Brands Are Fighting Each Other in Advertising

Brands big and small are jousting with one another through billboards, commercials, and social media, using the barbs to break through the noise and find new customers.

Why It Hits: Attack ads have been around forever, but the overall aggressive culture taking over the advertising world is novel. Ironically, studies have found that the mudslinging typically hurts all the brands involved. But with analysts now saying that Gen Z, in particular, is all for the confrontation (it’s authentic, apparently), picking a fight may actually prove to be a good marketing strategy.

Behind the Billboards: Brands are taking it to the billboards.

• Home-rental company Vrbo put up billboards, including one near the HQ of rival Airbnb, that read, “Airbnb’s hotter, cooler, friendlier long-lost twin that never has hosts.”
• Noise-machine maker Hatch took a swipe at Apple with a billboard saying its new device “Doesn’t have your ex’s number,” complete with an arrow pointing to a neighboring iPhone billboard that reads that the other device “Will let you text your ex at 2AM.”
• Dutch-chocolate brand Tony’s Chocolonely took things up a notch when it satirized rival Mondelez’s Cadbury, which had a campaign called “Made to Share” that suggested the company uses forced labor.
• McDonald’s in China took aim at KFC by saying the chickens that the Golden Arches used in its products were “CFC” (cage-free chicken). They put the billboards outside of KFC locations.

Final Round: Pinar Yildirim, professor of marketing and economics at the University of Pennsylvania, told WSJ that “attack ads can help newcomers establish a presence by associating themselves with a better-known name — even if it’s in a negative way.” But she stressed that “it comes with reputational, financial and, in some cases, legal risks.” Considering how hard it is to stand out in today’s ad ecosystem, brands may embrace it anyway… and just set aside some of the marketing budget for legal fees.

Go Deeper: Some of the best marketing rivalries include Coca-Cola vs. Pepsi, Apple vs. PC, and for you Hollywood heads, WME vs. CAA.