Upon briefly discussing the advertising war between the car companies (Bentley, Subaru, BMW, Audi) in class, I thought of other industries and the companies that dominate them. Not only in the auto industry is there fierce competition, it exists (and has existed for years) among the carbonated beverage heavyweights Coca Cola and Pepsi.
Here are a few examples between Coke and Pepsi:
The rivalry has also spurred some of loyal customers to take action:
A small South Korea-based marketing blog, Ad Design Hub, posted a few examples of comparative advertising among competitors:
It’s interesting to see how companies react and behave in response to the actions of their competitors. Usually these advertising tactics employed by competitive rivals in an industry poke fun at the opponent. Ethics can also come into play when a company is putting down one of their competitors. I do think this kind of advertising has a profound effect not only on the customers but also on the employees and shareholders (these advertisements can stimulate pride and confidence in the company) which are an incredibly important part to a company’s further growth and success.
However, sometimes competitions and advertising or comparing products can go awry. A fellow marketing student here at UBC gives some interesting insight on the conflict between Facebook and Google, another example of a marketing war. See Rose Koo’s article.
Sources: Ad Design Hub, Advertising Wars article on 10steps blog