Praise Your Brand Competitors

“Our brand is better than their brand,” outsells, “Their brand is worse than our brand.” Researchers at Duke University and University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee go beyond this to recommend you explicitly praise your direct brand competitors. The praise improves consumer attitudes toward your brand, involvement with your marketing initiatives, and intentions to purchase your brand. The researchers attribute these payoffs to shoppers perceiving a brand which praises others as warmer, and shoppers value warmth in brands, all else being equal.
     Still, all else is not equal when it comes to brand warmth. Often, shoppers’ perceptions of greater brand warmth are accompanied by their perceptions of lower brand competence. It might seem then that when your brand starts praising the competition, your brand could come across as falling behind in quality. The message becomes, “We wish we were as good as their brand.” That would seem to require adding, “And you can count on us striving to get there.” There is an appeal of the underdog who tries harder.
     But all these twists turned out not to necessarily be a concern, according to the studies. Instead of the praise of competitors portraying a shortfall of competence, the praise had the opposite effect. People said something like, “What they’re doing requires confidence of the sort which comes from them already delivering top quality themselves.” Moreover, competence could be portrayed by adding specific evidence, such as customer recommendations or helpful information, in marketing materials.
     There are limits on this effect of gains from praise. Complimenting another brand which is not a direct competitor to yours isn’t as meaningful. And organizations which already enjoy perceptions of high warmth, such as charities, won’t see as many additional benefits from praising direct competitors for the consumer’s expenditures.
     On the other hand, the effect is enhanced among shoppers who are initially skeptical of the brand’s claims. The praise of the competition sidesteps suspiciousness of the brand’s true motives.
     Sometimes the praise of a competitor comes in the form of a referral which benefits the shopper and the seller. An art dealer says, “You’ll notice that this painting is unframed. We sell frames in our store, but I suggest you consider looking for a frame at the frame warehouse two blocks from here. We carry picture frames as a convenience for our customers, but the frame warehouse specializes, so they have a broader selection and better prices.”

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Combine Competence with Warmth 

Boast About Underdog Determination 

Level with Shoppers about Competitor Upsides