Brand New Smackdown

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: is a brand that is entrenched in the market or occupies dominant mindshare, the number two and number three figure that their shares will come at the expense of the number one,” says a marketing executive with a DTH operator.

Taking market share from a bigger rival, by itself, may not be a good enough reason for comparative advertising. “It has to be fact based,” says Sanjay Nayak, president, McCann Erickson Worldgroup, the agency on the SUN Direct account. “The main premise is that you have a certain superiority—it could be technology-based, or price-based or whatever. Only then does a side-by-side comparison make sense.” Bottomline: You must have some news to deliver about how your product can change the life of the customer.

“An advertising strategy driven out of a customer relevant opportunity backed with smart execution rarely backfires,” says Sanjay Behl, group head, brand and marketing, Reliance Communications, which operates BIG TV DTH that made headlines last year with its launch ad showing a red sofa that looked suspiciously similar to the one in the teaser ads of Airtel DTH.

Such comparative advertising is common in the West, wherein brands actually name competition and take digs at each other. “They are allowed by law to do so,” points out Sinha. “In India, while libel and slander cases are not so rampant, we really haven’t seen much of direct comparative advertising earlier, ads in which brands are actually naming the rival.”

Admittedly, comparative advertising is not a new monkey. Indian advertisers have, in the past, used the technique to attract the fragmented attention of the consumers. It is also not difficult to remember the instances of brands taking potshots at a rival brand’s communication ideas, even when there was no proven superiority to talk about. Pepsi, Sprite and Thums Up have routinely made pointed references through their communication. The ‘zara fresh socho’ campaign for breath freshener Clorets—where Clorets takes a dig at Chlor-mint’s wisecracking duo— some years ago, is among the more memorable examples. Again, when Bombay Dyeing’s premium shirt brand Vivaldi made jest of Peter England and Allen Solly, lampooning their alter ego and Friday Dressing concepts, there was no major surprise except for the fact that Bombay Dyeing is seen to be far too laid back to do something like that.