Anti-Competitive or Competitive Advantage?

It used to be the view that brands should never mention competitors in their adverts. The reasoning was that why would you want to give them any exposure? You’re basically giving them free publicity, especially if we’re following the wisdom, ‘all publicity, is good publicity’. There are also various legal battles that one could face through mentioning that your brand is better/cheaper than another brand, although the rules have been relaxed since 2008.

In the battle of the supermarket supremacy this age-old wisdom has been replaced with what seems like a surge in comparative advertising. Take for example the Tesco versus ASDA price comparison war. We’ve even had the more upmarket supermarkets such as Waitrose creating adverts to say they’re as cheap as Tesco on a range of branded products, in a bid to keep their shoppers in times when people are tightening up the purse strings. But since every supermarket seems to be claiming they’re the overall cheapest it’s left us wondering; can they all really be the cheapest? And doesn’t it eventually become a bit like political parties – who do you trust?

However, there may be smarter ways to beat the competitor, and the recent campaign by Newcastle Brown Ale shows how well parody advertisement can work in the right environment. The creative is based around the heavyweight advertising Stella Artois campaign, with the tag line ‘It’s a Chalice, not a glass’ trying to give the brand a slightly more glamorous edge. Newkie Brown took this and turned it on its head, ‘Who uses the word “Chalice”?’ implying that Stella Artois are trying to make their drink seem fancy when it really isn’t. Whereas Newkie Brown are far more down to earth, and with a ‘no bollocks’ attitude – and note they didn’t have to mention Stella for this campaign to work.

In the fundraising world creating a unique place in the hearts of potential donors is vital. You’re certainly not going to see charities comparing themselves to other charities, as it’s not going to win the hearts of their potential donors. Or are you? We all know money is really tight at the moment with donors rationalising the causes they’re going to support so maybe there is a place for some healthy knocking copy…

Felicity Bramald, Media Planner Buyer