Sorry you haven't heard from me in a while.
There's been a new trend in advertising that lately has brought back images of medieval duels in 1500s-era France. When you're slapped across the face with a glove, what ensues is a fight to the death. May the best man (or company) win. Now, in advertising, competitors are increasingly slapping each other across the face...publicly.
Mac vs. PC. Powerade vs. Gatorade. Campbell's vs. Progresso. Progressive vs. All other insurance companies. Kia vs. Toyota. The list goes on, and all it takes to see the bloody battles is a search for them on YouTube.
Though comparative advertising is nothing new, the radical increase in the amount of it that has been appearing on air lately is slightly astounding. An article in AdAge brings to light this developing trend, citing the Campbell's soup corporation as one of the many companies for which this type of advertising has worked. In the past year, Campbell's condensed soup sales have gone up 6%, while rival Progresso's sales went down 7%. These commercials feature a blind taste test where cans of Campbell and Progresso are displayed prominently on screen. Other campaigns of this type include Powerade's billboard campaign in which consumers are strongly implored not to drink an "incomplete energy drink," featuring only half of a billboard for Gatorade and an entire one for Powerade directly behind it. Mac's "Mac vs. PC" commecials are becoming sharper and sharper, with future PC's freezing and legal copy pervading the entire screen.
Advertising is competitve, and comparisons between other tangible products are most definitely a workable way to market one's own product, because it prominently displays the benefits of the brand that is being marketed. However, are the increased insults, the snide comments, and the subtle derogatory statements becoming downright mean? If so, is this something that companies should fix, or if it's working for them, should they keep it? Is it ethical to so blatantly drown one's competitors in the sea of not-good-enough products, and even to ruin their painstakingly-established reputations among the buying market?
Is business becoming personal? And is it really ok if it is?
Though comparative ads do have their advantages, it's important to keep in mind the fact that an ad that is too hard-hitting and insulting may have consequences for the entire category in which this brand is marketing. Corporations should be careful about the amount of insults they throw at others, because karma really does come back around.
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I'm no expert on the concept of competition by any means (especially not in the advertising world), but I can definitely say that this trend is not due to business becoming personal.
ReplyDeleteCompetition is generally about doing whatever it takes to win. Ambitious companies and agencies are not concerned about being "mean" or "cheap" with their advertisements or techniques; whatever they can do to sway consumers from other competitors (as well as maintain their current customers) is a tool in their arsenal, even if it means pointing out the flaws of other products or companies in general.
As a matter of fact, this is a rather effective technique in the world of competition in general. In the world of debate, for example, a good opening statement talks about the weaknesses or flaws of the opposing side or view. This is effective because since the bad parts of the opposing argument have already been attacked, it's much more difficult to defend them for the person who has to do so now.
With that said, I love the Progressive commercials. They do something that no other insurance company does; a direct comparison of rates. While the comparisons in the commercials may not be completely sound, the fact that the heart of their advertisements revolve around providing coverage for lower rates than everyone else is a direct explanation for their success, their top 40 ranking in the Fortune 500, and why they hold the number 1 spot for a variety of customer service categories. I've personally made jokes about insurance companies around friends, and have heard people say "I have Progressive and my insurance is amazing".
As one more example before I shut up, Microsoft's new campaign is also a classic example. I think it's called "Laptop Hunter" or something like that. Anyway, the point of those ads is to explain that everything you can find in a Mac, you can find in a PC of the same (or much better) quality for a much lower price. Since this campaign has started running, Apple's value perception has dropped 68%, while Microsoft's has gone up almost 50 (which astounds me). What's even better is that Apple just recently made some counter-ads, and they've had little to no effect on the views of Apple simply being too pricey.
Microsoft is doing an amazing campaign with practically impeccable timing. The economy sucks right now, and this Laptop Hunter campaign whose whole concept is quality for cheap is definitely hitting home with consumers. Apple needs to think of another way to advertise their computer products, because knocking Microsoft is getting old (Mac vs. PC, making fun of the Laptop Hunter commercials...do something other than just "we're better than you").