One-upmanship

 

Wikipedia defines one-upmanship as the art or practice of successively outdoing a competitor. And if marketing is mainly about creating relevant differentiation, there has to be a good dose of one-upmanship in any strategy to succeed.

I’m a fan of Home Depot’s campaign in Québec. The global retailer took steps to study this market and developed a campaign that clearly resonates with Quebeckers. Built around the thematic “C’est beau” (It’s beautiful), it emphasizes the end-result of home renovation projects and the pleasures it provides rather than the ‘you can do it’ part of DIY projects. The campaign is clearly working as it won an effectiveness award at the 2009 Concours STRAT in Québec.

The local competitor, Réno Dépôt, has long been associated with a claim that, whatever you might be looking for, “they have it”. It might still be the retailer’s relevant and differentiated platform. (It’s the brand signature on the website. However, these days the retailer is running a campaign that attempts one-upmanship. It’s claiming that Réno Dépôt is “more than beautiful”. The implication being that beyond looks alone, Réno Dépôt ensures that it’s well built. There’s nothing wrong with a strategy that counters a competitor’s claim.

What’s debatable however is an execution of this strategy that very overtly makes a reference to that competitor’s advertising.

Would Adidas ever just do it more? Would Audi be the penultimate driving experience? Or would PC’s ever think even more different?

 

 

Comments

[Marie-Claude Ducas]

You're right, it's always tricky to play with some elements (line or visuals) that are part of the competitions' trademark. But I must say that, for my part, that ad from Reno-Dépôt made me smile. Probably because I was already a big fan of their platform, launched more than a year ago: it targets the "real men", who love to tackle "big work". And it does so with a very funny and tongue-in-cheek approach. See here:
http://www2.infopresse.com/blogs/actualites/archive/2010/02/02/article-33737.aspx
And here:
http://www2.infopresse.com/blogs/actualites/archive/2010/04/08/article-34392.aspx
It's funny to realize that, while everybody's been talking about the need to target women, because "they're the real decision makers in renovations now", etc. etc., nobody was talking to the "construction guys" anymore. Réno-Dépôt has been doing it. Very clever and insightful.