Stand above your competition; don't kick 'em

It still amazes me that brands continue to take the approach of slamming the competition in order to get their point across. I just don't get it. It seems like the easy way to make a TV spot or advertising campaign. Funny over effective only works for those interested in watching the Super Bowl mainly for it's 30 second sitcoms.

Verizon's "There's a map for that" spots are hilarious. But are they winning cell phone users over? It seems to me that they only focus on AT&T's negatives. The same rings true for the Droid's iDon't campaign. Tell me about the Droid, not what the iPhone isn't.

We live in an age where it is easier than ever to experience a product without first having to buy it. Seeing someone's finger zoom across an iPhone screen two and a half years ago gave you the perfect point of view of how the product would work months before it hit the market. The Droid? I don't know, even without bashing the iPhone, it looks an awful lot like one. Maybe they shouldn't be so hard on them considering they lifted all the product designs straight from Apple.

Now if you think this iPhone-using author is just defending the company like some fanboy, you're wrong. I don't like the "I'm a Mac/I'm a PC" campaign. Again, negativity is the platform for those spots. Sure, they're funny, but the whole approach is the easy way out as far as I'm concerned. I wonder how many people would actually argue that a PC is better than a Mac? Just like I doubt too many would question Verizon's coverage dominance over AT&T.

The biggest aspect of branding that we impress upon our clients is the fact that they must differentiate. We wouldn't advise a client to wage a war on a competitor. If anything at all, it fails to shine the light on you. Isn't that who we should be bringing the awareness to?

Placing the competition's shortcomings under a magnifying glass doesn't make your product stand out. In fact, all it does is start the bickering. I would argue that the true leaders in any category don't bring attention to the competition ... why would they?