What Is Comparative Advertising?

Comparative advertising is a type of advertising strategy in which a company markets its goods or services by comparing them to a competitor’s brand. A comparative advertising campaign positions a brand’s product as superior to a competitor’s product. Common examples of comparative advertising include cost comparison, blind taste tests, customer reviews, and side-by-side visual comparisons. This is a common advertsing strategy among automakers, fast food chains, and tech companies.

Advantages of Comparative Advertising

1. Creates brand differentiation: If a company is operating in a market saturated with similar products, a comparative ad campaign can help make a company’s product stand out among the crowd. For example, a tech startup could create a comparative ad campaign detailing the specific digital features of their financing app in comparison to a competitor’s app.
2. 2. Builds brand awareness and bolsters customer loyalty: A comparative ad campaign can help create brand awareness by highlighting your product’s superior features—especially if a competing product has more market share. In addition, comparative advertising can validate current customers’ purchasing decisions, helping build a loyal customer base.
3. 3. Helps influence consumer purchasing decisions: Consumers are not always aware of the purchasing options available to them. Comparative advertising can help consumers make an informed decision over which purchases they choose to make. A company with access to market research could benefit from publishing consumer feedback that casts a positive light on their product versus a competing product.
4. 4. Helps small companies tap into the market share of larger competitors: Including the brand names of larger competitors as part of a search engine optimization (SEO) strategy can be beneficial for smaller companies. With a well-executed SEO content marketing strategy, consumers could stumble on a smaller brand when searching the internet for a digital competitor.

Drawbacks of Comparative Advertising:

1. Can cast your brand in a negative light: When a big company uses a competitive advertising marketing strategy to disparage a small business with less market share than their own, they run the risk of looking like a bully.
2. 2. Requires thorough knowledge of advertising law: In the United States, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) regulates the types of comparative claims a company is allowed to make. It is unlawful for a company to make false claims about competing brands. At the federal level, a piece of legislation known as the Lanham Act governs comparative advertising disputes. Each country has its own rules regarding comparative advertising. For example, in the UK it is illegal for a company to use a competitor’s marketing trademark.

Best Practices of Comparative Advertising

Be Funny and Lighthearted

By making content funny, businesses take less of a risk of being seen as the bully. Instead, by telling a joke or two, or by making their copy or videos amusing, they will be able to make comparative advertising like a playful banter between two friends.

Not only that, but people will prefer funny content over something more serious. In fact, 53% of consumers say they remember and enjoy an advertisement if it is humorous.

Be Innovative

Just as nobody likes bullying, nobody likes seeing the same advertising technique being used in the same way time and time again.  So if you want to use comparative advertising, make sure you come up with some ingenious copies, visuals, or videos.

Visuals usually work great when it comes to any kind of advertising, really. But if you have the means, we recommend you try making a video.

Be Objective and Factual

If being funny doesn’t really align with your brand’s image, then going on the other route can also be an option. You just have to present two products in comparison as objectively as possible. While also being able to present factual and proven information.

Guesswork is not acceptable when it comes to comparative advertising. Performing studies and fact-checking are necessary, especially if you want to do a good job and avoid legal complications.