5 Great Advertising Wars Between Big Brands

An important part of marketing is making sure that you separate yourself from the competition. And the competition is growing stronger each and every day. This constant battle of trying to be on top sometimes leads to a little friction between brands, which sometimes even leads to a so-called brand war.

When there is a real brand war, the competing brands do everything in their power to bully each other. The biggest challenge has been quickly reacting to all the small jabs. So how do the big brands go about it? In this blog we made a list of five exciting battles between big brands.

BMW vs Audi

BMW and Audi are known for going at each other for quite some years now. Whether it is about car awardshows or new car models, they keep throwing jabs. The above example is one of the most well known brand battles ever. Audi’s ‘Your Move, BMW’ billboard was very quickly followed up by BMW’s even bigger billboard with ‘Checkmate’ on it. That’s how you do it. The two brands kept the chess theme going after that:

Pepsi vs Coca Cola

The two biggest Coke brands on planet earth – Coca-Cola and Pepsi – have been fighting for the throne for years now. This has also resulted in some back and forths between the two. The above examples shows how important it is to react fast. Pepsi’s designers barely had to put any effort in at all, they just very cleverly changed the text.

McDonald’s vs Burger King

The world’s two biggest fast food giants also like to go after each other: McDonald’s and Burger King. It’s usually Burger King that throws the first jab. In this example they keep it very simple but clear. They know you shouldn’t pick on somebody who isn’t your size, but they do it anyway. Clever.

Samsung vs Apple

The brand war between Apple and Samsung can sometimes get a little harsh. What’s very telling is that even a lot of the loyal brand fans also go at each other online. In the above example Samsung opens fire by stating that their new phone is superior to the iPhone 5. Apple was very quick to respond by simply using the exact same artwork in its own favour.

Durex vs The Rest

Durex is a brand that rarely shies away from edgy marketing. That’s probably the reason why they decided to not pick one competitor for an advertising battle but instead went for all of them. In a very simple but bold poster, they cleverly warn everybody who bought the competition’s condoms. Very original and most importantly: effective.

So those were our favorite brand wars. Did we miss a great one? What is your favourite brand battle? Let us know in the comments!