Planning to run some Reddit ads for market validation of a new startup product idea - drive traffic to a landing page, collect signups, yada yada.
From my customer interviews, there’s a clear pain point the product can solve, and a lot of that pain point stems from gaps in existing software products that they are locked into.
To try to capitalize on that, I was planning to run some ads that calling out competitor pain points, but wanted to be sure I’m “okay” using other co’s names in the ads. If anyone’s seen the Brex “Concurrrrrrgh” ads recently on Reddit, this is a PERFECT example of what I’m intending to do. Same basic advertising concept as BMW commercial when the Mercedes-Benz CEO retired, using the MB competitor to draw attention to BMW.
Is there any legal footwork to do here first to make sure I don’t get sued by these competitors for abusing their names?
Or is this generally “okay” to do?
Note: similar to the Brex ad, this would only use the name or a derivative of the name (Concur -> Concurrrrrgh, Acme -> Acyou, etc), no logos or branding and such.
I think you are treading on dangerous ground. My advice would be to seek competent legal advice from a qualified attorney. You can absolutely be sued; for any reason. But if you are the small fish and the other party is a bigger fish, you could lose in many ways just because you’re in the inferior position.
Focus on the positives. You can address every pain point without calling out the competitor. I do it all the time. It works. Your prospective customer will know who you’re talking about. If they don’t, then they don’t have the pain points you’re looking for anyhow.