ABSTRACT
Tom Eisenmannn's book, Why Startups Fail, has relevant insight for branding failures. Brand initiatives, like startups, must manage four risks: Demand risk; R&D risk; implementation risk; and financial risk. The onus is on the brand team to identify and confirm the size and mindset of target prospects to avoid the Demand Risk mistake. Experience with other brand introductions taught readers that the trial and conversion of prospects to users was much stronger via door-to-door sampling vs all other sampling programs. The lesson was that the most expensive sampling program was the cheapest way to build a brand. People are invested heavily in a door-to-door sampling program giving prospects the opportunity to sample Gain for several wash loads. There were a number of other, less costly sampling programs, e.g., a coupon for a free box of Gain. A cheaper sampling program would have built a smaller business.
