Persil ... Classic "Competitive" positioning strategy

We've talked about using different positioning platforms to differentiate your brand on many occasions and thought we'd take the occasion of the Super Bowl to point out a few ads that hit some of these platforms particularly well. This isn't an evaluation of the success or failure of the ad, just a review of the positioning platform they illustrate.

Persil laundry detergent took on Tide (among others) in a direct challenge to its core benefit of getting clothes cleaner. This is a classic "competitive" positioning platform built from a direct or indirect comparison to a competitive product in an effort to steal share from that competitor. In this case, Persil is direct, clear, and to the point "We not only beat Tide, we beat every single detergent tested ... switch to Persil". "Competitive" positioning doesn't get much clearer than this.