Taco Bell has officially joined the fast food breakfast business, and to help spread the word, they got the help of none other than Ronald McDonald. Wait, what?
"My name is Ronald McDonald."
"Ronald McDonald."
"My name is Ronald McDonald, and I love Taco Bell's new breakfast."
"A delicious new breakfast everyone can love, even Ronald McDonald."
The real Ronald McDonald and his golden arches own the fast food breakfast market by a pretty wide margin.
According to a monthlong poll by Scarborough Research, 46 percent of adults dined at McDonald's at least once compared to 19 percent at Dunkin' Donuts and just 12 percent at Burger King.
Ad Age points out to directly refer to McDonald's is a bold move. "It's not all that common for brands to call competitors out directly in advertising -- so when they do, consumers take notice."
But Taco Bell's ad is just the latest in a recent trend across advertising to directly address the competition by producing ads that call them out by name or feature the competition's products to get the point across.
We all know the catchy slogan for Geico Insurance, "Fifteen minutes could save you 15 percent or more on your car insurance." Well, according to Esurance, that's the old way to save money.
"Instead of mailing all my vacation photos, I'm saving a ton of time by posting them to my wall."
"I saved 15 percent in just 15 minutes."
"Fifteen minutes for a quote isn't how it works anymore. With Esurance, seven and a half minutes could save you on car insurance."
According to The Wall Street Journal, Geico spent close to a billion dollars in 2011 on advertising, which accounted for "one out of every six dollars spent on marketing in the property-and-casualty industry."
So it seems the much-smaller Esurance has attached itself to its big competitor's commercials, a strategy that is even more prominent in the ruthless tech wars.
Apple's iPad dominates the tablet market and shows no sign of slowing down. Apple sold a record-breaking 26 million iPads in the first quarter of 2014.
As you might imagine, Samsung would like some of that revenue and will do just about anything to get it, including completely mocking Apple's commercial.
"It's an extremely simple tool."
"What's hiding behind this pencil? Oh, an iPad air. Almost didn't see you back there. And what's this hiding behind the iPad? Oh, the even thinner Galaxy Tab Pro 10.1."
Though Samsung is still in second place in the tablet and smartphone race, Time points out, "Going negative is often a strategy for second-place contenders anyway."
Well, for Taco Bell's sake, hopefully the bold ad strategy works. The fast food company reportedly spent more on marketing for its new breakfast rollout than it spent on the Doritos Locos Tacos campaign.
