Marketing Mess-ups

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Episode 2 of 3

Duration: 1 hour

Evan Davis uncovers the astonishing inside stories of how some of world's most successful businesses have made monumental mistakes. With British business leaders including Sir Richard Branson, Sir Martin Sorrell and Rita Clifton, Evan reveals how marketing and publicity plans can turn from clever ideas into commercial catastrophes.

Company insiders give their own accounts of these very public blunders, including how a bestselling soft drink hit the headlines and fell from favour; why there was such a backlash to a blip in a computer giant's usually faultless PR handling; and how a jewellery empire was toppled with a few careless comments. Evan extracts universal lessons from each exceptional error in this essential guide to what not to do in business.

Last on

Thu 7 Jul 2011 01:00 BBC One Northern Ireland only

See all previous episodes from Business Nightmares with Evan Davis

Music Played

27 items

  • The Joke, The Telephone Call, The Scoop

    Gerald Ratner built up a jewellery empire, adding H. Samuel and other chains to the stratospherically successful Ratner Group. But it's Ratner's jokes about his products that have gone down in business history. Ratner's quips made in a speech at the Albert Hall were front-page news because he was one of the most famous businessmen in Britain, but there was also a personal agenda that motivated one of the reporters who broke the story.

    More than twenty years on, Gerald Ratner does not recall the phone call journalist Harry Arnold describes, but here Arnold explains why he was so very keen to get his scoop…

Credits

Series Producer
Ruth Shurman
Presenter
Evan Davis
Director
Graeme McAulay
Producer
Graeme McAulay
Executive Producer
Dominic Crossley-Holland

Broadcasts

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