What happens when your marketing campaign turns into a nightmare? Marketing is not always as smooth as it could be, below are some humorous examples of seemingly harmless marketing campaigns that quickly turned into nightmares.

1. Marketing nightmares:
Losing control of the funnel

2. While Marketing tries to be as smooth as possible
there are many instances where the processes in
place just break down.
Whether this breakdown is due to a lack of
communication between departments, an internal
joke that never should have seen the light of day
or an email that just never should have been sent,
all these breakdowns have one thing in common -
they are guaranteed to give marketers nightmares.

3. You really shouldn’t have
sent that email...

4. Spare a thought for
Shutterfly who in 2014,
due to a breakdown in
marketing communications,
emailed many of its clients
congratulating them on
their newborn baby, many
of which, of course, hadn’t
given birth...
and nor were they
expecting to.

5. Sales are ignoring you...

6. 80%
Your team have worked round the clock on the new marketing
campaign, the MQLs are flying in and everything is pointing towards a
success when you realise...
of Marketing leads are ignored by Sales and that dream uptick
in revenue has transformed into a nightmare of wasted energy.

7. An internal joke goes external…
LOL :)

8. Rather than sending a real email
to departing customers reading
“Sorry you’re leaving us, please
take time to let us know how
we can improve”, one nameless
individual thought it a good idea
to let loose the internal spoof
email which read...“farewell nostril
hair, we don’t need you anyway”.

9. Everyone is on a different page…

10. The brand image is strong
and clearly defined, only
other departments have
not been listening and the
messaging you worked hard
to create is being diluted
across other channels,
damaging your brand in the
eyes of the
47%
of shoppers
frustrated
with brand
inconsistencies.
THE
BRAND
THE
BRAND THE
BRAND
THE
BRAND

11. breakdown...Automation

12. Athletic wear retailer JD Sports
experienced a marketing nightmare when
it emailed people on their mailing list
thanking them for their recent order...
regardless of whether they had
actually recently placed an order or
not. Understandably panic, outrage and
confusion quickly followed.
RECEIPT
THANK
YOU

13. No one cares...
0

14. 70%
of marketers produced
more content last year
than they did in the
previous year
64%
64% of millennials will
respond positively to
content that is tailored
to their interests.

15. But what if your content is one of the 5000 marketing messages they are
bombarded with every day and they choose to ignore it?

16. The CEO goes rogue
(there’s nothing you can do)...

17. However no level of communication
could have helped the staff of the
major designer who once tried to use
a hashtag about the Cairo uprising to
draw attention to his sale in the US
– but as long as your CEO doesn’t go
rogue, a bit of planning should help!

18. Takeaways
Double, triple, check that the right
communications are going to the right people
Collaborate and communicate to avoid
marketing mistakes
Sometimes marketing nightmares are all but
inevitable, and quick and slick reactions are
all that can salvage your campaign