Abstract:
Companies are unsure whether they should utilise comparative
advertisements for their products and services, and whether the use of these advertisements will in any way result in them being better positioned in the market by consumers, especially since comparative advertisements are perceived so differently. This study aims to investigate whether the brand positioning of two brands differs based on their use of comparative advertising.
To test the null hypotheses that the use of comparative advertising does not effect a brand’s positioning in the market, a quantitative study of the relative effectiveness of comparative and non-comparative advertisements on a brand’s positioning in the market was conducted by comparing a Samsung comparative advertisement to an Apple non-comparative advertisement via an online survey questionnaire. The questionnaire was distributed to South Africans by the means of convenience and snowball sampling and analysed using descriptive analysis, in the form of pie charts and bar graphs, as well as inferential statistics via a one sample t-test.
The hypotheses in terms of Attention were accepted, as the results of both
advertisements in terms of identification and recall were similar. However, the hypotheses in terms of Perception and Attitude towards the advertisements were rejected. This answers the research questions: (1) does a brand’s use of
comparative advertising in any way change the brand’s positioning, and (2) does a brand’s use of non-comparative advertising in any way change the brand’s positioning? The answer to both questions, ceteris paribus, is yes.
The results indicated that Apple, as a brand, is better positioned in the minds of consumers because it utilised a non-comparative advertisement, and thus, this format of advertising would be recommended above comparative advertising. In this context, comparative advertising is defined as the practice of explicitly
comparing one or more specific product or service attributes of a sponsored and competing brand(s).
This paper contributes by providing empirical evidence which helps to fill a
gap in literature: the effects of comparative advertisements on brands’ positioning.
In addition, this research topic may be applicable in the field of advertising and marketing consulting when firms are to be advised as to whether or not to use comparative advertising. However, comparative advertising is very complex, and even though this may be the case, there were certainly still conclusions to be drawn from the findings.
