CIM – Great brand blunders

Let’s hear it for the f-word that no advertiser thinks is sexy: failure.

Even the greatest brands make a mess of their marketing from time to time. From crass advertising to stupid stunts, via botched brand extensions, ill-judged promotions, shameless fakery and terrible targeting, it’s all too easy for brands to inflict reputational damage on themselves. This is truer than ever in today’s conversational, social media age in which brands are held instantly accountable for their behaviour in the court of public opinion. So for the smart marketer, the secret to avoiding a calamitous faux pas lies in learning from the missteps made by others.

In his newly published book ‘Great Brand Blunders – The Worst Marketing and Social Media Meltdowns of All Time…and How to Avoid Your Own’, Rob Gray explores almost 200 examples of marketing misadventures spanning Europe, North America, South America, Asia, Africa and Australasia. This presentation, based on Rob’s meticulous research for the book, takes a fun yet insightful look at the reasons behind some notable brand disasters and provides useful tips on steering clear of trouble. Informal discussion of the causes of blunders and best way to fix them will be a fundamental part of the talk.

Great Brand Blunders is a CIM Book of the Month (March 2014) and was described as ‘excellent’ in a review by Forbes magazine.

Speaker: Rob Gray has written about marketing and brands for over two decades. He is a longstanding, regular contributor to CIM’s magazine The Marketer, and since 2000 Rob has worked in a freelance capacity as head of editorial content at the International Public Relations Association, where he is responsible for commissioning and editing the highly respected IPRA Thought Leadership series of essays.

His insightful journalism on brands, marketing and communications has appeared in a wide variety of publications, from leading newspapers such as The Financial Times and The Guardian through to business titles including Marketing, Campaign, Broadcast, PR Week, HR Magazine, The Grocer and Management Today. He also works as a brand storyteller, copywriter and marketing consultant.