Few years ago, Careem launched a  cheeky billboard with the fill in the blanks idea- it read “Better than _ _ E R” letting people’s imaginations run wild. 

Nour Hamam, Campaigns Manager at VAMP Dubai

It was revealed to be better than E V E R but the misconception was better than UBER. 

It sparked a debate among my LinkedIn connections, whether it was okay to poke fun at competition.  Some applauded the move, while others said it was trolling.

Brand awareness if done right can be memorable. The lifelong rivalry between Burger King and McDonalds is another example, with one cheeky advert “why work for a clown, when you can work for the KING!”. 

Some of the historically hardest shade they have ever thrown was  a Halloween campaign from 2017, that included a not-so-subtle Halloween jab at a certain clown mascot. They had already been having fun with the movie It’s whirlwind popularity, leveraging the thriller to take down the clown. But they ramped it up for the holiday by asking customers to show up at Burger King decked out as a clown to get a free Whopper.

Wendy’s dedicates a day to “Roasting” on twitter inviting brands to roast them including Netflix, Microsoft, KFC and McDonald’s. 

Netflix won the internet by trolling a “Savage” tweet that took aim at traditional advertising by saying “TF is a commercial?

Apple- the tech company remains relatively quiet online, but when Tim Cook trolls, he trolls with all he’s got. Minutes before the 2018 Apple event, Cook, who rarely tweets decided to troll the word with a fake twitter DM fail.

To his 10.9 M followers , Cook tweeted  “No. who can get it here quickly: a confusing question that appeared to be a direct message. He quickly deleted the tweet to keep up with the “accidental” façade but minutes later , the tweet- and-delete maneuver was deliberate.

SPOTIFY, the music streaming service, poked fun at the person who “added 48 Ed Sheeran songs to his “I love gingers” playlist in a billboard in London! 

While this type of marketing can be extreme for brands I would recommend a large serving of caution before engaging. Weigh up if this something that suits your brand tone of voice and if you are prepared to take risks. Take these points into consideration 

Be ready in type of response: 

  1. Recognize your opportunities around trending topics. Don’t troll randomly
  2. Communicate in a real time manner. How do your audience communicate with each other? Gif’s, meme’s?
  3. Don’t be nasty. Push the boundaries but don’t be a bully
  4. Be ready for and accept the potential for a backlash

Have your say, is it good fun?