You know when you’re watching a horror movie and you keep yelling at the TV: “Don’t go in there!” or “Why would you split up?!” Hindsight is truly 20/20, and it’s easy to spot mistakes when you’re watching from outside the situation. Take it from us … we’ve made plenty of hair-raising marketing mistakes that will have you screaming (or laughing) in terror.

Ready to really be spooked? Here are our top three most horrific marketing mistakes:

 

1. Monstrous Misspelling: “I had a pretty noticeable misspelling on a direct mail campaign that was sent out to a large audience. ‘Hors D’oeuvres’ was spelled ‘hors de ouvres’ and we didn’t catch it until after the piece was sent!” Lesson learned: Always double- and triple-check spelling and grammar, especially on printed pieces that can’t be adjusted after the send date. Consider asking for the help of a colleague to take a second look at something, or hire a proofreader!
   
   
2. Spine-Chilling Subject Line: “I sent an email out promoting a trade show that was happening in Chicago, but mistakenly thought it was for our Fort Worth event. The subject line read ‘Howdy Ya’ll!’ and made absolutely no sense for our audience!” Lesson learned: Be sure to send test emails to yourself and other colleagues before sending out the email to the full list.
   
   
3. Petrifying Print Job: “I included a variable rep field on my direct mail piece, meaning that it would fill that line in with the name of the recipient’s personal account representative. The printer misprinted it and all of the pieces were sent from ‘Variable Rep’ instead of a name!” Lesson learned: Don’t rely on the printer to be accurate 100% of the time. Request samples and thoroughly inspect them!

 

And we aren’t the only ones raising hairs! Here are some chilling stories from bigger brands you might recognize:

 

1. Department Disaster: The marketing team running the social media platforms for the Department of Education spooked us all by tweeting a W.E.B. Du Bois quote that included his name misspelled. As if that wasn’t terrifying enough, they responded with an apology tweet that spelled the word “apologies” wrong!
2. Terrifying Translation: Coors attempted to launch their “Turn It Loose” campaign to the international market, not realizing that slang doesn’t always translate directly. In Spanish, the slogan loosely translates to “Suffer From Diarrhea.”
   
   
3. Wicked Whoopsie: On a random Thursday night in June of 2021, unsuspecting HBO Max subscribers received a mysterious email with the subject line “Integration Test Email #1” with a body that read “This template is used by integration tests only.” Apparently, it was a mistake by an intern at the time, and it was sent to millions of recipients.

 

Have you experienced any seriously spooky mishaps? Drop a comment on our Facebook page and tell us your scary story.