If the launch of this new brand had been based upon how many people came to the dealerships, the marketing of the Edsel would have been one of the greatest triumphs in business history. But people hated the Edsel. The four models were large gas-guzzlers at a time when America was going through a recession and people were looking to economize their cars. There were other issues, like the hood ornament that had a tendency to come off at high speeds and come crashing through the windshield. But the size and the problem with the hood ornament didn’t do the Edsel in. The public’s opinion of the way the cars looked did. People made fun of the Edsel, like it was some oddball vehicle for freaks. One of the most offensive aspects was the vertical oval grill on the front of the car. Some said it looked like a toilet seat attached to the front of the car. Others said it looked like huge lips ready to put a gigantic kiss on anyone that got in the way. Over four years, Ford attempted to save the Edsel brand. Whatever they tried, public opinion of the car remained negative and sales sagged downward. They scrapped the brand after the 1960 models came out.

What can you learn about your own brand marketing from the Edsel? There is a tendency in marketing today to think that creating a big event around the launch of your brand is the only thing you need to do to market it. I suppose that is heightened by some popular TV reality shows where groups of people are given a marketing task of creating an event to help sell a product. Big events are great, but a big event is not the end of your marketing efforts, nor is it your beginning. If you try to launch any product or service without the input of your target market, you run the risk of huge failures. Public opinion is king and you should test what people think; what they would like or dislike about your ideas before you try to launch them. Events like the debut of a new car in a showroom are great for awareness marketing, but that awareness has to touch a need or an emotion in your target market to be successful. In fact, Ford brought in Ernest Dichter, a marketing research analyst, after the 1957 debacle to sort things out for them. One of things Dichter told them was they really needed to name the oval grill something that would appeal to men, since men were the primary purchasers of cars in 1957. He suggested they call it a "jet-intake” instead of allowing the grill to be the butt of jokes. Had that advice been heeded prior to the Edsel’s launch, the car might have made it. Trying to convince the public that the toilet seat on the front of the car was now to be considered something else was too little too late for the Edsel.

Here is another really important marketing rule: every product has its time. It also has its moment when its time is either yet to come or has passed it by. Timing is so important to launching a product. Make sure you understand the current mood of the market before you attempt to launch. Test these things out with your customers. If you attempt to lift off without your customers telling you that you have something they would buy, you will end up in the same position as the Edsel.

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Commemorating the Ford Edsel’s Historically Bad Launch: Echoes, by Roger Horowitz, November 29, 2011, http://www.bloomberg.com