It’s hard enough to convert consumers to your brand without worrying about competing marketers making similar claims. Though it would be great to have a marketplace all to yourself, the reality is free-market economics and anti-trust laws ensure that brands will forever have to battle against other players in their space, each with their own strengths and weaknesses.
A typical response to adversaries is outward silence, ignoring their existence in public while staking out advantageous positioning behind the scenes. Yet, several case studies show that there are high-profile exceptions to this rule, in which advertisers have found success at the expense of their competitors. With that in mind, we reached out for some expert guidance on using marketing to define the competition.
Any attack ad needs to be pitch-perfect with the rest of a brand’s identity, experts say. Any messaging needs to fit within the nebulous parameters of authentic representation of brand identity. In other words, marketers need implicit permission from customers to throw shade.
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Zach Brooke is a former AMA staff writer turned freelance journalist. His work has been featured in Chicago magazine, Milwaukee Magazine, A.V. Club and VICE, among others. Follow him on Twitter @Zach_Brooke.