On Strategy

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TCQQZPz71Rk] Found this interesting ad from Dish TV attacking Direct TV, another in the recent trend of consumer products going negative against their opponents.

For a high end ad, I think the design is poor.  Visually it's not much better than your usual political ad, higher end maybe, but this is the best they can do?

In the martial art Aikido, your taught to use your opponent's energy against them, their attack becomes your attack. It's really quick clever, and minimizes differences in size and power.  That's what this ad does.

It's strategically brilliant, Dish Network is turning a weakness (lack of celebrity endorsements) into a strength, lower cost, and at the same time undercutting Direct TV's endorsement strategy.  I think this message sticks because it makes sense, those celebrities must cost a lot, and they quote some stats saying how Direct TV costs more, there's a pretty logical if A = B, and B = C, then C = A logic at work.  If they tried to link celebrity endorsements to let's say the quality of the satellite signal, then it would be less authentic and less effective.

No I think this works and will stick, and it forces Direct TV to respond in some otherwise they risk people thinking about how expensive they are every time they roll out another celebrity endorsement.

On form this ad would score about a C-, but for function, I think it's an A.

I had an Italian friend, and driving the streets of Rome, she would say, red lights are only suggestions.  There's a general rule that you don't repeat your opponent's charges in your ad, Dish TV reminds us that rules like that are only suggestions, good as a general guide, but should be broken when breaking it give your side the advantage.