Advertising Age: Competition From Everywhere Has Hasbro, Mattel In Toyland Showdown
Mattel and Hasbro have a lot at stake this holiday season. The toy retailers expect to make 40% of their annual revenue in the next four weeks. The two have their plastic dukes out and are ready to fight.
When it comes to competition, especially in an industry with limited players, it is only natural for brands to carefully watch what the other one is up to. After all, Mattel and Hasbro spend, on average, 10% of their net sales on advertising and marketing. And other toy makers aren’t the only combatants in this war for share of wallet. Both brands have to face severe competition from tech companies that entertain kids electronically more than a doll or action figure. (iPad stroller mount, anyone?)
Of course, the Mattel versus Hasbro battle is a more intense version of the fight every marketer experiences every day. But how many marketers are as focused on their competitors’ advancements as they are on their own?
Think about it: If you were on an actual battlefield, you’d be as interested in preventing your competitors from advancing on you as you were on making your own gains. In marketing, though, we focus primarily on our own brand and the impact our advertising has on us – not on the competition.
What goes unmeasured – and thus ends up ignored – is the effect of competitive advertising on our own brand. Yes, we know that every time a consumer chooses a Big Mac over a Whopper, or a Diet Coke over a Pepsi Max, someone in the equation loses a sale. But if we knew more about how competitive advertising diminishes our brand in the mind of the consumer, our brand-building efforts – not to mention our tactical sales-generating programs – might look quite different.
For example, Communicus has executed research across a number of competitive categories. From this, we know that not all brand battles are winner-take-all. While one brand is built, another may lose as a result. Meanwhile, others function more independently: Build one brand and it stands on its own pedestal, with little impact on competitive brands.
Knowing which scenario fits a particular brand in a specific category can help illuminate the strength and potential vulnerabilities that define that brand. Making sure that this knowledge is based on solid research and data is key. How many marketers can confidently say they’re going into the competitive battle sufficiently armed?
Daniel Hertzberg for Ad Age
