Billboards are the perfect way to make a bold statement, and these brands did just that with their clever advertisements aimed at their competitors. The world of business is undoubtedly competitive, and these brands weren’t afraid to get personal in order to get ahead. Let’s take a look at some of the best billboard wars between some of the biggest brands in business.
Audi vs BMV
Both luxury car brands, BMW and Audi have a long history of using advertisements to incite responses from the other, much to the amusement of their audiences. Audi advertised the A4 with a billboard that read: ‘Your move, BMW’. BMW didn’t let this challenge go unanswered, and took out an even bigger billboard that boldly pronounced ‘Checkmate’. This was like a classic game of chess - each opponent trying to outsmart the other. Finally Audi took out a billboard that read "Your pawn is no match for our king" to win the war!
In 2018, the feud was reignited when BMW put up a billboard right outside a Volkswagen Group dealership in Tunisia. The cheeky billboard read: ‘It’s never too late to change your mind’. Of course, Volkswagen stepped in to defend Audi and the rest of their brands. Another billboard went up with Audi’s response: ‘We do not change a brand that wins’. This line of text was preceded by ‘LOOOOL’, with the four rings of the Audi logo at the centre.
We’re sure the future holds many more ad wars for these two brands, and we can’t wait to see what they come up with next.
FedEx vs DHL
Delivery services FedEx and DHL got into an ad war after FedEx showed off this creative van wrap:
The wrap boasts that FedEx is always ahead of DHL - and they might’ve been when they came up with this ad, but DHL wasn’t far behind. DHL fired back with this ad, targeting FedEx, and bringing a new player into the game: UPS. We’ll wait and see if UPS is interested in getting in on this ad-war, or if they’ll fall into the role of peacekeeper.
Lidl vs Marks and Spencers
In a still developing ad-war, Lidl took aim at Marks and Spencer, using Marks and Spencer’s own tagline from many of their ads: “These aren't just any..." Lidl used this to mock them, highlighting cheaper products that can be bought at their stores, instead of M&S.
The new ads hit close to home for Marks and Spencer - they were displayed within 100m of M&S branches. Marks and Spencer hasn’t fired back yet, but we’d love to see something from the brand soon!
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