They say that the world of business, especially its marketing aspect, is a cutthroat competition. This is very true for industry leaders, where every other brands’ goal is to replace you at the top of the ladder.
Sometimes, oligopoly in the market is prevalent. We see and favor one brand more than the rest, which gives them some control over how the market moves. To be the best, the highest selling, the top of the top, has become a part of most brands’ vision mission. This means that even one customer who’s making a $1 purchase who preferred the other brand over them is a failure.
With this, we have seen a couple of brand wars that made us hold on to our chairs by their marketing campaigns. It goes to show how companies are not afraid to market themselves in a way that will put their competition to absolute shame.
Aside from getting our attention, we’ve seen a lot of commercials that made us go “Oh no they did not!” while in fact, we want\ed to see more. It is like watching a rap battle! For sure, you have your own favorite commercials that impressed you, but there are few brand wars that have made it to the history books.
Let’s quickly revisit the five most epic battles of brands in history!
1. Burger King vs. McDonald’s
Burger King and McDonald’s are two brands that are not beginners when it comes to brand wars. We can even make a whole article discussing the history of the most epic campaigns from both brands.
We can say that both the fast-food chains are very ‘opinionated’ about the rivalry. Think of them as two of the most outstanding students in your batch who are aiming to be at the top of the class.
In fact, this is close to reality. You see, according to Restaurant Business Online, Mcdonalds and Burger King are two of the highest-grossing burger chains in the US last 2020. So, there’s no question as to why the two are headbutting each other all the time!
One of the most epic advertising clashes between the two brands was aired in France. McDonald’s threw the first punch by releasing a short commercial. In the video, you would see workers setting up a noticeably long road sign, which lists down how long you would travel to get to the nearest Burger King, with the farthest being at 258km. At the end of the video, you’ll see a comparatively short road sign indicating that the next McDonald’s is only 5km away.
What does this insist to the audience? That McDonald’s is much, much more accessible than the other brand.
We have to admit, that was a terrific move from the clown. However, instead of putting up hundreds of stores in France to be more accessible, Burger King won the battle by doing something that even McDonalds would not imagine they would.
Listen here: Burger King used the same commercial. Yes, they did! Of course, they added their own touch to it. In their commercial, what seems to be a happy couple went to a McDonald’s drive-thru. When asked what they would want to get, they insisted to get a tall coffee. The next scene reads ‘Only 253km to go before your Whopper, thank you McDonald’s for being everywhere’. In the end, the video shows the couple enjoying their meal at Burger King and talking about the ride not being too long at all. Hilarious!
2. Audi vs. BMW
You never know when the enemy is going to attack. Sometimes, they are just waiting for the right moment, like what Audi did to BMW.
BMW was promoting the 35th MOA rally at Milwaukee last 2007 through a funny banner that read “A BMW Rally with two nearby service centers. What’s next, paramedics at a chess tournament?”. It was funny and innocent at the same time, but Audi was quick to get on to the fame BMW was getting.
Audi put up a banner promoting their Audi A4, with witty text saying “Chess? No thanks, I’d rather be driving”. It seems to be just a small joke since they did not even mention BMW on the banner. However, Audi was not done. They put up another banner, again, promoting their Audi A4, now with texts saying “Your move, BMW” as if looking for a response.
Well, they got it did they. BMW put up another banner, with their luxury car and text saying “Checkmate”. Done. Over.
3. DHL vs. Other Competitors
DHL takes pride in its accessibility and lead time. They claim to be the fastest among their competitors such as FedEx, UPS, and many more. And so, what better way to prove this to the crowd than by actually using their competitors’ services?
DHL executed its Trojan Mailing mission effectively. You can click here to watch the video.So, like the Trojan horse in the famous Greek story, their competitors unknowingly delivered to different locations signage saying “DHL is faster”. You might ask, how come FedEx and UPS accepted to deliver them? Well DHL coated their slogans with thermo-active foils, which when cooled down appear to be very dark, totally blocking the text, What does this experiment tell us? That it seems that their competitors are not fast enough that when they deliver the slogans, the text was completely visible (because of the time they take). Also, it’s a punch in the gut to see uniformed delivery men carrying the slogans all around the city!
4. Samsung vs. Apple
Samsung and Apple, although both cellular phone creators are very different from each other. Samsung is the king of Android phones, while Apple’s iPhones carry their own system – IOS. More than that, they take pride in different characteristics.
5. Coke vs. Pepsi
For decades, Coke and Pepsi have been sworn enemies of each other. They have a long history of advertisement wars, but the favorite of many would be this one.
In the commercial, a kid goes into the vending machine, buying two cans of Coke. By this time, we all think this is a cute Coke commercial since the kid chose them over Pepsi. Lo and behold, the kid places the two cans of Coke, steps on them, and was able to press the Pepsi button (which was at the top of the vending machine) at last!
Are Brand Wars Bad for a Business
Well, not if you won the battle of the brands! Ha!
Kidding aside, no matter if your competitor made fun of your company or shamed it, bad PR is still PR. Why these brands are still fighting over who the best is means one thing – that all of them do good in their business. There is no need for a company to fight with you if you are not a threat.
However, these brand wars are still fun, overall. They do not intend to call out another brand for something sensitive that will offend viewers and negatively impact the other brand.
What can we learn from these brand wars?
These business wars tell us that marketing is such a big part of any industry, Advertisements make way for business, no matter how huge they are already, to still be a part of people’s day-to-day conversations.
