My earlier blog about my negative experiences on shifting to Dehradun was easy to write. And fun too. And that sums up in my mind at least the power of negative thinking. As humans we like to break rules, we love to hear stories about other’s woes, we love to gossip about scandals and we delight in running down anyone or anything that has hurt us.

 

On the other hand we find it difficult to praise others, highlight a good deed (unless it's ours), be skimpy in describing negative experience and desist from spreading rumours. I too am guilty of the same. Readers of my blog will assume that I only had bad experiences after shifting to Doon. That's half truth. I had some great and good experiences too but writing them down was no fun. And tell me readers would you enjoy reading a blog which was effusive in praise. Must be paid by the brand/ company would be your immediate reaction.

 

The point I am making is that this is human nature. Negative heroes have been revered through the ages across cultures. Negative heroes now that's an oxymoron at its best. But it's true.

 

So why do we frown when brands get into attacking competition? Why do we become holier than thou when a Pepsi puts down a Coke or Rin cocks a snook at Tide? When a Huyndai puts out a feature comparison ad against a Maruti or GM why do the pundits raise an eyebrow? It's lazy advertising, why is the focus on competition, have you nothing good to say about yourself, are the common refrains.

 

The truth is that if a brand is better than competition let it say that explicitly, without mincing any words. Why do we need to be coy? I would much rather the target audience know that I am better than X or Y than get lost in general niceties like the best or incomparable or unbeatable.

 

The catch of course is that are you, dear brand, really better than the competition? Do you have something relevant for your target audience that can make you stand out? Because you can't fool your target audience. Don't name a silly claim and shout it from rooftop if it is not relevant. I have seen a LG Split AC ad in Doon which says India’s only mosquito repellant AC. Interesting but I am confused. When I use a AC it's in a closed room. The chances of mosquito in the room are small so I for one will not go for that AC. But maybe I am wrong. The point is, if the claim is relevant then be competitive and shout about it, but be sure the claim is relevant.

 

I remember a competitive campaign in the Philippines more than 10 years ago. P&G Safeguard was the dominant anti bacterial soap brand in the country with more than 50% market share. Unilever Lifebuoy which had exited the category in the early seventies was trying to renter the market. It found an Achilles heel in Safeguard’s premium pricing. So Lifebuoy launched on a VFM ( same for less) platform. It's communication was targeted at the mother who claimed that she got the same protection and could use the money saved to buy some extra things for her children, a tug at heart yet effective competitive advertising. The initial response was good and Lifebuoy seemed to have a winner.

But what Lifebuoy miscalculated was that mothers don't think twice about paying a premium for health. Safeguard played on this insight. In another competitive campaign Safeguard recruited some mothers who had tried Lifebuoy and then switched back to Safeguard. In their testimonials these mothers claimed that after switching to the cheaper brand (Lifebuoy) their children started having niggling health issues like cough, fever.. So they switched back…and voila they were protected, again.

 

I may not be accurate about my facts as this is an old case study and I haven't found any old links to these ads but Lifebuoy had learnt its lesson.

 

Looking at it another way Lifebuoy criticised Safeguard for being Premium. The target audience immediately noticed and had their fun. Safeguard criticised Lifebuoy for being irrelevant. The target audience again had fun and sat up to take notice and voted them back.

 

Nothing wrong in criticising, in fact it's a human emotion which a communication campaign can thrive on. Just make sure that you have the last laugh and not the competition, by being relevant.

 

If any of my friends from Philippines are reading this blog, could you source the two campaigns and send me links, please?