1.

Avis vs Hertz
Hertz was the first national car rental company, and when it finally had serious competition from second-place Avis, neither side hesitated to fight head-on. The slogan "More people by far... use Hertz Rent-A-Car" debuted in the 1956. Avis followed with its "We Try Harder campaign of the 1960's, which prompted a strong response from Hertz: "For years Avis has been telling you Hertz is No. 1. Now we're going to tell you why." Despite new competition sprouting up over the years, the two remain the industry leaders, and the No. 1 vs. No. 2 dialogue continues to this day.

http://gizmodo.com/assets/images/gizmodo/2008/08/tryharder.jpg

2. Long-time German rivals Audi and BMW have always been at each
other's throats, looking for definitive superiority Audi and BMW have taken the fight to the race track and the world's biggest auto magazines, but a mid-2000's Santa Monica billboard battle managed to crank up the rivalry even further. The whole snarky episode began with an Audi billboard that poked fun at BMW's chess tournament. After BMW's response it escalated online, with Audi calling on its Facebook followers to come up with more captions.

3. The Hindu stays ahead of The Times of India

Times of India busted the first salvo against The Hindu in Chennai recently. The main objective was to create dissonance among the readers of The Hindu by portraying their brand choice as boring. In response The Hindu news paper also figured out the same chink in The Times of Indias armor and have produced enjoyable series of repartee that are already airing on television channels in the South.

The young and ignorant reader of The Times of India are fed on the 5Fs fun, frolic, froth, fashion, and fornication. The Hindus TVCs seem like a direct assault on ads issued by Times of India.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=aWdwlZ6S tA0

4. Pantenes Mystery Shampoo & Dove

It was quick and it was smart. It was an ambush in the skies that Hindustan Unilever launched against archrival Procter & Gamble, spoiling the latter's elaborately laid-out plans for its shampoo brand Pantene. The story starts on July 23, when Mumbai woke up to hoardings that screamed: 'A Mystery Shampoo!! 80% women say is better than anything else'. P&G, it was later found, was planning to unveil the new Pantene on August 1. On July 28, even as the P&G hoardings stood tall on its skyline, Mumbai woke up to another hoarding that was upfront, and suggestive of its source of inspiration. It said: 'There is no mystery. Dove is the No.1 shampoo'. Dove is one of the four brands in HUL's shampoo portfolio. The HUL national campaign took just one day to go from brief to execution, and was handled by Ogilvy & Mather India. Says a senior official who was involved in the campaign: "This was the quickest advertising turnaround in the company's history." An integrated brand campaign normally takes six weeks. http://i0.wp.com/www.bhatnaturally.com/wpcontent/uploads/2010/08/Mystery-ShampooPantene.jpg?resize=560%2C420

http://i0.wp.com/www.bhatnaturally.com/wpcontent/uploads/2010/08/No-Mystery-Dove.jpg?resize=560%2C420

5. Mac vs PC
The war between Mac and PC users has been going on for ages. Some Mac users cant stand PC users and vice-versa. Windows users claim that Macs arent suitable computers because theyre not practical and Mac users claim that PCs are insufficient and slow. The "Hi, I'm a Mac, and I'm a PC" commercials by Apple and the "I'm a PC" responses by Microsoft and the fact that Apple has been lampooning Microsoft for years ever since its infamous 1984 ad for the Mac very well document this epic rivalry. But lately, Microsoft has fought back more than ever. One such example was one of Microsoft's rare Zune ads, which bashed the iTunes model and compared it to Zune's monthly pass.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ByCyqSROGf0

6. Samsung vs Apple

The Samsung marketing effort against Apple started with the launch of Galaxy S2 with ads ridiculing its lack of certain features and then moved on to ridiculing Apple fans, derisively labelled iSheep. Without doubt, Android and Samsung are in a position of strength: Android platform is a market leader in volumes, loved by many and is seen as a brand that finally offered choice to consumers. Samsung too is revered by many and both has very strong equity. But there is a stratagem behind the move to continuously ridicule Apple, its products and its fans. The weapon of choice is the list of superior features of the high end Samung phones. For the average consumer, this, the list of features is manna from heaven as it conveys superior product and hence, better value for money. Apples product philosophy has never been one of lets cram it with all the features you can imagine. Its been about, rightly or wrongly, saying no to what they believe are unimportant. In tech products, electronic devices, durables and automobiles there can be many ways of sewing up a product strategy. The Apple Way (controlling every aspect of product & marketing from software to hardware to communication) to the Android Way are chalk and cheese both have their benefits, drawbacks, believers and non-believers.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nf5-Prx19ZM

7. Pepsi vs. Coke

Respectively introduced in the year 1886 and 1903, both CocaCola and Pepsi were rivals each other trying to dominate the carbonated soft drink market. Both brands were undergoing global advertisement war through print ads and video ads, trying to stay on top of each other. The rivalry between Coca-Cola and Pepsi is legendary. Although the feud really heated up with the Pepsi Challenge in 1975 which prompted Coca-Cola's horrific New Coke debacle the brands have been fighting each other for more than a century. And not just about product development. Things occasionally get personal, which sometimes resonates in their marketing. Earlier this year, Pepsi went after Coke's famed mascots, the polar bears and Santa. The feud has even moved into outer space and raged over social media.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qy4_XKYo0rQ

8. McDonalds vs Burger King

When it comes to fast food, the McDonald vs Burger King rivalry has been going on for quite some time. The two corporations are among the biggest players in the game. Both of these fast food giants have been in business for over 50 years. The former generated 21.6 billion dollars in revenue last year while the latter only pulled in about 2.06 billion. here seems to be hardly any difference between the two. They are almost comparable. Burger King comes out slightly ahead if you compare size (their whopper is larger than the McDonalds hamburger) or if you are very health-conscious and are concerned with the nutritional value of the sandwich (Burger Kings hamburger has one less gram of carbohydrates in it). Other than this, they appear to be comparable for the most part. The differences outside of how the sandwiches are prepared are very small. So, the answer to the question: Who has the better hamburger? comes

down to personal taste. Ultimately, its all about how you like your burger. The good thing is, you can always have it your way.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WaGLeDE-Rwg

9. Nike takes over South Africa

Nike is the king of ambush marketing. In 1992, Reebok was the official sponsor of the Olympic Dream Team. But every player covered up the Reebok logos on their tracksuits with American flags, and Nike held its own press conference with players from the team. In 1996, Nike put a billboard over Atlanta's Olympic Park, where it was also not a sponsor. Shortly before the 2010 World Cup, which Adidas sponsored, Nike put out a lengthy online viral video of its own featuring many of the players, which many remember more than Adidas' Star Wars themed ad. Then Nike went to Johannesburg and put up an interactive installation on the city's Life Center, the fourth tallest building in the city. Once again, Nike not being an official sponsor didn't matterit won again. http://static2.businessinsider.com/image/4fd0ee9269bedde177000006400-300/nike-takes-over-south-africa.jpg

10.

Jet Airways vs Kingfisher vs Go Air

The episode with Jet Airways, Kingfisher Airlines and Go Air is a remarkable example of Ambush Marketing. The events transpired as follows: Jet Airways put up a hoarding that read, We have changed, Kingfisher Airlines countered that by adding a hoarding above which read, We made them change Finally Go Air put a banner above these two which read, Weve not changed!

http://whataworldagain.files.wordpress.com/2010/03/jetairwayskingfisherairlines-goair.jpg All brands managed to get their point across and register the same with the audience.