In this paper we consider a two-stage duopoly game where firms first decidewhether to invest in advertising and then compete in prices. Advertising hastwo effects: a market enlargement for both firms and a predatory gain forthe investing firm only.
Both symmetric and asymmetric equilibria may arise. The two most interestingcases are a coordination game where both firms investingand non-investing are equilibria, and a chicken game whereonly one firm invests while the other is possibly driven (endogenously) outof the market. Our results suggest that product differentiation has anambiguous impact on investment in advertising and that strong productsubstitutabihty may induce a coordination problem.