What causes some marketing campaigns to go spectacularly wrong? Why might new product launches, publicity stunts or rebranding exercises be doomed to failure? How can you prevent a social media backlash spiralling out of control? When should you apologise, cut your losses, make a U-turn? Great Brand Blunders takes an informed and at times acerbic look at the worst marketing and social media disasters of all time - and treats them as an amazing learning opportunity. The first book for several years to examine brand failures - and the first with a special focus on social media - Great Brand Blunders offers a mix of entertaining commentary and authoritative advice, and features several first-hand interviews with those involved. A fascinating roll-call of over 150 A-list brands in sticky situations, the book will be required reading not only for professional marketers, academics and students, but for anyone interested in the gritty stories and testing challenges that lie behind the polished brand images marketers hope to present to the public. From awful advertising to ridiculous brand extensions, via misguided sales promotions and ill-conceived social media activity, Great Brand Blunders pulls no punches, putting rash decisions under the microscope and offering advice on how to avoid landing in the same foul mess yourself.

It's not just smaller, lesser-known companies that have launched dud brands. On the contrary, most of the world's global giants have launched new products that have flopped - spectacularly and at great cost. Haig organizes these 100 ""failures"" into ten types which include classic failures (e.g., New Coke), idea failures (e.g., R.J.Reynolds' smokeless cigarettes), extension failures (e.g. Harley Davidson perfume), culture failures (e.g., Kellogs in India), and technology failures (e.g., Pets.com).

One of the most respected marketing gurus in the world shows why some of today's biggest brands are having trouble and how to avoid repeating their mistakes. It wasn't long ago that Levi-Strauss, Xerox, Crest, AT&T, Firestone, and Digital Equipment dominated their respective markets. What happened to undermine their standings and of those of other superbrands? Are their declines simply the inevitable consequence of change and the birth of new competition? In this important predecessor to the classic Differentiate or Die, "the king of positioning," Jack Trout answers that question with a resounding "No!" Writing in his signature, straight-from-the-hip style he reveals the disastrous marketing and strategy blunders that led to the dissolution of the most recognized superbrands. He clearly shows how those mistakes could have been avoided. With the help of in-depth case studies chronicling the events leading up to the falls from grace of Sears, Miller Brewing, Xerox, Crest, Burger King, and other past market leaders, he identifies the ten most common mistakes that big brands make, and he develops a set of expert guidelines for marketing managers and executives on how to build, protect, manage, and expand their companies' brands and avoid brand-killing blunders.

Drawing on the lives of five great scientists, this “scholarly, insightful, and beautifully written book” (Martin Rees, author of From Here to Infinity) illuminates the path to scientific discovery. Charles Darwin, William Thomson (Lord Kelvin), Linus Pauling, Fred Hoyle, and Albert Einstein all made groundbreaking contributions to their fields—but each also stumbled badly. Darwin’s theory of natural selection shouldn’t have worked, according to the prevailing beliefs of his time. Lord Kelvin gravely miscalculated the age of the earth. Linus Pauling, the world’s premier chemist, constructed an erroneous model for DNA in his haste to beat the competition to publication. Astrophysicist Fred Hoyle dismissed the idea of a “Big Bang” origin to the universe (ironically, the caustic name he gave to this event endured long after his erroneous objections were disproven). And Albert Einstein speculated incorrectly about the forces of the universe—and that speculation opened the door to brilliant conceptual leaps. As Mario Livio luminously explains in this “thoughtful meditation on the course of science itself” (The New York Times Book Review), these five scientists expanded our knowledge of life on earth, the evolution of the earth, and the evolution of the universe, despite and because of their errors. “Thoughtful, well-researched, and beautifully written” (The Washington Post), Brilliant Blunders is a wonderfully insightful examination of the psychology of five fascinating scientists—and the mistakes as well as the achievements that made them famous.

Apple Computer was once a shining example of the American success story. Having launched the personal computer revolution in 1977 with the first all-purpose desktop PC, Apple became the darling of the national business press and Wall Street. Yet by 1995, the company's change-the-world idealism had all but disappeared in a bitter internal struggle between warring camps. Raging internal mistakes, petty infighting, and gross mismanagement became Apple's hallmark, and today the company clings to a mere 3.7 percent share of the market it helped to create. Apple is the spellbinding account of what really went on behind closed doors, revealing the forces that dismantled this once great icon of American business.

A witty, fast-paced guide to eliminating those annoying and frustrating French bloopers Mixing genders, inverting subjects and objects, and trusting false cognates are just a few of the blunders English-speaking French-language learners commonly make. In Correct Your French Blunders, veteran French teacher Véronique Mazet identifies these and other common trouble spots and clearly explains the reasons behind them. You will discover how grammar patterns of French differ from those of English and why trying to translate word for word, structure for structure, from English, can lead to big trouble. You will learn to break bad habits and correct your mistakes while developing a much more natural feel for French language patterns with the help of: More than 1,000 highlighted examples of common blunders to avoid A free app available on iTunes for interactive practice for obliterating those blunders Numerous examples and practical exercises Quick-reference panels for checking correct tense forms A "Hall of Shame" compendium of bad errors to recognize and correct

churchfails is a collection of 100 articles describing people who claim to be Christians doing foolish things. Each article will include a picture of the subject. From the Introduction: "Groucho Marx once said, “I refuse to join any club that would have me as a member.” If Christianity is a club, it has featured innumerable inglorious members. As abashed affiliates of said club, what can we do? We can try to deny our past and present peccadilloes, but covering up a crime is like poking a polecat—it’s worse in the end. So, we can rant and rave, or we can laugh and learn. This book settles on the second strategy."