claim mania.  it’s happening everywhere.  increasingly marketers are moving towards identifying legal claims that prove their product is superior.  while this is nothing new in industries like pharma and medical devices, claim mania has spread more heavily into non-medically related industries/categories.  for certain consumer brands, it’s no longer good enough to just say you’re the best, but instead brands are looking to prove it.  here are  a few quick examples of this trend in the marketplace:

• walmart has a lot of claims in the marketplace that suggest shopping there really saves you money
• reebok claims that their shoes work your calves and hamstrings 11% harder and tones your butt more than 28% more (i think the product innovation is awesome and love the new spin on athletic shoe advertising)
• verizon claims they have 5x more 3g coverage than at&t.  this claim has withstood an intense legal battle with at&t.

i believe there are three major drivers for this trend right now:

• ad savvy consumers. consumers know more about how advertising works and have becomes more skeptical to ad gimmicks.  consequently, marketers have to go further to prove superiority.
• the internet. now we can find the answer to any and everything we know.  we can validate (or invalidate) anything anyone says with the click of a button.  in fact, abc has a segment where they put non-legally supported product promises to the test to see just how empty they are.
• plethora of brands. with the explosion of brand names, marketers are having to find ways to truly differentiate their products.  marketers are looking for sustained competitive advantages through legal claims.

what does this trend mean for your business?  what other consumer brands are out there making official claims?