What are some great examples of bold — yet tasteful — competitive positioning you've seen in the market? How can companies straddle the line without turning it into a game of finger-pointing?

An example that stands out to me was Steve Jobs’ manifesto on Flash and its security problems. What was fascinating about it was actually Adobe’s response to it. They bought full-page ads in newspapers around the world, including the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times that said “We Love Apple.” I remember thinking it was a bold but weak response, and Flash’s reign ended shortly after. I feel that was an example of not pushing back hard enough, actually.

My favorite example is Adidas video which shoes that yes, a runner can sprint through the desert in Nike shoes -- but a camera man with 50 additional pounds of equipment and wearing Adidas can keep up with him. It strikes the balance between saying, we respect your product and - ours is as good or better. Really clear value, clever approach, not so dimishing as to take away from the credibility or respect associated with Adidas' brand. 

Companies can absolutely straddle the line. It's about solving a new problem, solving a problem differently, and disrupting the status quo. The way to do this is focus on the benefit / new value you are delivering rather than simply tearing down a competitor. We offer extended value (strong) vs. they're not as good as you think they are (weak). There's a new way to think about this (stronger) vs. they're thinking about it wrong (weaker). The Bounty ad in the above blog also does a great job of this - no specific paper towel brand is the problem, any brand that isn't using Bounty technology is. Compelling stuff!

The market is littered with really bad examples of competitive messaging, unfortunately. They usually make their case on technical details that are irrelevant to the prospective customer. 

The best competitive positioning doesn't mention competition. After all, why give them air time? Rather, it uses competitive insights to guide positioning strategy -- and the positioning strategy, in turn, guides salient messaging that is relevant to your customers. 

Make the messaging about the problems they have and the unique ways you solve them. And if you do want to integrate your competitors in your messaging to show clearer differentiation, be careful to not pick fights or alienate customers. Again, make the messaging about something that is relevant to the audience and that you do better. 

My favorite example of this is an oldie but goodie. Rental car company Avis was in second place in its market category but scored its customers loved Avis' customer service. So, Avis launched the 'We Try Harder' advertising campaign as a sneaky way to tout its strength (and, note, they did this without mentioning competition by name).

I will answer this question the total opposite way that you asked it based on something I saw this morning. I was making my son a bagel with cream cheese. The cream cheese had a logo saying "Our cows saw NOOOOO to ABCDE hormone". I am not here to comment on anything to do with farming. What struck me is right next to the logo, in LARGER FONT, was a warning saying "there is no evidence ABCDE hormone has any negative impact". 

I was kind of taken aback. What is the point of anchoring on this differentiation if it is totally made up and you have to state it is totally made up? As marketers you sometimes hear "don't let the truth get in the way of a good story" but in this case, they were so desperate for competitive differentiation that they fudged the truth and told you they were fudging the truth in a larger font. 

Don't do that. 

The easiest way to differentiate yourself is to have a really innovative product and solid marketing to back it up. My favorite example right now is a Klaviyo customer, Magic Spoon. They make low carb/keto diets for people on a diet but wish they weren't. On their website, they even have a tagline "Hold on to the dream." (The dream of eating sugary cereals guilt free.) They have lots of fun cereal flavors you'd associate with your childhood but they're grain free, low carb, etc. For a certain market, their differentiation just hits home with such clarity because it fills a need in such a unique way. Many people love cereal and many people are on keto diets=perfect example of strong differentiation in a niche market. You can find a competitive matrix on their website that compares them to some of the most popular cereal plans across attributes like how much sugar, protein, and carbs.

This is a throw back but on the tech side the Apple "I'm a mac, I'm a PC" ads are a perfect example of this. Apple used actors to portray their mac as their target customer (young, laid back) and pc as how they wanted their competitor viewed (old, old fashioned, not that smart). The dialogue is basically an illustration of Apple's key differentiators. For example, in one ad PC sneezes and Apple asks him if he's ok. PC says "no, I've got that virus that's going around." It's a charming way of pointing out that PC's were more prone to viruses than macs.

Competitive positioning should not be “seen” in the market. The positioning is meant to be an internal guidepost for your own company. However, your marketing team may want to leverage your competitive positioning to create competitive takeout campaigns. Here are a few excellent examples of that:   

• Competitive landing pages that target competitor customers. These landing pages are highly targeted, with high quality content. They should articulate your value and differentiator. Bonus points for including a customer quote+logo for why that customer switched from the competitor to your product. 

• Using customers' voices to share why they switched. Pick a few well-known customers that recently switched from a competitor’s product to yours. Invite that customer to speak on webinars or conduct joint PR pitching to the media. Create a story around the value that the customer was only able to get with your product. You could even create a sales campaign around this to try and get prospects to take a call if their competitor/peer recently switched to your product.

• Leverage 3rd party validation. Analyst firms such as Gartner, IDC, and Forrester put out reports that may feature your product as superior to other vendors. Create a campaign targeted at customers of your competitors that articulates your value and differentiator. You could do something similar with awards your product has earned from relevant associations.

This is a great question! I must admit, the recently resurfaced Coke vs. Pepsi ad with the young boy standing on two coke cans to purchase Pepsi is pretty entertaining. However, it was banned. I call this out because it highlights that there is a need to really think through not only how you develop competitive positioning, but how that positioning gets translated into messaging and marketing strategies.

While these campaigns may be a bit older; I find they still provide a good north star for competitive messaging.  The first example is Appple’s “I’m a Mac, I’m a PC” campaign. This campaign cleverly highlighted the simplicity and coolness of Macs without completely putting down PCs (and it was memorable). Similarly, Salesforce showcased its cloud-based CRM as a game-changer for businesses, focusing on its innovation and the need for companies to move to the cloud rather than criticizing traditional systems.  A more recent example is Disney+ and Netflix. The subscription-based content market is a fiercely competitive space. However, I think each of these businesses showcase their unique strengths through distinct messaging. Disney+ emphasizes its family-friendly content with a focus on beloved (and nostalgic) franchises while Netflix highlights its library of original shows. Both have binge-worthy content, but I know which service to go to for what is important to me and my family.

To strike this balance yourself, I recommend focusing on what makes your product or service unique and valuable. Rather than pointing out competitors' flaws, emphasize how your offering benefits customers and how you’re making their experiences better. Use respectful language, stick to the facts, and when you can use real-world examples or customer stories to demonstrate why you’re the best choice. It's hard to argue against what customers are saying is true! This approach allows you to be bold and stand out without making your brand seem petty.

Great question! Two that come to mind:

• Slack vs. Email: I've always like how Slack positioned themself vs email as an overall category (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SQsA2oiD_xA). They didn’t directly attack email vendors by name but instead hit on highly relatable pain points for anyone who's ever worked via email and highlighted the strengths of their platform.

• Zoom: Zoom's "Video conferencing that doesn't suck" campaign is a great one (https://www.zoom.com/en/blog/video-conferencing-that-doesnt-suck/). Who doesn't remember how terrible video conferencing used to be? Another great campaign that immediately tapped into existing frustration around legacy players without needing to call out anyone by name.

How do you straddle the line without getting dragged into the mud? I'd say:

• Focus on your strengths: Emphasize what sets your product apart without directly comparing it to competitors/calling out all the things that are wrong with your competitor’s product. You can set buying criteria in the mind of your buyer while subtly de-positioning competitors at the same time.

• Use customer stories: Letting your customers do the talking is so much more effective than a feature by feature comparison that prospective buyers are always going to be skeptical of anyways. Let happy customers do the marketing for you. Bonus points if you help them talk about why they chose your solution over competitors.

• Point to external proof points: Analyst rankings, G2Crowd reviews, Glassdoor reviews, Awards, etc. are all things that you can point to to increase your credibility and back up your strengths with something more objective vs "just trust me"