That false step, however, it earned Coca-Cola to overcome its rival Pepsi, against whom the classic Coca-Cola won in 1985, just after the withdrawal of the new version market. According to The New York Timesthat error caused an important economic revaluation: a corporate growth of 29%, with a recapitalization of 75,000 million dollars, compared to the 9,000 million of the previous year.
2 | Frozen Colgate lasagna
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Less fortunate was Colgate’s attempt to extend his brand in the 1980s, when the dentiferic company launched a series of frozen dishes, from pizza to lasagna, to eat before brushing his teeth. They did not have the expected success, but quite the opposite. In the books of marketing This case is cited as an example of how the extension of a brand to other sectors can result in an epic failure.
3 | McDonald’s luxury arc
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Together with the Colgate food experiment, the history of business failures includes the luxury arc hamburger (Arch deluxe) of McDonald’s, considered the most expensive fiasco in history. Released in 1996 to attract the most sophisticated palates, this dish was made with top quality ingredients, such as Dijon and bacon mustard. The invention cost the company 100 million dollars, a figure that places this hamburger on the podium of the world’s most expensive failuresaccording to Business Insider.
4 | Frescos tortelli with chocolate
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Italy also had its culinary failure with the tortelli Frescoes with chocolate from Giovanni Rana, launched in 2009. This stuffed pasta was aimed at a sweet -loving audience, which could accompany her with strawberries or grated coconut, either fried or boiled. His life was short: only seven months of production, from October to Aprilfor one of the least appreciated limited editions of Made in Italy (Made in Italy).
5| DeLorean DMC-12
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In the automobile field, among the failed cars is the protagonist of one of the films of greatest cult and success: the Delorean DMC-12, the legendary vehicle of the saga directed by Robert Zemeckis, Back to the Future (return to the future). From this car there were only nine thousand units at the Dunmurry plant, near Belfast, Ireland, between 1981 and 1983. It was soon revealed as A commercial failure due to several factors: limited motor benefits, a price higher than the competition and the increase in production costs in an unfavorable exchange rate. To this was added the scandal that surrounded the owner of the company, John Delorean, accused of drug trafficking in 1982, although he was later acquitted.
6| Apple Newton
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Apple has also committed some slips. The most flagrant was the Newton, a very expensive portable device that did not excite the market in the 1990s, to the point that he was removed by Steve Jobs himself after his return to Apple.
7 | Telephone Amazon Fire
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The Newton caused losses estimated at 100 million dollars, almost half that Amazon Fire Phone, the first, and until now, smartphone of Jeff Bezos. According to The Guardiancompared to the 170 million dollars invested by Amazon, only about 35,000 units were sold in the first month of its launch in the United States. To put it in perspective: the success of a product is considered such when it reaches at least one million units sold in the first thirty days.
8| Videotel
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Another great Italian failure was the Videotel, the failed Italian version of the French Minitel. This telematic information exchange system was developed by SIP, subsequently merged with Telecom. It was first described as a device that fails to achieve audience or performance expectationsin an article of the newspaper The Corriere della Sera of September 20, 1989, cited as a source in the book Videotex relaunchthe Harry Bouwman Y Mads Christoffersen.
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9| Windows Vista
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The record of failed products in the field of technology belongs to the United States, which holds notable failures. It is enough to think about the 500 million dollars spent on a disastrous bet of Steve Ballmer, the former CEO of Microsoft, with the Windows Vista project. Considered as him software less popular in the history of the company, Financial Times He estimates that seen was only used by 19% of PCs worldwide.
10 | Nokia N-Gage
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Finally, the Nokia N-Gage, a portable console that competed with the Game Boy, is considered one of the greatest technological failures according to The Telegraph. Its total sales were around three million units.
Article originally published in WIRED Italia. Adapted by Alondra Flores.
