9 Experiential Marketing Fails to Learn From

Experiential marketing can bring your brand or business to life in a way that’s friendly and fun.

It’s a sector where creativity abounds, providing personal and memorable experiences for consumers. But while great things can come from live marketing, their often-experimental nature can result in unintended results.

To help ensure your promotional events hit the headlines for good reasons only, here are examples of experiential marketing gone wrong – and the lessons you can learn from them…

Jagermeister’s poison pool party

A bit of smoke on the dance floor is great, isn’t it (especially for concealing dodgy dance moves)? But what about if you’re having a pool party – how can one recreate that atmospheric fog? How about a bit of liquid nitrogen in the water, that’ll do it!

This probably sounded like a great idea when it was pitched for Jagermeister’s pool party in Leon, Mexico, but clearly no one involved had completed high school chemistry.

If they had, they would have known that liquid nitrogen mixed with chlorine reacts to displace all oxygen present – the result? Asphyxiation.

Partygoers in the pool quickly found themselves unable to breathe. Meanwhile, the thick fog produced by the liquid nitrogen concealed those in distress only adding to the problems.

This disastrous mistake sent nine people to the hospital and put one person in a coma.

What we can learn: Always, always, always carry out rigorous health and safety before any activation – and make sure you have robust public liability insurance.

Puma’s bad taste Italy jersey shrine

Football, for some people, is indeed a religion, but Puma came in for a fair bit of flak when it highjacked Ash Wednesday to launch its new Italy jersey for the 2014 FIFA World Cup.

The sportswear brand placed shrine-like displays on city streets in New York, Boston, Los Angeles and Chicago, urging fans to kneel down before the jersey and #StartBelieving.

Puma claimed the decision to launch the campaign on the religious holiday was unrelated; stating simply that the date was chosen because it was the first day the kits were being worn in play by the Italia National Team.

What we can learn: Be aware of other events taking place at the same time as yours and consider possible ways your activity could cause offence – intended or not.

Snapple’s fruit flavoured flood

Snapple hoped to attract attention – and break a world record – by creating a 25-foot-tall ice-lolly and displaying it in New York’s Times Square.

However, the frozen treat earned the company more attention than expected when it began to melt. Taking place on an 80-degree day in June, it’s hardly surprising that the popsicle was already turning to mush by the time it was lifted out the van.

Fire fighters had to be called in to close off streets and hose down the mess as parts of downtown Manhattan were flooded with kiwi and strawberry flavoured Snapple.

What we can learn: When organising outdoor events of any kind (involving frozen goods or not) the weather is important. Don’t forget to check it and plan for all eventualities!

Betfair’s Octopus traffic chaos

Here’s another example of giant props causing chaos in public places – this time in London’s Oxford Circus. Gambling firm Betfair planned to use the giant octopus model to promote betting during the World Cup, but gained unexpected coverage when the lorry transporting the sea creature broke down.

The lorry became stuck at Oxford Circus, blocking the street and leading to rush hour traffic chaos. Betfair took to Twitter to apologise for the inconvenience caused.

What we can learn: To be fair to Betfair, this was an accidental publicity stunt and they handled it well, actually gaining some amazing coverage. However, it does demonstrate how things can go unexpectedly wrong and the importance of reacting quickly when they do.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OkE7DQACRAU

Paramount Pictures’ bomb scare

To promote the movie Mission Impossible III, Paramount Pictures hit upon the idea of placing small red wired devices inside 4,500 LA Times newspaper racks.

When the racks were opened, the devices would play the Mission Impossible theme tune, but rather than causing amusement, the stunt caused alarm, with customers concerned the devices were bombs.

In one instance, a bomb squad was called in to detonate the device – this was “the least-intended outcome,” as one LA Times official said.

What we can learn: Think your actions through. Could they be misconstrued? With the threat of terrorism, we’re on hyper-alert for strange behaviour in our cities and scaring people is not a good marketing tactic. You should also be sure to clear any planned activity with the local authorities and get the proper permissions.

Smirnoff’s graffiti gaff

Vodka brand Smirnoff also fell foul of not letting the authorities know about its experiential campaign when it used steam jets and stencils to decorate a busy underpass in Leeds.

It used the ‘reverse graffiti’ technique, steam-cleaning grime off the walls in order to add slogans and motifs.

Despite the eco techniques employed, Leeds City Council still deemed the activity as vandalism and charged the artist Paul Curtis (aka. Moose) under the Anti-Social Behaviour Act (see him at work below).

He was ordered to pay a cleaning fine of several thousand pounds, which Smirnoff accepted to pay, apologising for its failure to ask for permission.

What we can learn: Don’t presume your experiential activation will be fine with the authorities. Regardless of what you’re planning, it’s always wise to seek express permission to stay on the right side of the law.

IBM’s chalk cock-up

If you’re planning on daubing public property to promote your brand (and don’t want to be charged with vandalism), you probably also want to check the product before use.

The folk at IBM might be whizzes at testing computer programs, but they didn’t think to run a trial when launching a sidewalk graffiti campaign for the Linux operating system.

They used supposedly biodegradable chalk stencils to emblazon “Peace, Love & Linux” slogans and symbols onto sidewalks and walls in San Francisco, but came a cropper when they discovered it didn’t wash off.

The city ordered IBM to pay a $100,000 fine and about $20,000 in clean-up costs.

What we can learn: Having a trial run enables you to flag up any potential problems in advance of your activation. And if your activity involves any technology, gadgets or machinery, make sure you’re fully familiar with it before the day.

Cadbury Schweppes’ graveyard treasure hunt

To promote its soft drink Dr Pepper, Cadbury Schweppes decided to run a 23-city treasure hunt to find a gold coin worth as much as $1 million.

The drinks manufacturer published a clue hinting that the coin might be buried in Boston’s historic Old Granary Burial Ground. The 347-year-old graveyard is the resting ground of American Revolutionary patriots Paul Revere, Samuel Adams and John Hancock.

After contestants started to show up at the cemetery, the city quickly closed it, concerned that it would be desecrated by treasure hunters. A spokesman for Cadbury Schweppes conceded, “the coin should never have been placed in such a hallowed site.”

What we can learn: Take care to consider the suitability of your event’s location. The desecration of hallowed grounds aside, your activity could attract high footfall (at least you hope it will) so be sure you won’t be treading on any toes.

Heineken’s (almost) football faux par

To finish on a positive note, we’re going to look at an experiential event that was a huge success – but gambled on bringing participants pain before any pleasure.

Heineken decided to prank more than 1,000 AC Milan fans by tricking them into attending a philharmonic orchestra concert on the night of a big match against Real Madrid.

The fans had been persuaded to attend the event by their partners or bosses and were gutted to be stuck listening to classical music rather than watching the game.

But 15 minutes into the concert, clues about the prank began to appear on the theatre’s big screen and soon the penny dropped – to thunderous applause.

The pitch appeared on screen while Heineken beers were immediately served. The whole thing was aired on Sky Sports to more than 1.5 million viewers and 10 million heard about the prank on the news. This led to 5 million unique users visiting Heineken’s website in the month following the event and an explosion in social media activity.

What we can learn: Sometimes taking a risk can pay off – but tread carefully!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iK-deK6B9g4