Marketing Mistakes

"Learn from the mistakes of others. You can’t live long enough to make them all yourself." Eleanor Roosevelt

Electrolux: Scandinavian vacuum manufacturer Electrolux used the following in an American campaign: Nothing sucks like an Electrolux.

Gerbar: When Gerber started selling baby food in Africa, they used the same packaging as in the U.S., with the beautiful baby on the label. Later they learned that in Africa, companies routinely put pictures on the label of what's inside, since most people can't read.

Colgate: Colgate introduced a toothpaste in France called Cue, the name of a notorious porno magazine.

Coca Cola: The Coca-Cola name in China was first read as "Ke-kou-ke-la", meaning "Bite the wax tadpole" or "Female horse stuffed with wax," depending on the dialect. Coke then researched 40,000 characters to find a phonetic equivalent "ko-kou-ko-le", translating into "Happiness in the mouth."

Management Jargons simplified

Dilberted – "I've been dilberted again.”. (To be exploited and oppressed by your boss. Derived from the experiences of Dilbert, the geek-in-hell comic strip character.)

404 – "Don't bother asking him . . . he's 404. (Someone who's clueless. From the World Wide Web error message "404 Not Found," meaning that the requested document could not be located.)

Ohnosecond - That minuscule fraction of time in which you realize that you've made a BIG mistake by sending a wrong mail to right person or vice-versa.

Intellectual Property - Stuff you own that has no visible or tangible value. Next time you have an idea, put a price tag on it. A trumped-up lawsuit can soon make that money a reality.