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.
Just try to push your products aggressively. It may be effective or it may not. If it’s effective and draws the attention of another firm then you are doing something right. If in the rare chance they object, it will be in the form of a cease and desist letter first. Move fast and break things