Calling out the competition in your advertising

Should you? Or shouldn't you? And HOW should you do it if you're going to? ??

I saw an ad on Instagram the other day that made me stop my scroll and think to myself...

"Wow, IF you're going to call out competition... that's a great way to do it."

Because calling out your competition in your ads (or even just your content) can be a dicey game...

Even if you're not naming names.

I've had ads clients before who were all for it.

And I've had clients for whom even the slightest hint toward a competitor made them request a revision.

And no matter what, I will say that whether or not you want to call out your competition is a deeply personal decision for your brand.

You might decide you want to lean alllllll the way in, becoming the Wendy's of your industry...

Or you might decide that it's not for you.

And that's okay too.

Calling out your competition can be risky and it can also certainly stir up drama. Annnnnd it can also lead to creating more brand fans and conversions as a result as well.

I mean, have you seen the Kamala HQ TikTok account?!

But what if you want to just take the concept for a test ride? You want to dip your toe in a bit, in a tactful way that still has the potential to deepen the impact of your ad?

Well, here's that ad I saw the other day that hits the spot on that angle pretty darn perfectly:

And here's why it works so well to call out the competition...?

• They're calling out an entire category of competitors, not just a single brand
• But anyone reading it likely only has one word coming to mind that starts with an O and ends with a C??- Arrae really said it without actually saying it
• They're 'punching up' - they're not trying to take down the little guy or mom and pop brand here, they're comparing themselves to a giant

While I can't see the performance of this ad because they're not my client (and as much as I'd love to have them as a client, clearly they don't need me) I have no doubt that this is a top performing ad for them.

If this feels like a good angle for you or your clients here are your prompts:

1) What are the alternatives to the solution I'm advertising?

2) Is there a whole category I can call out?

3) Does that category have an obvious leader who is a giant/much bigger than me?

4) How is my solution different than those of the above competition?

For example...? Let's say you're advertising a brand of innovative at-home artisan coffee machines that doesn't use pods but is as quick and easy to use as pods. That means your competition of 'giants' is likely Keurig, Nespresso, etc. People love the convenience of these machines, but people who care about creating waste may not love the whole pod thing. Therefore your competition call-out could look like...

Finally... an at home coffee maker you can feel good about saying Yespresso to.? Artisan coffee at home in the same amount of time it takes you to pop in a pod...? Without the waste of one.

And of course, this can be adapted in many ways to more directly call them out, or be even more safe (by taking out the obvious play on Nespresso for example).

Hope this helps to inspire your next high-converting ad.

And while you're at it, optimize your ads for conversions with my FREE optimization checklist here: https://caleydimmock.com/adcreativechecklist

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