Excerpted from The Wall Street Journal “And in This Corner…Marketers Take Some Jabs” by Suzanne Vranica, October 2, 2008
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As the economy gets ugly, marketers are getting nasty too.
From soup companies to pizza chains, marketers are stepping up their so-called attack ads, calling out rivals by name, comparing products and poking fun at competitors.
An example: This week, Domino’s Pizza is giving away oven-baked sandwiches to the first 1,000 customers named Jared — a reference to Jared Fogle, the well-known pitchman for Subway Restaurants…
Just how acrimonious is it getting out there? The National Advertising Division of the Council of Better Business Bureaus, which acts as the ad police, is fielding many more complaints from marketers who believe they are the victim of misleading comparison ads…in August alone, the NAD had 15 advertisers challenge competitive ads that rivals had begun using — compared with six challenges in August 2007. September also saw complaints jump about 50% from last year…
“In a downturn, people are being more and more careful on how they are spending their money, and more than usual you have to make sure you are breaking through and giving them a reason to buy you,” says Patrick Doyle, president of Domino’s USA.
Several weeks ago, Campbell Soup kicked off a big ad effort, created by BBDO, that took on rival General Mills’ Progresso. One print ad shows a can of Progresso with the caption, “Made With MSG,” while a headline above an adjacent picture of a can of Campbell’s Select Harvest reads: “Made With TLC.” The two brands have taken shots at each other in the past, but this is the most aggressive Campbell Soup has gotten…
Meanwhile, Burger King has deployed a steady string of ad attacks against its archrival McDonald’s and other competitors this year. One billboard ad featured a Whopper sandwich not fitting into a Big Mac box with a headline that reads: “SILLY WHOPPER, THAT’S A BIG MAC BOX”…
Comparison ads have been around since the 1970s, when the major television networks lifted a ban on the practice after the FTC publicly began to encourage it. Since then, they have been used to sell everything from antacids to paper towels. The technique is most closely associated with the cola wars between Coke and Pepsi…
With the current financial crisis looking like it is far from over, consumers can expect plenty more attack ads…
Attack ads, when they get too intense, can confuse consumers…The key is some subtlety in the delivery, marketers say. It is “inappropriate to get overly aggressive,” says Colin Watts, vice president and general manager of Campbell’s U.S. Soups…Despite the risks, many marketers say they have scored points with hard-edged ads.
…Campbell Soup’s taste-test commercial was the fifth-most-liked television ad that ran from Aug. 18 to Sept. 14, according to IAG, a Nielsen Co.-owned market-research firm that uses an online panel to measure ad performance.
Edit by SAC
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Full article:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122289868915095901.html
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