The 24/7 Wall St. blog reviewed some of the greatest product launch blunders in recent times, including Google Glass, Burger King's Satisfries, the New Coke, and Windows Vista. Hindsight is 20/20, but many of these product gaffes were the result of a company losing focus on what they do best.
For instance, consider the Colgate Kitchen Entrée line (yep, the toothpaste people) first introduced in 1982. For some reason Americans didn't associate pre-prepared frozen meals with the name Colgate. Then there was Harley-Davidson's unfocused ventures into cologne, wine coolers, and aftershaves. They all bombed. In 1979 Clairol came out with Touch of Yogurt Shampoo, which caused confusion as some people started eating their shampoo for breakfast. Or consider PepsiCo subsidiary Frito-Lay's 2005 foray into the lip balm industry. According to 24/7 Wall Street, "While Cheetos has been a popular snack for more than six decades, Cheetos-flavored lip balm failed to catch on with consumers." You think?
