Marketing's Dumb, Dumber and Dumbest Blunders

Paying a list compiler good money for the one-time use a list of unrelated email addresses, addresses of people with whom you have no previous connection, can - in addition to being illegal - be described as dumb. An "even dumber marketing move" is how one might describe JCPenney's recent switch to a new logo, a switch that totally eliminates all mention of the "Penney" family name. But the dumbest marketing blunder I've ever heard was just today, from of all people the guy who fertilizes my lawn once a month.
The company he works for appears to be a substantial one. I know of no major problems with the present service it provides. The service is good, the price is fair, and the results seem to satisfy virtually everyone who uses them. For all intents and purposes, they've earned their reputation as a lawn care industry leader.
But lawn cared is obviously a seasonal business, right? This firm typically applies its fertilizers, weed killers, along with providing a variety of other services, from April through November. What that means is that there are four months out of the year when most of their technicians are out of work. Or, to be more accurate, out of a job.
Apparently as a means to provide year-round employment for those technicians they would like to keep from year to year, this lawn care specialist has decided to go into "the insulation business."
Even in a good economy - and heaven knows we haven't seen one in years - home building slows down to a trickle between early December and the end of March. What that means for this new venture entering into a completely different industry - insulation - is that its crews are unlikely to be hanging batt-type insulation in new homes under constructions during these months.
The new venture's challenge will therefore be to convince existing home owners that they will be much more comfortable, much warmer, and will save on heating costs - enough to eventually pay for the cost of their added insulation - if they add additional insulation in their attics.
Under the best of circumstances, this new venture into the insulation business might become profitable over time, but that's likely to require it to become a year-round insulation rather than 4-months-a-year business.
Whether year-round or seasonal, this lawn care industry giant is destined to run into competitors, most of them local, a few regional, but with no major insulations companies at the national level. There is no fiercer competitor than a dog who's guarding what he considers to be his own home, no more a fierce competitor than a local or regional insulation firm that's being challenged by the "new dog" on the block.
It would make sense that the new dog - that new insulation company - would want to be as strong as possible when coming into the market, right? Not this one. Which is why I consider its plan to enter into the insulation business one of the dumbest marketing mistakes ever? But don't take my word for it. Would you consider having your home insulated by TruGreen, the lawn care company? Yep, that's the name I'm told the company intends to stay with as it enters the insulation business. Seriously!