A lesson from Interscope Records: Don't forget the little details
OneRepublic's new album "Waking Up" is one of the hottest music releases of the fall. This is a big, Christmas-sales-ready release from Universal Music Group's Interscope Records (home to U2, Black Eyed Peas and other hot acts), with heavy publicity and hype behind it.
So when my sister-in-law rushed off to Target Tuesday to get the deluxe edition, I was shocked to see such a big marketing mistake on the packaging: the Web site for the record label on the back album cover was spelled wrong! Interscope.com is spelled out instercope.com, which as you'll see from the link, basically gets you nowhere.
You'd expect this thing, maybe, from a tiny album on a tiny record label - but from one of the fall's biggest releases on a subsidiary of one of the world's largest record labels? Bad form.
The lesson here: no matter how big in scope your marketing task is, don't forget to check the minute stuff. Otherwise, you can make a big marketing mistake and look stupid in the process.
UPDATE (POSTED DEC. 3): I found another OneRepublic related marketing mistake people! The Web site states the band is slated to appear on The Late Late Show with Craig Kilborn this Friday. Craig Kilborn hasn't hosted the Late Late Show in five years.
What is going on over there?
Comments
This is a great reminder to all of us. But never forget the saying Ready, Fire, Aim!
Posted by: Matt Richling | November 19, 2009 2:26 PM
Really stupid mistake. So small stuff and so big mistake.
Posted by: ilona@israel | November 22, 2009 5:32 AM
Wow. That is an absolutely huge mistake!
Posted by: sioux city used cars | November 30, 2009 2:21 PM
It shouldn't matter if you're big or small, typos will kill your credibility. And it's ultimatley your responsibility as the client to catch them -- don't blame your agency!
Posted by: Laurie Turner | December 1, 2009 5:49 PM
Great point Laurie, and everyone else. Many thanks for your comments.
This of course isn't the biggest marketing mistake in the world, and there's going to be plenty of bigger ones in the near and distant future. But this was a careless error nevertheless that could, and should, have been avoided.
Keep an eye out all. Don't be so distracted by the big picture that you forget the little details. And make sure you have good copy editors!
Posted by: Piet | December 2, 2009 12:07 PM
not to mention that "media" is spelled "meida" in the website's footer: http://bit.ly/8lZmwr
Posted by: Ryan | December 8, 2009 6:43 PM
Wow, good eye Ryan. It's official - OneRepublic is in desperate need for a copy editor.
Posted by: Piet | December 9, 2009 9:03 AM