Unsuccessful

products

Why do products
fail?
There is an unending list of products
which failed in the market due to
various reasons but more or less
because of failure in one or more of the
following factor

Vanilla Coke

The brand was targeted at the metro

youth was different. It was different in
taste, promotion, package, price etc.
Vanilla Coke was promoted in retro style.
The brand had Vivek Oberoi , the then
bollywood flame endorsing the brand in
an unusual style. Vivek sported the retro
look with typical combination of Elvis
style + Shammi Kapoor style in an Old
Lamby Scooter screaming Wakaw.

It failed because .The campaign was not

targeted at the right segment. This
campaign had its fair share of critics
also. The brand was priced at a premium
over the ordinary coke. This may have
discouraged the TG from checking out
the brand

Levis
Type
1
Jeans

Levis type1 was a

style introduced by
denim market
leader Levi Strauss
& co. and failed to
influence buyers to
buy this product. It
is said that a
product should
identify its target
market when
launching. Levis
type1 was
launched with
evaluating its
target audience
and thus, failed.

Pepsi crystal

There was no real need for

Crystal Pepsi. Despite the
shifting tides in early 90s
marketing towards
healthiness and purity, people
just didnt get excited about a
clear caffeine-free Pepsi. Not
really a surprise- those who
were that concerned with the
health and colour of their
beverage probably would not
be Pepsi drinkers to begin
with.

Apple Lisa

The Lisa was geared

towards business
consumers, though
those consumers were
attracted to the lower
price tag on IBM PCs.
NASA got behind the
Lisa project, which they
regretted after it was
discontinued two years
later.

IBM
PC
Junior

This computer
had a hefty
price tag. At
$699, it was
twice the price
of computers
from Atari and
Commodore.
Many were also
disappointed at
the awkward
layout of the
factory-shipped
keyboard.

Godrej
Ganga
Soap

Ganga had a
revitalisation effort in
1997 when Godrej tried
to relaunch the brand
under the name Doodh
Ganga. But those effort
went in vain.
The primary reason why
the brand failed was that
the differentiation was
not sustainable over
time. Although Hindu's
are very religious in
nature and rivers the
tradition but the
consumers are
discerning when it comes
to purchasing products

Tata
Sierr
a

Sierra primarily
failed in the market
because of its steep
price. Priced around
Rs 5 lakh, the brand
failed to appeal to
the value
proposition of the
Indian consumer.
Sierra can be said
as a brand that
came too early. The
Indian market was
not ready for this
concept.

Kineti
c
BlazeShortc
ut to
fame

Blaze is so far the

most powerful scooter
in India. This 165 cc
mean machine is huge
and heavy.
Blaze was all set to
redefine the scooter
market in India
The launch ads ( TVC)
was nothing but a
marketing disaster.
The agency just killed
the product. The ad
talks about Rohit
Varma.
Then the baseline
says " Short cut to
Fame". It is one of the
lousiest positioning
statements ever.

Maru

ti
Versa

The brand was

positioned as " Two
luxury cars for the price
of one" . The ads talked
about twin A/C, comfort
and space. Versa was
launched with a 1300 cc
engine which was the
same used in Maruti
Esteem.
Despite the dream
launch, Versa failed to
generate volume . The
basic issue was the
price. Versa was
launched with a price of
Rs 5.15 lakh for the base
model and the top end
model costs around Rs 6
lakh. Those enthusiastic
customers who flocked
the showroom after
viewing the ads was

 the brand's disaster

Kelvina
tor- the
coolest
one

started in 1996 when

Whirlpool acquired
this brand globally.
Whirlpool wanted to
sacrifice Kelvinator for
its own brand.
Kelvinator's main
positioning was based
on its cooling power.
The tagline aptly
captures the USP of
the brand. Kelvinator's
compressors was one
of the best available
globally.

M
ot
or
kr

The arbitrary
song limit hurt
the ROKR's
appeal. Many
users also
discovered that
transferring
music to the
phone was
slow compared
to dedicated
players, due to
lack of support
forHi-Speed
USB , and there
was also no
wireless
transfer.Lastly,
the ROKR was
criticized for
being too much
like the
preceding

Honda
Street

Street was the Indian

version of the world
famous Honda Cub series.
Honda Cub was the
world's largest selling
single model bike which
has sold more than 2.5
crore units.

The case is about

marketing mistake. The
product failed in all
aspects of marketing mix
except the distribution.

The product was not good

enough. It looked like a
glorified M80 from Bajaj
which was used by Fish
vendors and the like.

The campaign was also

not successful. The initial
campaign tried to teach
the customers the new
Clutch less gear system
and its efficacy, the
customers was not

Riding on the pulling

power of Hrithik Roshan,
Tamarind had a huge
brand recall during the
launch.

Tamarind was positioned

as a fashion wear. The
clothes were designed by
the famed London based
designer John Paul Vivian.
The brand had the tagline
" The Flavour You Wear ".
The brand was designed
to be a fun, fashionable
trendy brand.

Tamarind

Three major factors was

the cause of this brand's
failure.
Price and
Distribution and
Differentiation.

Onida
Candy

This unique brand is a classic

case of entire marketing mix
gone awfully wrong. A good
idea killed by poor marketing
strategy.
The small TV market was the
most price sensitive one and
customers was not willing to
pay 40 % premium for colour
alone. The brand failed to
convince the TG on the value
proposition of the brand.
There was segmentation issue
also playing spoil sport. Candy
was not focused on the TG
because some where the brand
wanted to attract the
replacement market ( New TV
for Old) rather than positioning
itself as a second TV. This put
additional volume pressure on

Blackberr
y Storm
9500

Blackberry 9500
launched in a market to
compete with Apples
iPhone. Highly volatile
market which demanded
for performance.
Unfortunately, the storm
didnt perform as
expected. It had various
flaws in its technology.
Flaws like No Wi-Fi,
Memory, Capacitive
Touch Feature.
Due to all such issues,
customer is reluctant to
buy Blackberry Storm,
resulting in low prices and
no resale value

 Trouble for Subhiksha

began in late 2008 when
the company ran out of
cash, bringing its
operations to a standstill.
Subhiksha faced severe
financial crisis pertaining
to liquidity. The cash
shortage eventually
resulted in Subhiksha
subhiksh closing its nationwide
a
network of 1,600
supermarket stores, and
defaulting on loans,
vendor payments and
staff salaries. The
overextended chain
imploded and all stores

Tapping into the booming bottledwater market, the beer

conglomerate introduced Rocky
Mountain Sparkling Water but
unwisely kept the Coors logo
front and centre on the label,
making it impossible not to worry
about driving home after a heavy
dose of H2O. Sales for the water,
which came in original, lemonlime and cherry flavours, did
poorly.

The beverage was eventually

discontinued.

COOrs mountain spring

water

 The mid sized sedan segment is

super crowded with focused

products at the same price point
as the Kizashi. Compound this
with the fact that the Kizashi
often shares showroom space with
superior products, which means
salespeople are less motivated to
focus on a car that is less likely to
result in a sale.
Suzuki has never been known in
the US for luxurious or sporty
vehicles, and there are few
dedicated Suzuki dealerships,
often combined with other brands
like Hyundai or Subaru that have
more appealing product.

Suzuki kizashi

Maruti Suzuki Grand Vitara has

been a market failure in India.
Grand Vitara had engine
problems, steering control
problems and it was a petrol
version when launched in India
which gave the average of 710kmpl.

Learning from the failure, Suzuki

has launched diesel variants and
recalled the cars with the
problems and repaired it world
wide.

Suzuki grand vitara

Apart from the Enticer from

Yamaha, Kinetic in collaboration
with Hyosung Motors launched
Kinetic Aquila a few years back,
featuring a 250cc, V-twin, liquid
cooled engine, 26 bhp of power at
9000 RPM, and a top speed of 130
kmph. This bike was priced at 1.75
lakhs on road and I think this was
not only heavily priced, but the
root cause of its failure

Kinetic aquila

Maruti Suzuki launched a limited

edition model of the mega hit
Zen. The Indian car buyer is
known to be potentially resistant
to retro looks when it comes
down to cars. Zen classic was
launched in the year 2000, when
its competitors were catching
the Indian car buyer. The mass
wanted to switch to more
technological advancements in
their four wheelers. This is what
went wrong with this product.
Zen classic design was more to
attract eastern European
countries.

Maruti suzuki zen classic

When Unilevers star brand Persil

announced the launch of a
powerful new formula, aptly called
Persil Power, many consumers got
excited by the products apparent
ability to fight any stain. However,
when the product hit the market
place in May 1994, it proved so
powerful that under certain
conditions it didnt only destroy
stains, it destroyed clothes as
well.

The battle reached the level of

farce last summer when Procter
and Gamble executives paraded
pairs of boxer shorts in public,
saying that in tests commissioned
by them, Persil Power was found
to have damaged the underwear.

Persil power

 Oranjolt needed to be
refrigerated. The problem
was that Indian retailers
tend to switch off their
shop refrigerators at
night. As a result,
Oranjolt faced quality
problems. The product
has a shelf life of three to
four weeks where other
soft drinks were assured
a shelf life of over five
months. Servicing outlets
was also a problem.
Rasna failed to anticipate
the quality problems it
faced as a result of retail
practices.

Rasna
oranjolt

 Rival Coca-Cola had begun a

"Coca-Cola in the morning"
advertising campaign, yet it
was Pepsi who took the
movement to the next level. In
a bid to capture the elusive
morning beverage market, the
bottler released Pepsi A.M.,
which featured 28 per cent
more caffeine per ounce than
its original soft drink. The idea
flopped, of course, though it's
not known just how much
PepsiCo lost in the botched
experiment.

Pepsi am

 The worst of all bad ideas

must surely be the Thirsty
Cat! and Thirsty Dog!
brands of bottled water
designed for pampered
pets. Although the water
came in such thirstquenching flavours as
Crispy Beef and Tangy
Fish, pets and their
owners remained
unimpressed.

Thirsty
dog and
thirsty cat

Harley-Davidson
launched a perfume
range. The idea in itself
created a confusion in
the masses. It wasnt
clear if it is meant for
bikers who dont want to
smell like bikers, or is it
for the people who want
to smell like bikers.
Simultaneously Harley
Davidson launched wine
coolers, after shave. For
brands that inspire
strong loyalty, the
temptation is to test
that loyalty to its limits
by stretching the brand
into other product
categories

Harleydavidson
perfume

 Virgin Cols was priced

1520 per cent lower
than the two leading
brands, not enough
consumers were being
won over. Part of the
problem was
distribution. Coca Cola
and Pepsi managed to
block Virgin from
getting crucial shelf
space in half theUKs
supermarkets

Virgin cola