Any company in the modern world works and develops in a competitive environment. In pursuit of their own interests, each of them can go very far. State institutions closely monitor these processes.
For example, one of the ways to influence integrity in business is antitrust policy. This is monitored in the requirements of the law on advertising. For example, in Russia and in a number of other CIS countries there is a ban on advertising that mentions or makes a direct reference to a competitive product. Such a move is regarded as unfair advertising, and the customer faces a fine.
But in other countries where advertising war is not prohibited, brands can “step on the tail” of a competitor as much as they like. Consumers are often involved in the process, not only fans of these brands, but also completely indifferent people. They are interested in the intellectual-humorous battle itself. To date, the history of advertising has several high-profile stories of wars. And perhaps the most famous is the advertising war between the two leaders of the automotive industry.
The essence of the phenomenon
It is worth recalling immediately that only the largest brands can afford PR battles. In those countries where the law does not prohibit competitive companies from opening such large-scale shows, there is only one limitation - false information cannot be disseminated.
If we consider the technology itself, then the advertising war appeals to the following factors:
- Companies try to highlight their strengths against the background of competitor weaknesses.
- Emotional connection of consumers. It is believed that there are no losers in an advertising battle. A tremendous response from the audience, even from the category that is not a direct client of the company, will be provided.
- Heated interest in the development technology of the brand. “If you do not want to lag behind competitors, then be two steps ahead” - a recommendation to modern business in terms of technology. It’s not enough to introduce cutting-edge technology. After all, the benefit from them will be when consumers find out about it. Advertising war and healthy competition will help make this the easiest.
Today, you can count several large cases of this format. And they all belong to Western brands with world names. Let's consider some of them.
BMW vs Audi
The whole world knows this story today. Until 2000, the BMW auto industry repeatedly tried to provoke other "colleagues in the field" into controversy. For example, Jaguar and Mercedes. True, they either did not notice, or could not formulate a worthy answer - the war did not take place.
The call was accepted only by Audi. In addition, he managed for years to adequately respond to BMW's provocative statements. The first phase of the controversy began in 2006, when Audi was recognized as the machine of the year in South Africa. BMW then congratulated the auto industry on such an honorary nomination and signed up as a six-time Consecutive Le Mans race winner.
Other players in the auto industry did not stand aside. For example, Subaru. In the same 2006, Subaru released a poster with the text "While BMW and Audi are participating in beauty contests, Subaru won the Best Engine Award in 2006." Even Bentley decided to comment on this game, placing a sarcastic-minded man with an indecent gesture on his stretch marks.
Continuation of a story
The story continued in 2007 in Russia. After Audi demonstrated an advertisement for a new version of the GPS navigator with a Russian-language interface, BMW issued an advertisement stating: “While others translated the navigation, we made the best engine in the world.”
In 2009, Audi decided to be the first to challenge and placed an advertisement with the text "Your move, BMW." A response was received immediately. After a couple of days on the opposite side of the track appeared a banner from BMW: “Checkmate”.
Year 2011
Audi's advertising war with BMW again reminded itself in 2011 in Moscow. BMW auto industry has placed a series of extensions on the Warsaw highway. Streamers were with different photos, but with the same slogan, where he calls himself the word "delight". Experts considered this series of advertising an absurd set of words.
In the same year, the Audi and BMW advertising war reached its climax. In response to serial advertising, Audi decided to pin it short and clearly: “We change your enthusiasm for Audi.” And this was not just a return move, but a real offer. Within a month, it was proposed to deliver BMW cars to one of Audi's salons in exchange for 50,000 rubles and a new Audi.
BMW vs Mercedes
BMW's advertising wars are not limited to one competitor. Back in 2003, before starting Audi trolling, BMW also went through another giant of the automobile industry. The year before, the new Mercedes ML was released. The company's marketers decided to focus on its external beauty and speed capabilities. It was implemented as a new ML with zebra coloring traveling in the desert. So began the advertising war of BMW and Mercedes.
Almost at the same time, BMW is placing a series of stretch marks where the MBW X5 of the leopard shade is chasing and is about to approach the Mercedes. There was no response from Mercedes.
But the advertising war of Mercedes and BMW did not end there. The next stretch was more than sarcastic: the Mercedes wagon carries several BMW sedans. And the inscription reads: “Mercedes can also give pleasure,” thus hinting that the best that Mercedes is capable of is to deliver other brands of cars.
Samsung vs LG
In 2013, Samsung planned to launch one of the most popular smartphone models - the Galaxy series. Shortly before the day of the presentation, the company posted a banner on Time Square with the words "Get ready for the new Galaxy." But few people know that the Korean brand LG for more than 20 years is the most ardent competitor to Samsung. This can be seen from the way she neatly places her extensions over Samsung extensions.
And this time, the company did not miss the opportunity. Stretching LG copied all the style of Samsung and offered to buy LG Optimus G4 right now.
As well as Apple vs Samsung
Galaxy this time became the initiator of trolling. The brand decided to play on the shortcomings of the iPhone 4. Since 2010, many iPhone 4 users have complained about the poor quality of communication. This item was reflected in the advertising of the new Galaxy. True, not a word of mention and without an open attack.
Here, too, competitors turned from words to action. In response to those bloggers who complained about the poor quality of iPhones, Samsung sent out their devices for free. In the future, with the release of each new model in commercials, Samsung focused on the shortcomings of the competitor.
However, the results of this “battle” turned out to be very serious: instead of Apple marketers, the lawyers decided to accept the challenge. They sued Samsung, substantiating their lawsuit with the fact that the company copied some of their technological and design solutions.
But we must not forget that Apple and Samsung are not only competitors, but also cooperate with each other on the supply of parts. Some parts of the iPhone are supplied by Samsung. On this basis, Samsung also filed a lawsuit against Apple. But in the end she lost. Apple won, which demanded that Samsung first get $ 1 billion, and then reduce the amount to $ 550 million.
Coca-Cola vs Pepsi
Another fun “tandem” in the world market has formed between two leading manufacturers of carbonated drinks. The advertising war between them concerns everything: who sells more drinks, who has a cooler can, who has more drinks in a can, who tastes better and who has more offers. It's about Pepsi and Coca-Cola.
Their "graters" originate already from the 1930s! In this “battle," the primary initiator is almost always Pepsi. At the beginning of the 30s of the last century, this company sold its drinks in a volume of 340 ml at 5 cents. "Coca-Cola" cost the same, only the volume of the bottle was half that amount - 170 ml. The Pepsi ad was accompanied by a fun song about “why pay more.”
The result of this advertising campaign was a several-fold increase in sales. By the way, the competition policy in the volume of the drink is still preserved: in Russia, for example, Coca-Cola is sold in bottles of 0.5 liters, and Pepsi - 0.6 liters.
Another vibrant competition scene was launched in 1995. The video begins with a nice picture of friendship between Pepsi and Coca-Cola employees, but at one point they got into a fight over a Pepsi jar.
Thus, advertising wars involve not only specialists, but also people completely indifferent to their products. Skillful play on the competitor’s shortcomings, a touch of humor and an alternative offer contribute to many times more sales.