When Marketing Goes Bad

Microsoft is admitting that they didn't really communicate well about Halo: ODST. In fact, the marketing was bungled. Consumers weren't sure whether it was an expansion pack for Halo 3, or a stand-alone game... which lead to mixed reviews, and questions over whether or not it was worth the price.

Not that it's a complete failure, with 1.5 million copies sold so far. (Most publishers would kill to "fail" at that level.) But given the track record of titles linked to Halo, the upside potential was clearly much higher. It does show that all sizes of companies make mistakes with marketing. The trick is being able to recognize that you made a mistake, recognize it as early as possible, and then do something about it. Marketing is a process, not a one-off event. If at first you don't succeed, then maybe base jumping isn't the sport for you. Wait, no, that's not the saying... something about trying again, that's the phrase I was looking for.