BEST and Worst Marketing Ideas . . . Ever!!!

Boost your knowledge from these 13 killer campaigns--and 5 flop marketing Ideas.

Best making the best of a bad image: Las Vegas' "What Happens Here, Stays Here" campaign
After a failed attempt to promote itself as a family destination, Las Vegas finally embraced its Sin City image with its "What happens here, stays here" advertising campaign, launched in 2003. It's still going strong: 2007 marked the city's fourth consecutive year of busting tourism records. "It resonated because it's what people already believe," says Laura Ries, president of marketing strategy firm Ries & Ries.
Lesson : Try to turn negatives into positives.

Best product placement: Reese's Pieces in E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial
Some marketing missteps make you kick yourself. Take Mars Inc.'s failure to take the opportunity to include M&Ms in E.T. After Mars passed, director Steven Spielberg went to Hershey's, which took the offer. It paid off. Time magazine reported in 1982 that Reese's Pieces sales rose 65 percent in the months after the movie's release. Even though the movie never mentioned the name of the product, showing the distinctive orange package was enough, and the placement enjoyed heavy promotional support from the manufacturer.
Lesson: Placing your product in the right media vehicle can boost sales.

Best video ad: Get a Mac
Apple's "Get a Mac" campaign, which launched in 2006, puts the hip, easygoing Mac against the hapless, problem-prone PC. "The message of these ads is clear," says communications professor Stephen Marshall, author of Television Advertising That Works. "Every one of them says, ‘Don't be this guy.' You don't want to be the PC." The TV ads also appeared online, and the company released a series of web-only ads to capitalize on consumer interest in the characters. People got the message--Mac's market share grew by 42 percent.
Lesson: Create engaging characters in your online video to help grow an audience that's receptive to your brand.

Best contest: Nathan's Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest
Launched in 1916, this homage to gluttony plasters the Nathan's name across international media each year. Brothers George and Richard Shea launched the International Federation of Competitive Eating in 1997. The IFOCE organizes and runs more than 80 eating contests throughout the U.S. and abroad, spurring a subculture of competitive eating celebrities who receive international media attention.
Lesson: Don't be afraid to be outrageous if it suits your brand.

Best use of YouTube: Blendtec's "Will It Blend?"
Blendtec, a maker of high-end blenders, created a series of online videos that depict founder Tom Dickson using his durable machine to smash everything from small electronics to sneakers to credit cards. The videos are on Blendtec's site as well as YouTube, where, through viral marketing, some have been viewed more than 5.5 million times. It shows people are interested--and it saves money, since Blendtec didn't pay for all that band-width. Says Ann Handley, chief content officer of marketing information resource MarketingProfs.com, "They created a campaign that really builds brand awareness."
Lesson: Use various tools to spread the word about how your brand is different.

Best slogan: "got Milk?"
What better success benchmark than having your slogan work its way into the national lexicon? It's even better when it includes your product name, says Mitzi Crall, author of 100 Smartest Marketing Ideas Ever. The simplicity of the slogan lends itself to a wide variety of advertising interpretations, ranging from humorous

TV ads to the celebrity-driven milk mustache print series. "The images of glamour and fame contrasted with the hominess of a milk mustache make the versatile tagline a hit," says Crall. A year after the campaign launched in California, the state saw an increase in milk sales for the first time in more than 10 years.
Lesson: Look for slogans that have the potential for longevity.

Best jingle: NBC jingle
If you can name that brand in three notes, it must be the NBC jingle. Of course, repetition over the years has reinforced the brand, but there's more to it. "It's called mnemonics, or sonic branding," says Marshall. "By adding sound to its brand identity, it adds another way for customers to experience the brand. It especially makes sense because it's a broadcast medium."
Lesson: Look for ways to add additional sensory branding elements when relevant.

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5 Worst Marketing ideas . . . ever

While some campaigns are notable for their brilliance, others, well, not so much. Here are five marketing efforts we could have done without.

Worst campaign to trigger a bomb scare : Aqua Teen Hunger Force In January 2007, Turner Broadcasting System Inc.'s promotion of its TV show Aqua Teen Hunger Force, which featured small electronic light boards with one of the series' characters, triggered a bomb scare in Boston.

Worst use of body parts in marketing : Logo tattoos In the 1990s, California eatery Casa Sanchez offered free lunch for life to anyone who got a tattoo of their logo. Nervous about how quickly people were getting inked, the eatery limited the offer to the first 50 people.

Worst sponsorship idea : Bidding for baby naming rights The dotcom era ushered in a (thankfully small) rash of people trying to sell off their children's names for extra dough. Poor little Widget Smith.

Worst campaign character : The Quiznos creatures Superimposed over a Quiznos sub shop were two disturbing, singing rat-like creatures. Fortunately, the shop got wise and ditched them after public outcry. But it's an image that stays with you. Go ahead, look them up on YouTube--but don't say we didn't warn you.

Worst plague-like sweep of viral marketing : Starbucks' viral marketing fiasco A free-coffee coupon sent by baristas with no restrictions circulated the internet, causing an overwhelming rate of renewal. Ultimately the coffee purveyor stopped honoring the coupon, causing a mini controversy.

Guerrilla Marketing for Your Retail Business

Guerrilla marketing is about gaining the maximum exposure for a company, event, product, service or person with the minimum amount of cash. Instead of a big budget, marketers rely on time, energy, information and knowledge to draw a crowd. Does low- or no-cost sound like a welcome relief to your budget? Let’s review some easy-to-implement guerrilla marketing tactics for your retail business.

Many retail entrepreneurs are in a great position to use holidays for promoting their businesses. Every month has a holiday except August. And if you don't find one that fits, make one up: National Haircut Day, Treat-a-Dog Day or Buy Roses for No Reason Day, for instance. These types of themed days can even get you extra media coverage, so be sure to let the media know about your made-up holiday and promotion.

Another way to get press is writing special-interest articles on relevant topics, such as "The History of Valentine's Day" or "How the Poinsettia Became So Popular." Feeding the news community with this information positions your business not only as a resource for information related to holidays, but also as the place to shop for holiday-related gifts.

Other guerrilla ideas for retailers are events or contests. The event could be an open house, or a meet the expert, meet the mayor or meet the press. Contests can be simple, such as guessing the number of roses in a car for a florist or predicting the day a certain milestone will be reached--the thousandth guest or millionth sale, for instance. These suggestions may sound corny, but hopefully they'll get your creativity going.

The most powerful guerrilla suggestion for retailers is to keep track of your customers and prospects. Prospects have already expressed interest in you, so marketing to them should produce sales. Use a guest book in your business or hold a drawing and collect names and contact information from the entries. This pool of prospects will prove more valuable than any mass advertising. And remember, when you get contact information, put it in a database and be sure to get permission from your prospects before e-mailing them.

Guerrilla marketing can--and often will--push boundaries. It’s OK to be on the edge, to test extremes, to get attention and to take calculated risks. Sending seasonal greeting cards falls into this calculated risk category. Imagine getting a greeting card from your favorite retailer wishing you a happy July 17. No special day, really, just an arbitrary greeting--maybe including a promotional offer. People love getting greetings at unexpected times, and you'll get attention for your gesture.

Another easy way to get noticed is putting candy in with each item you sell, which will also help you gain attention and stand out from others. Brainstorm marketing ideas with co-workers and suppliers. Try a few. Repeat what works. Fix what doesn’t. You may surprise yourself with how well your marketing takes off with your budget still intact.