wrapping up the old and bringing in the new!
As we go throughout the rest of December, are we reflecting on the lessons we have learned over the past 11 months?
Have we grown or are we going through the motions, only to repeat the same thing again, year after year?

It truly is a time where we can stop and think, spend alone time looking at the goals we wrote out in January and conduct a thorough self assesment.

Yes, we love decorating our home, offices and trimming the trees, along with getting our fill of all the scrumptious meals; while we are celebrating, let's also remember the real reason for the season-- Christ who came as a baby, with a mission to save us all.

I note that His ability to focus in on purpose, produced a passion to make a difference in the lives of all He came in contact with.

How are we making a difference, are our businesses or professional lives reflecting that of kindness, compassion and goodwill? Or have we become selfish, over consumers, and persons who are only interested in personal gain?

I would love to think that we will choose to think of others who are not as fortunate as we are, and give love to them!
I would encourage all entrepreneurs to also adopt a cause that you would feel happy about donating to.

The New Year will bring its own gifts, challenges and more....but let's enjoy today, and make it special for someone else as well!

I hope that you and your family have a safe, prosperous holiday season, and an even happier New Year!!

SageEden CEO featured in the Media!

Hello all!

Exciting news once again for SageEden -- SageEden CEO Sharell Carroll was featured in the Thursday issue of The Punch in the "Woman in action" section. 

This was another great opportunity to put SageEden in the spotlight and expose the company to new publics. If you know of media opportunities to highlight your company, take them!

Getting it all done!

So often, we have so many things to do that it becomes completely overwhelming. This is especially true during the holiday season, where you have to juggle work, events and family. It will seem as if there are just not enough hours in the day to get it all done. These tips I will provide you with will help you to make the most of your time and hopefully help you feel less like the guy in the photo.

1.    Write everything down – With the number of things we will have to remember, you’re bound to forget something. Write your to-do list for each day and week, placing the highest priority items at the top of the list. Cross off each item as you complete it for strong sense of accomplishment. Feel free to make this list on a notepad, or on your iPad. Just make sure that it is someplace accessible.

2.       Use your garbage/recycling bin – Sometimes things aren’t as jumbled as we think. Go through all of the items on your desk. If they are useful, keep them. If not, toss them. You should try as far as possible to keep electronic copies of everything that is important. Also, clean up your computer’s desktop. An organized work space will make a world of difference!

3.      A place for everything – After getting rid of all of that junk, make sure that the important things you saved have a home. Put all accounting records in the top left drawer, all personnel files in the top right. Continue using your system of organization as new things come in. Now, you won’t spend precious time wondering where you put things.

4.       Plan well – Don’t give yourself 10 minutes to drive from work to a meeting when you know the drive takes 30 minutes. Don’t plan to stay at the holiday party for one hour when you know that you can never leave before the Secret Santa gifts are given out. Be realistic! You’ll rush less and enjoy life a little more.

5.      Take control – If you feel like you’re becoming crushed by too many commitments, take a night off. Paula will understand that you can’t come to her Christmas quilting party. Michael will get over it if you can’t come over to watch the NBA game on Christmas Day. Don’t try to do everything. It’s the best way to be productive during this busy season!

Enjoy the holidays everyone! 

Shower Her With Love

Over the weekend Team SageEden had a wonderful time coordinating the games and prizes for a Baby Shower!
The planning and coordination took careful consideration of the baby's gender, as well as the fact that it's the mom's first baby after numerous attempts. The moments had to be extra special.

SageEden hosting was much appreciated, as we encouraged laughter, artistic creativity and flair with many of the games, and smiles as we distributed the prizes! Most importantly, the expecting mother, was overjoyed with the love that she received.

Why go through all the stress of coordinating your own games at a shower you are throwing? Just hire us and we will take care of everything! We assisted with greeting the guests, the games, and opening the gifts!

As you enjoy the holidays, remember that SageEden Media Group is ready to assist you with coordinating your next event! Enjoy!