Canadians play dirty

A Canadian beer company, Kokanee, has put up a competitive website to specifically call to attention the "fact" that Coors for Canada is not brewed in the Rocky Mts. (as the advertising says) but rather in Etobicoke, Ontario. Kokanee's beer, however, is proudly brewed in Creston, British Columbia.

I bring up this little obscure site because of two reasons. First, competitive advertising sites are rare. Almost everyone is busy trying to talk about themselves and mostly in mediocre ways. What is interesting about this site (and campaign) is that they are using a passive aggressive approach to establish their own brand. In a sense, they are hijacking the brand equity of Coors (mountain brewed) in order to establish their own credibility. It's like someone on a stage yelling "Coors Lied!" and then sotto vocce, "Kokanee is better!" In addition, there are very subtle hints of anti-American sentiment, which I assume works in Canada. This whole competitive strategy is risky but I haven't seen anyone else do it so cleverly before; it might just work.

The second reason I bring up this campaign is because the site is fairly well done. I especially enjoy the integration with Google Maps (click on the brewery location names I provided above). What a great way to tell the location story! One look at Google Maps and you can see that they are located in the wilderness while the Coors plant is located in the city. This is brilliance! My only complaint is that they probably didn't need the points of interest markers, they could have let the satellite images speak for themselves.

Overall, this campaign is a good benchmark for competitive advertising online. Make it simple, use your competitor's strength to your advantage and jazz it up with some cool but not distracting technology.

Disclaimer: I do not drink Coors Beer or Canadian Beer. I'm a fan of Guinness.

via Adrants