Step Into The Spotlight! Welcomes Guest Blogger, B.L. Ochman

I’m really excited about this week’s Guest Blogger, one of our Top Marketing Bloggers, ’cause I wrote about B.L. in Step Into The Spotlight! (page 81) long before I ever “met” her online. Not sure what B.L. stands for (I hear the secret is guarded better than the Colonel’s 11 Secrets Spices), but I love what she’s dished up this week. Forget the Cola Wars. We’ve got a good old fashioned Sloppy-Joe-Slingin’ food fight!

Is this an example of stepping on people to step into the spotlight or is it just creative rivalry like the Mac vs PC commercials? What do you think?
Take it away, B.L…

Domino’s and Subway in a War Neither is Likely to Win
Sure, you can use the power of the Internet to make competitors look bad. But should you? Will you hurt your brand more than you help it if you start an online battle?

The war between Domino’s Pizza and Subway escalated as Domino’s president David Brandon set fire on national TV to a Cease & Desist letter from Subway lawyers.

Domino’s recent ad campaign trumpets an independent taste test that says consumers preferred Domino’s new oven baked sandwiches over Subway’s by a margin of two-to-one. Subway wants the campaign pulled.

(Hey, Subway, have you heard of YouTube? Or The Way Back Machine?) Make a big enough stink and scores of people will post the Subway ad there and on their and blogs

“I was going to burn the letter,” says Domino’s CEO “but everything’s better when it’s oven-baked.” Then he tosses the letter in a big Domino’s oven where it catches fire. And they play the ad Subway tried to have banned.

Brandon says Domino’s got approval for its claims from its own lawyers and those of every network that ran the campaign. “The requirements are significant and we passed all of them.”

Times are tough, and market share is gold. Challenge ads are nothing new – Avis challenged Hertz decades ago, and Miller challenged Bud (or did Bud challenger Miller?)

Yet, when a company can’t succeed unless it trashes another company, they don’t always get the desired result.

If Subway makes enough noise, Domino’s could end up winning consumer support – and if that happens, the ad Domino’s ad could go viral.

More likely, consumers will not care, or will forget who trashed whom, or who won. It’s quite possible that people will figure the Domino’s test was rigged anyway. That’s nothing but a no-win situation all around.

And marketers take note: Domino’s v Subway or vice versa is not at all in the spirit of the Obama era.

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Blogger, social media strategy consultant to Fortune 500 companies, and sought-after corporate speaker B.L. Ochman heads the creative team of whatsnextonline.com.