Kaufland Hired Laura Wontorra to Pick a Fight With Aldi
Kaufland has rolled out a price campaign fronted by sports presenter Laura Wontorra that openly compares its prices with Aldi, Penny and the discounters — the German hypermarket's latest attempt to reframe itself as cheaper than the shops shoppers assume are cheapest.
The move
German trade press reports that Kaufland has again gone on the offensive against the discount channel, with a price campaign built around TV and sports presenter Laura Wontorra that names Aldi, Penny and other discounters directly. The message is blunt: the hypermarket wants shoppers to question the reflex that a discounter is automatically the cheapest place to buy.
It is a bold bet in Germany, where Aldi and Lidl define the price conversation and where comparative, rival-naming advertising is used more sparingly than in the UK or US.
Marketing Minute's read: comparison is a share-stealer's weapon
Comparative advertising follows an iron rule: it is a tool for the challenger, not the leader. You only point at a rival when you want to borrow their salience and reframe it. Kaufland doing this to Aldi tells you exactly how Kaufland sees the fight — it is trying to annex the 'cheap' positioning that discounters own by default.
The upside is real. Naming a rival makes a claim concrete and memorable, and it forces a direct comparison in the shopper's head at the exact moment of a price decision. A celebrity face like Wontorra buys attention and a tone of confident cheek that softens what is, underneath, an aggressive claim.
The risk is equally real, and it is why we would watch this one closely. Attack a rival and you also advertise them; you hand the leader free salience and invite a response. And a price claim is only as strong as the basket behind it — the moment shoppers feel the comparison is cherry-picked, the campaign curdles into the thing German consumers trust least. Comparative advertising wins when the claim is specific, verifiable and survives a sceptic. It loses the instant it looks like a stunt.
Naming your rival is a challenger's move — you do it to steal salience, not to defend a lead. Kaufland is effectively telling the market it wants Aldi's 'cheapest' crown. It can work brilliantly, but only if the price claim underneath holds up to a cynic with a shopping list. — Daniel Nikolla, Founder of Merx Marketing
Comparative advertising rewards the challenger with a verifiable claim — and punishes anyone whose comparison looks cherry-picked.
If you named your biggest competitor in your next ad, would your claim survive a sceptical customer checking it?
If you would like to know more about this topic, please contact us on danieln@merxmarketing.co.uk
Sources: HORIZONT; Lebensmittel Zeitung.
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Written by Daniel Nikolla, Founder of Merx Marketing Ltd and Marketing Minute
