I learned last night in Evan Davis’s Business Nightmares that “Sunny Delight”, the foul drink masquerading as orange juice, is proof that you can hype anything. It’s also proof of something much more important.

A quick recap then: It was launched in 1996 in the UK with a £10 million promotional campaign, enabling it to become the third most popular soft drink behind Coca-Cola and Pepsi. So what was it that meant it became so popular?

Largely it was the sheer amount of marketing money that was thrown behind it and the fact that the promotional campaigns led consumers to believe that it was a healthy alternative to other soft drinks. It was sold in the cold section of supermarkets, in fridges next to fresh orange juice – a very nice bit of psychological positioning.

It sold faster than the production line could cope with.  And then someone looked at the small print.

Oh dear, oh dear. It wasn’t healthy at all. In fact its main ingredients were corn syrup and water and it contained only 5% juice. The orange colour came from food colouring.  The food commission were on to them and then a little girl turned orange. This coincided with a most unfortunate piece of television advertising showing a snowman turning orange after drinking Sunny Delight.

Sales plummeted.

It has been re-launched three times since then and sales just continue to fall. At one point the drink contained 70% juice and no added sugar but did anyone notice?

No – it was too late.  The consumer had been misled and the product was not what it seemed. They over hyped and under-delivered.

And hype undermines trust. We react badly to having our trust broken. When we have our trust broken by a corporate company we simply stop buying.  And if your customers lose trust in you, it takes a very, very long time to win them back.

Compare the tale of Sunny Delight with this one: We were with our Platinum Group yesterday and one of them has grown his business 30% in the last year. Yes, in 2010/2011.

“Wow – how did you do that?”

“I don’t really know”

Of course he did know – it just wasn’t with a great deal of ‘overt’ marketing.  It was by under- promising and over- delivering; by doing an excellent job; by holding an ethical code that is unusual in the industry and turning business away that breach his code; by having his clients recommend him to others because he does such a great job.

By building trust.

So –long-term thinking or short-term thinking? Building trust or losing trust?

Growing your business or losing business?

Your choice.