Late last year Emergence, Inc. released its annual list, reviewed below, of the biggest brand blunders. The report, quoted in “The America’s Intelligence Wire,” December 20, 2004, noted that building a brand isn’t accomplished overnight, but a brand can be destroyed in an instant. Take a look at last year’s top 10 marketing losers with this warning: Don’t fall into these traps.

Number 10 on the list was Krispy Kreme, which Fortune magazine named as 2003's “hottest brand in America.” But the donut maker’s stock dropped 75% when the SEC reacted to a profit warning and so-called “shady” franchise repurchases. Being on top is not an excuse to get sloppy in your business dealings.

Number 9 is Dell’s DJ, introduced last year to compete with Apple’s iPod. The report suggests that this year Dell has done almost no marketing to support the DJ, and iPod continues
to dominate the market. If you introduce a brand, you need to believe in it and continue
to support it.

Number 8 is Pier 1 Imports for changing its spokesperson from Kirstie Alley to Queer Eye’s Thom Filicia with a resulting 43% profit slide. Looks like a classic case of, “if it ain’t broke,
don’t fix it.”

Number 7 is Fannie Mae, the home mortgage company, which is experiencing an SEC investigation of its own and has allowed its image to be tarnished by the appearance of corporate greed.

Number 6 is Anheuser-Busch, which reacted to threats from competitors Miller and Miller Lite with a commercial war that sidetracked what was a pretty good marketing effort. The report noted that sales of Miller Lite are up, but Bud Light’s are down.

Number 5 is CBS. While program ratings continued to be high, shenanigans at the Super Bowl game last year (the infamous Janet Jackson “wardrobe malfunction”) and the CBS News gaffe about President Bush’s Air National Guard service have taken away from the network’s brand credibility.

Number 4 is “athletes as brands” according to the report. Incidents involving the Olympics, the NHL, the NBA and Major League Baseball have overshadowed their accomplishments on the field. The lesson? Again, you have to constantly live up to the image you have created.

Number 3 is Merck, with the withdrawal of the painkiller Vioxx from the market. Besides the major monetary costs of the debacle, the public is questioning “what the company knew and when,” always an image-killer.

Number 2 is Wendy’s, the fast-food giant that tried to replace the late owner, Dave Thomas, with a cheesy “unofficial” spokesperson last year. Recent commercials are taking a more “reminiscent of Dave” tact, since the new guy had made fun of Dave’s wholesome image and put Wendy’s quality-food image on the back burner.

Number 1 is Barbie, who broke up with Ken after 43 years (to take up with an “Aussie surfer dude?”). Barbie suffered a 13% loss in sales by the third quarter, and a nasty image problem to boot.

There are no guarantees in marketing, but working with an integrated marketing firm can help you pull all the pieces together to reduce your chance of making brand blunders of this kind.