A few weeks back the world was awakened to the campaign by a U.S. documentarian to bring Joseph Kony to justice over the atrocities he caused in Uganda.

The video went viral in a matter of hours from being posted as Facebook walls and Twitter feeds joined the campaign. In short, Kony 2012 was a marketing success.

The campaign, however, encountered two major flaws – the critiquing and criticism levied against Invisible Children and the breakdown and eventual arrest of Jason Russell, the man behind the camera (well, at least for most of the doc).

But were those two pieces of the puzzle the end game for Kony 2012? Not necessarily. After all; the campaign had a goal that was, in a way, separate from the above factors.

As you’ll recall, the video ended with a call to action that was to take place this past weekend – a blanketing of posters and flyers that would put “Obey” to shame.

In my travels across Winnipeg between Saturday afternoon and Monday morning, I came across a couple – as in two – in my travels between St. James, River Heights, downtown and the North End of our city.

While the aforementioned fall-aparts certainly had an effect on the downfall of the campaign, I’d argue that the greater failure was because of poor planning. The video hit it big in mid March, five or so weeks prior to the big Kony campaign night. That’s practically a lifetime in today’s electronic world.

The lesson to be learned is simple. It’s great to pre-plan, it’s great to start spreading the word about your product, especially through social media means; but to rely on humans to remember or act more than a month before your event takes place, with no mechanism to remind them of the upcoming event, is just asking for failure.

So as you set out for your next big marketing campaign, remember that there is an important stage between announce and launch – remind.