Stories about companies failing to do market research are all too common. For instance, the 1990s saw the introduction of a soft drink with little balls of gelatin floating in it. Sounds appetizing – not! Called Orbitz, the product reportedly tasted terrible too. It launched with an incoherent marketing campaign about coming from another planet. Not surprisingly, the product was a bust.
Marketing professionals study such failures and try to learn from them. The point of many lessons is: if only the company had done its market research. Perhaps held some focus groups or blind taste testings. Then the company could have saved its money.
