Introduction
The curtain is quickly falling, and amidst all of the New Year's resolutions and promises comes the opportunity to stop for a moment and reflect on the whirlwind that was the year of 2011. This was indeed the year that we learned firsthand the difference between "winning" and "failing," and how the definitions of the two can easily be misunderstood, depending on your viewpoint.
In terms of the media centric world we live in, many of us found that the world was moving at unsurpassed speed, where immediate gratification was required and rewarded. Yet, for many advertisers, the limitless speed limit of the social media stratosphere caused its share of accidents and outright collisions.
"With every product update or introduction comes great anticipation, and generally expectations that are loftier than can be met, whether with the iPhone 4S versus speculation of iPhone5 (it wasn't enough of an update), Netflix seeing the growth of streaming and seemingly abandoning DVDs (consumers aren't quite ready to stop watching DVDs), or every one of Facebook's updates to the layout, profile page or newsfeed. (Hate the ticker, love the ticker)," says Adam Shlachter, managing director of digital at MEC. "Consumers have vast demands and want instant gratification by the way of mind reading: The brands and companies they love should understand what they want and expect, whether it's more of the same or something new and radically different."
Undoubtedly, the sheer amount of e-marketing "fails" this year is rather remarkable, and the devastating impact that followed was jarring, resulting in boycotts, rage-filled tweets, and stern Facebook statuses. Often innocent miscommunications resulted in embarrassments and insults and apologies -- lots and lots of apologies. Perhaps there has no other time in our history that something could go from so right to so wrong so quickly.
"As the pace that consumers adopt new technology and platforms keeps quickening, it's tough for companies to keep up, let alone stay ahead," says Shlachter. "At the same time, the rate of change in consumer electronics and across digital media is so dizzying that often consumers are not ready to learn something new."
Rest assured, there is no doubt that these "fails" were planned and executed with only the best of intentions. Perhaps we all are way too hyper sensitive these days, endlessly searching for reasons why something is so wrong before truly recognizing what just might be so right. And does criticism essentially muzzle the daring minds of the young people who make up the future of the advertising industry?
It's your call.
But, as with any year, there are must be winners and there must be losers. Indeed, the following companies learned an important lesson. Because, as with any failure comes the chance to learn something valuable.
In this season of resolutions, we take a look at the top 10 epic fails of 2011.
