Brand rivalries have been in the world ever since “competition” was considered to be a healthy thing for the economy. Some brands have been at war with each other ever since they began manufacturing their products leading to funny and engrossing anecdotes. Through advertisement and product wars, these stories of brand rivalries are interesting to read about.

Did you know that the candy manufacturers Cadbury and Rowntree would often send spies to each other’s factories? This became a premise for a dialogue in Roald Dahl’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Here are more such stories to read.

1 Ferruccio Lamborghini used to manufacture only tractors in the mid-1900s. But when Enzo Ferrari rudely rejected his suggestion about the imperfections in the Ferrari cars, calling him a “tractor mechanic,” he began manufacturing luxury cars.

When a Ferrari or a Lamborghini car passes by on the road, it is sure to attract attention. And as famous as the cars are is the rivalry between the brands. This war of a kind between two Italians began during the 1960s.

Ferruccio Lamborghini came from a family of grape farmers, but because he did not share the passion of his family, he got into the tractor-manufacturing business and had a company named Lamborghini Trattori. It made him successful and wealthy. At the time, Ferrari cars were considered to be the top-of-the-line luxury cars, and Lamborghini bought one of those.

Lamborghini felt that the Ferrari was too rough on the road, and the clutch had to be repaired too often. He took his complaint to Enzo Ferrari, but Ferrari did not appreciate the criticism. Ferrari believed that a tractor manufacturer would know nothing about cars. Lamborghini took this as an insult and let that insult become a driving force for a plan of getting into the business of manufacturing luxury cars.

Four months later and after a lot of hard work, in October 1963, Lamborghini revealed his first car at a motor show. Soon, the man’s car gave tough competition to Ferrari’s and continues to do so even today. (1, 2)

2 Adidas’ and Puma’s brand rivalry stems from the sibling rivalry of the Dassler brothers during World War II. Adolph Dassler founded Adidas, and Rudolf Dassler founded Puma. In the town where both companies had their headquarters, no local would start a conversation without looking at the other’s shoes.

Most people have no idea that the founders of Adidas and Puma were siblings—siblings who fell out so badly that they had their graves dug as far apart as possible. There is a town in Germany named Herzogenaurach which is known as the “town of bent necks” as no local there would start a conversation without looking at what brand shoes the other person was wearing, as this is where Adidas and Puma had their headquarters.

Born into a cobbler family, Adolph and Rudolf Dassler did not always hate each other. They used to work together at the Dassler Brothers Shoe Factory. But the locals say that after they both got married, their wives hated each other. And another gossip that went on in the town said that Adolph slept with Rudolf’s wife beginning the feud. On a night in 1943, Adolph raved, “There come the pig dogs again!” and that is when Rudolf was climbing the steps of the house.

Rudolf thought his brother made that comment about him, but Adolph was actually talking about the RAF pilots. This was the final blow. Then Rudolph was shipped off to an American prisoner-of-war camp while Adolph continued to run the business without him, adding to the bitterness. In 1948, when Rudolph got back, he started his own company on the other side of the river, what we now know as “Puma.”

This sibling rivalry escalated into a full-fledged brand war that continues today. (source)

3 A Chinese company named Ninebot Inc. made a knock-off of the Segway, and Segway attempted to drag them to court. That’s when Ninebot bought the company that originally made Segway using the money they had made from selling the knock-offs.

Segway Inc. is an American company that is known for its two-wheeled personal transport vehicles and holds a large number of patents. In September 2014, Segway filed a complaint seeking an import ban with the United States International Trade Commission that the Chinese company Ninebot Inc., along with a few other Chinese companies, had infringed its patents.

A few months later on April 1, 2015, Segway was acquired by Ninebot which was a Xiaomi-backed start-up that had raised 80 million dollars for the acquisition. After that, many of its products were branded “Ninebot by Segway.” Time reported that a major reason why Ninebot Inc. bought Segway was to get rid of the “copycat China” image as Segway had alleged so by saying that China had a “widespread pattern of infringement.” (1, 2)

4 Three known airlines in India went on an advertising war after Jet Airways put up a billboard that said, “We’ve changed.” Kingfisher Airlines followed with one that said, “We made them change!!” Go Air then put up a third one that said, “We’ve not changed. We are still the smartest way to fly.”

In 2007, three Indian competing airlines got into an advertising war despite the losses that they incurred in their businesses at the time. Jet Airways began it by putting up a billboard in the Mumbai city of India that said: “We’ve changed.” Above that billboard, Kingfisher Airlines posted a sly remark that boasted: “We made them change!!”—yes, with double exclamation marks. At the same spot a few days later, Go Air posted a sign that read: “We’ve not changed. We are still the smartest way to fly.”

This was not over here. Jet Airways came up with a different billboard that said: “Fly to New York daily,” and Kingfisher countered it by an ad that said: “They’ve flown to New York from here.” (source)

5 Nike wanted to name their first shoe designs “Aztec,” but they didn’t as Adidas already had a line named “Azteca Gold” and threatened to sue. Nike then named their first shoe designs “Cortez” after the general who “kicked the (cr*p) out of the Aztecs.”

A page out of the “boot war” between Nike and Adidas was about the naming of a shoe line in 1967. When Nike could not name their first shoe designs “Aztec” as Adidas threatened them with a lawsuit because they had a line named “Azteca Gold,” they choose a witty alternative.

In 1525 CE, the Empire of the Aztecs was defeated by Tlaxcalan warriors led by a general named Hernando Cortés. His last name became Nike’s shoe line’s name. This was how the conversation between Bill Bowerman and Phill Knight, the co-founders of Nike, went:

“Who was that guy who kicked the (cr*p) out of the Aztecs?” Bowerman asked Knight. “Cortez,” he responded. “Okay,” Bowerman said, “let’s call it the ‘Cortez.’ ” (source)