Check competitor comparisons before your campaign goes live

It is often worth getting a review when your campaign names a competitor, compares price or performance, claims superiority, or uses charts, rankings, or side-by-side statements that customers may treat as factual. Comparative campaigns can attract attention quickly, especially if the comparison is bold or simplified for marketing impact. A legal review can help test whether the wording, qualifications, and supporting material line up properly before launch. That is particularly useful where the campaign will run across several channels and the same claim may appear in slightly different forms.

The main risk points are often not limited to whether the statement is literally true. Problems can arise where a comparison is selective, based on outdated information, missing important assumptions, or presented in a way that creates a misleading overall impression. Pricing comparisons, market-leading claims, and product feature comparisons can all be sensitive if the basis is not clear. Visual layout matters too. A footnote may not fix a headline if the main message is still likely to mislead. We review those issues in context, not just line by line.

No lawyer can properly promise that in absolute terms. Comparative advertising depends heavily on the exact wording used, the evidence behind the claim, the context in which it appears, and how customers are likely to understand it in practice. You get guidance on the main legal risks and practical next steps, while compliance still depends on your circumstances and how the advice is applied. If your campaign changes after review, or if the supporting evidence is incomplete or later becomes outdated, the legal position can change as well.

Sometimes they can, especially if the campaign also involves a promotion, giveaway, prize mechanic, or channel-specific rules beyond the comparison itself. Permit requirements can vary depending on where and how the promotion runs. This service is aimed at the comparative advertising review, so permit applications and regulator processes are outside the fixed-fee unless expressly added. If your campaign includes a competition element or another mechanic that changes the legal picture, let us know early so we can identify whether a separate review is needed.

After the review, you will receive written feedback identifying the main legal issues we see in the materials provided and the practical changes that may be worth making. Many clients then revise the campaign internally and come back with targeted follow-up questions about the updated wording. If the review reveals a broader issue, such as recurring claims across your website, social ads, and pricing pages, we can also discuss whether a wider advertising or consumer law review would be more efficient than dealing with each item separately.

Just submit an enquiry via this page or click the 'get started' button on our website to submit an enquiry. After you've submitted an enquiry, one of our legal consultants will review your enquiry within 1 business day and get in touch to get a better idea of exactly what you are looking for.

Then your legal consultant will send through an email with a bit more information about the services you need, along with a fixed fee quote setting out costs, scope of the service and timing. Have a read through it, and if you're happy with the scope, you can accept and sign our engagement letter online - easy!

Once you've formally accepted, we'll connect you with a specialist lawyer and they will work with you to complete your project. They will contact you by email or phone if they need to get in touch.

Sprintlaw works on fixed-fee pricing wherever possible, so you can review the scope and cost before you decide whether to proceed. For the Comparative Advertising Review service, pricing starts from $900.00.

After you enquire, a legal consultant will confirm what is included, the expected timing and whether any extra work is needed before you engage us.

We operate completely online, which means we can help you wherever you are in New Zealand. We have office spaces in Sydney, and in Melbourne, but our use of technology allows our team members to work remotely from around the world. Our legal team are mostly based in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth. We also have a London office for Sprintlaw UK.

Our legal team is made up of experienced lawyers, who are specialists in various areas of law and hold an Australian legal practising certificate. None of our Sprintlaw lawyers are New Zealand qualified lawyers and they do not currently hold a New Zealand practising certificate.

They provide legal services working remotely from Australia via our 'legal consultancy' model, through which (under section 6 and section 35 of the New Zealand Lawyers and Conveyancers Act 2006) our Australian legal team are permitted to provide legal services to New Zealand businesses provided they do not provide services in certain 'reserved' areas of law. You can read our FAQ page to learn a bit more about our 'legal consultancy' model.

Given the strong similarities between Australian and New Zealand law, and the areas of law in which we practice (being small business and startup law), we do not view the fact that our lawyers have not qualified in New Zealand as having any substantive impact on the quality of our service. We are committed to ensuring that we provide high quality, affordable legal services to all our New Zealand clients.

Our legal team have all trained at leading firms, but have left the traditional corporate law world to join us on our mission to create a new and better way of delivering legal services. They have specialist expertise in technology law, intellectual property law, contract drafting and review, corporate law and commercial law.