{"id":139359,"date":"2019-06-07T15:00:43","date_gmt":"2019-06-07T14:00:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.smartinsights.com\/?p=139359"},"modified":"2019-06-07T15:20:08","modified_gmt":"2019-06-07T14:20:08","slug":"campaign-of-the-week-google-takes-aim-at-apple","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.smartinsights.com\/managing-digital-marketing\/campaign-of-the-week-google-takes-aim-at-apple\/","title":{"rendered":"Campaign of the Week: Google takes aim at Apple"},"content":{"rendered":"

In its recent comparative advertising campaign, Google promotes its Pixel 3a model as a cheaper and higher quality choice over Apple\u2019s XS, putting it side-by-side with the Apple product in a face-off of the tech giants.<\/span><\/h2>\n

Why beat about the bush in advertising when you can directly compare your own product to a competitor\u2019s higher-priced and (in Google\u2019s opinion) inferior one?<\/p>\n

We\u2019ve seen examples of this kind of advertising for many years, from supermarket chains\u2019 regular competitor comparisons to the \u201cGet a Mac\u201c campaigns of the noughties. It appears that Google felt it was high time that this time round a company went after Apple.<\/p>\n

\"Google<\/p>\n

Indeed, Google has set its sights on Apple, with billboards and video ads from the Alphabet-owned company claiming that the Pixel 3a provides better quality low-light photography at a fraction of the cost of the iPhone XS.<\/p>\n

For starters, the slightly ambiguous wording of \u201cPhone X\u201d does not actually refer to Apple\u2019s iPhone X, but rather \u201cPhone X\u201d is used as a pseudonym of sorts for the iPhone XS. The pricing clears up which of the Apple models is being referenced, but Google has certainly toed the line in this regard.<\/p>\n

So what exactly is comparative advertising?<\/h3>\n

Comparative advertising takes two forms:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Direct - calling out the competitor brand explicitly by name.<\/li>\n
  2. Indirect - referring to the competitor by a generic name, such as \u201cBrand X\u201d or \u201cProduct X\u201d.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Google has pushed the indirect comparison to its limit (encouraged to do so by the name of Apple\u2019s product) but there is, of course, no doubting which product Google is referring to here. The comparison, in essence, is an attempt to position the campaign somewhere between these two types of comparative advertising.<\/p>\n

    Looking beyond that, the campaign very successfully brings into question Apple\u2019s pricing versus one of its main competitors. This price disparity is compounded when you then see the disappointing performance of Apple\u2019s low-light camera in a mock set-up alongside Google\u2019s Pixel 3.<\/p>\n