A Campaign is Mocked and the CMO is Out

marketing misstepsIt’s important to get your concert halls and state capitals straight, as the marketing director of the Rhode Island Commerce Corp. found out this week.

A video to promote The Ocean State showed a concert hall in Reykjavik, Iceland, instead of the state’s capital, among other mistakes. Rhode Islanders got in an uproar, the governor jumped in and … well … a marketer lost her job.

Other brands have suffered marketing missteps this year, including Coca-Cola. Russia was involved in that one too. A seemingly routine online advertising post that appeared at the end of last month on VKontakte, Coke’s Russian version of the social network Facebook, included a map showing Crimea to be part of Russia. Russian President Vladimir Putin annexed Crimea from the Ukraine in March 2014 outraging many. The New York Times reported that the post drew protests and condemnation from Ukrainians.

Related article:

Starbucks Ends Race Campaign