Publically praising a rival is a pretty rare affair in the corporate world, with brands usually steering clear from giving their foes free publicity.  Research from Duke University explores just what happens when companies buck this trend.

The researchers ran around a dozen experiments to explore the phenomenon and found that when firms compliment a rival, it tends to boost their own reputation as well as their sales.

Brand praise

The researchers focused their attention initially on so-called “brand-to-brand praise”, and compared it to more traditional brand communication, which tends to be more self-promotional or informative in nature.  This analysis showed that such behavior boosted preferences for the brand doing the praising.

“Through our subsequent studies, we found that the brand was viewed as ‘warmer,’ meaning it was perceived as more friendly and trustworthy, after complimenting a competitor,” the researchers explain. “It is this warmth that drives the favorable outcomes for the praiser—outcomes that include greater brand engagement and higher sales.”

These benefits were most frequently observed with certain types of consumer, and indeed certain types of brand.  For instance, skeptical consumers responded most positively to brand praise, with such consumers showing a significant increase in their attitude towards the praiser, with their skepticism seemingly disarmed by the praise.

In terms of brands, it was found to be most effective for those brands that are not traditionally seen as either caring or warm.  It should be said, however, that the boost was only seen when brands were behaving in an authentic manner.

“Praise that appears disingenuous or is not perceived as risky will not be accepted as a meaningful indicator of warmth,” the researchers say. “In one experiment, we demonstrated that when observing praise towards a non-competitor brand, in particular, an eyewear brand complimenting a hamburger brand which would not be viewed as a risky behavior, consumers did not form more positive evaluations of the eyewear brand.”

So, while praising our rivals might seem counterintuitive, the study shows that it can have some positive impacts for brands, both in terms of the way we perceive them and how likely we are to buy from them.  As such, managers might want to consider praising their rivals now and then.