TD Fall Investing GuideTD Fall Investing Guide
Business Insider
Fri, 16 Nov 2012 10:00:00 GMT | By Max Nisen, Business Insider
15 lessons from the greatest business failures of all-time

Remember that nobody wants the ‘most efficient cigarette in the world’



R.J. Reynold's 'Premier' cigarettes were not popular with consumers. (© Eric Feferberg/AFP/GettyImages)
Next
Previous
Previous
  • LA Gear, Mattel's Barbie and Kmart (© Courtesy LA Gear; Solent News/Rex Features)
  • The Myspace.com website is displayed on a computer monitor on June 29, 2011. (© Jin Lee/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
  • R.J. Reynold's 'Premier' cigarettes were not popular with consumers. (© Eric Feferberg/AFP/GettyImages)
  • LA Gear (© Courtesy LA Gear)
  • Entrepreneur Richard Branson (© Maxim Shemetov/Reuters)
  • Coca-Cola launched New Coke in response to the Pepsi Challenge. (© Daniel Acker/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
  • Netscape founder Mark Andreesen made the mistake of ignoring his company's main success, its Internet browser. (© Courtesy of Computer History Museum)
  • A scratched and worn Caterpillar logo. (© Richard Carson/Files/Reuters)
Next
Eric Feferberg/AFP/GettyImagesShow Thumbnails
Previous3 of 16Next
Share this Gallery

Remember that nobody wants the ‘most efficient cigarette in the world’

R.J. Reynolds spent more than a billion dollars developing the "Premier," a cigarette that used a complicated system to make it cleaner burning and less toxic to smokers. Smokers hated it. It tasted strange, was hard to light, and made it more difficult to inhale. R.J. Reynolds created the world's most efficient cigarette that nobody wanted. 

The best leaders don't make assumptions about customers, they serve them. 

* Video: Should junk food carry the same warnings as cigarettes?

Have your say

Should new wireless companies Mobilicity, Wind Mobile and Public Mobile be allowed to fail?

Thanks for being one of the first people to vote. Results will be available soon. Check for results

  1.  
    56 %
    Yes, the market will decide if they are competitive enough to survive.
    2,232 votes
  2.  
    35 %
    No, the playing field in the wireless market is not level. The government should help these companies.
    1,417 votes
  3.  
    9 %
    I don't know.
    383 votes

Total Responses: 4,032
Not scientifically valid. Results are updated every minute.

Money videos

Recently recommended stories