What is Comparative Advertising? [+ Examples]

 Advertising is the process of creating messages that raise awareness of your brand.


These messages can have various purposes like attracting potential customers, promoting upcoming sales, and introducing new products to market. Most advertisements center around one business, but a unique type, called comparative advertising, centers around two.


When done right, comparative ads can successfully convince consumers to do business with one brand over another. But, when done wrong, companies may find themselves in the middle of a lawsuit. Given this, using comparative advertising requires care and attention.


In this post, we’ll explain what comparative advertising is, give examples from real-life businesses, explain the legality of using the strategy, and present pros and cons that you can use to make the best decision for your business.


Download Now: Free Ad Campaign Planning Kit

What is comparative advertising?

Comparative advertising is a technique that involves presenting a product or service from your business as being superior to a similar product or service from a competitor.


These ads can directly or indirectly mention a competitor, but consumers can typically deduce who the other business is through product features and call-outs. Comparative ads also give customers a direct point of comparison between two companies, as they can view products and assess features all at once, rather than needing to seek out information from multiple sources.


Although they may feature two businesses, it is important to note that one company creates the ad for their benefit, so its tone is swayed in their favor. That being said, businesses aren’t allowed to make false claims about their competitors, so consumers are presented with factual information.


There is no set template for comparative advertisements; they can be digital or print, videos or images, humorous or serious. Many businesses take advantage of 21st-century viral culture and share ads on social media platforms and capitalize on the traffic from likes, retweets, follows, and shares.


Comparative Advertising Examples

Below we’ll go over some real-life examples of comparative advertising to help you understand the practice.


Popeyes

Popeyes is an American fast-food chain that serves fried chicken. Chick-fil-A is their direct industry competitor, well known for being closed on Sundays.


Popeyes capitalized on this and created a comparative advertisement that emphasized that their restaurant is open on Sundays, ready and able to serve consumers every day of the week, especially while Chick-fil-A takes a day off. The video is shown below.



Sprint

Verizon, a cellular provider, used the same actor as the face of their commercials for nine years. Sprint, an industry competitor, poached the actor in 2016 and used his switch to their service to take a unique approach to comparative advertising.


In the video below, Sprint essentially says, if a long-time, loyal Verizon actor can switch to Sprint, why can’t you change as well? The business positions itself as a qualified competitor by saying that their cell phone service has a 1% difference in coverage than Verizon.



 


Cocoon by Sealy

Casper is a well-known mattress brand that has managed to garner significant hype and recognizability for its products.


Cocoon by Sealy, a direct competitor, uses comparative advertising in search engine result pages (SERPs) to target Casper’s intended audience. The company placed a paid ad in a SERP for the term Casper mattress (shown below), with the headline “Don’t Buy the Hype, Shop Cocoon & Save Hundreds.”


paid ads top result in google search engine results page for "casper mattress" query


Cocoon claims that its competitor is only a competitor because people buy for the name-brand hype. If a curious consumer clicks on the ad, they learn that Cocoon offers mattresses that are worthwhile because they are conducive to peaceful sleep and are affordable (displayed in the image below).

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

6 Advertising Tips to Draw Customers In

Image
  This ad successfully combines humor and relatable language to compel me to subscribe — additionally, it solved a "problem" (learning how to cook pasta) I didn't know I had. Those are three elements that can make an amazing ad. Oftentimes, marketers assume a good ad can only be made with a big budget. They also believe ads are most effective if they're busy or loud. While these factors   do  contribute to an enjoyable ad experience, ads certainly aren't limited without them. In fact, some of the most effective ads I've come across have none of them. The ad above, for example, isn't busy or flashy at all, yet it's still an example of a good ad. In this post, let's explore six components for creating a good, engaging ad. What makes a good ad? A good ad engages consumers. Whether the ad makes consumers click to learn more or enter a store, it employs different methods to make consumers stop and pay attention. These methods can include customer testim...
Read more

How to Use Smart Content to Take Advertisements to the Next Level

  Every publisher wants to stand out from the crowd, but the days of one-size-fits-all content creation are over. The reason why? Content marketing is a double-edged sword. As companies realize that it works, they want to invest in it more—which means that there’s more information being published on the Internet than ever before. Some media companies are responding and trying to outsmart the crowd by producing more content, generating more listicles, and writing more ‘quick wins’ and listicles. But keep in mind: many consumers view these actions as noise. The tech savvy ones, especially, will see more and just get annoyed. Their screening criteria is also becoming stricter: according to one stat, human beings have an attention spans worse than goldfish, according to Microsoft (seriously: check it out—it’s a cool study). That’s why smart content is so important. It’s also a powerful value proposition for advertisers who are looking to reach the right audiences with the right me...
Read more

Negative Impacts of Advertising

 Now you've done it: Your small business has finally gotten to the point where you can commit to regular advertising buys, and now you've opened the door of criticism to people who wish to remind you of the negative impacts of advertising. Yes, some sour grapes may be leading the charge, but there's no denying that bad, manipulative and poorly executed advertising gives all advertising a bad rap. Your best strategy? Size up some of those negative impacts so you can be prepared to quash those sour grapes. Charge No. 1: Advertising Encourages Monopolies Advertising doesn't come cheap. It's never come cheap. And even if you've been indoctrinated in the ways of inbound marketing and the more cost-effective tactics you can use to lure new customers to your website, advertising still represents an investment. For this reason, advertising has long been considered the domain of big businesses with deep pockets, which critics say gives these businesses a competitive adva...
Read more