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7.2 Brand Management
No competitive reference For whom: Age no bar
against anyone Adults (focused)
Children included

Cadbury's
Dairy
Milk

When: Any time

Why: The indulgence,
the taste of life Where: Any place

Figure: 7.1l - Brand Positioning of

Cadbury 's Dairy Milk
(2) Customers do not respond to offerings on the basis of the real products.
They respond to products or brands as they are perceived. Abrandina
customer's perception is more than a product. It is a perceptual entity.
(3) Positioning is linked to the concept of image. It is the act of designing the
company's brandsto occupy a distinct place in the target market's mind.
(4) The position can be of two types: the actual position and perceived
position. The actual position of a product refers to its objective place
vis-a-vis other products in the category. Perceived position means customers
respond to brands, as they are perceived.
(5) Alltools like product, packaging, pricing, distribution, endorsement,
publicity etc., help in positioning a brand.
(6) The essence of brand positioning is the achievement of valued distinction
or differentiation in aprospect's mind.
(T) Whether a brand owns a position or not couldeasily be found by asimple
word association. Some wellpositioned brands are as follows:
 Brand Positioning
(1) Vatika 7.3
Hair oil with natural ingredients
2) Fair and Lovely Fairness
(3) Dettol- antiseptic
(4) Bisleri - safe
(5) Pepsi fun,
excitement, younger generation
(6) Close up - fresh
breath, confidence
(T) Babool -
(8) Raymond-
economy
complete man
Positioning errors
In Kotler's view, a
errors:
brand may suffer because of the following
()) Under positioning
understanding positioning:
about the Under positioning occurs when
brand. buyers lack
The brand does not enjoy a They seem to
clear association. have a vague idea of the bránd.
(2) Over
brand, a brandpositioning: Over positioning is due to a very
isperceived to have a narrow narrow image of the.
Customer perceives Casio as only a digital limiting association. For example, a
range of watches. watch. But in reality it may offer awide
(3) Confused
Positioning:
may ultimately result in a
When a brand tries to
associate many
when a brand makes manyconfusion. Generally, confusion occurs in things, it
over positioning
claims and changes them
(4) Doubtful
positioning: frequently time.
The brand manager Customers oubt the
shoulddetermine exactly whatclaims made by the
customer's mind. What is its position? Is it the brand stands forbrand.
in a
rival brands positioned? distinctive? Is it valued? How are
(5)Brand
position. Thererepositioning:
are two typesRepositioning involves changing the brand's current
of repositioning
) Effecting a change in the strategies:
brand in order to distance that brand
existing associations and attach a new set of from its
underwent repositioning from the 'Pure' to 'safe'associations. Bisleri brand
() Repositioning the platform.
0çcupy the mind. competition becomes
This includes sayingnecessary when too much ofbrands
Change customer's, mind about the rival something about rival brands to
Savlon brand triedto reposition its rival, product. Johnson and Johnson's
Dettol.
7.4

Follow up: Hasty conclusions may lead Brand Management

errors: brand managers to committhe
following
1. Incorporating changes in brand structure where they are actually not
2. Omitting the brand elements where changes are needed.
needed.
BRAND CHECKS
To safeguard against
positioning errors, the brand managers must perform
regular brand checks. Brand
as it develops over time. checks would reveal the correct picture of the brand
When
would be taken. Brand check istrouble spots are discovered, necessary actions
directed at surveying (1) Brand Awareness;
(2) Brand image; and (3) Brand positioning errors.
(1)Brand Awareness
Brand awareness is the essential condition for
customer is aware of the brand being sold in the achieving
market.
brand success. The
reflected in brand recognition and brand recall. Brand awareness is
In abrand recognition test, the ability of the
elements is tested. Upon seeing brand elementscustomers
like
to identify the brand
brand symbol etc. Customersare able to confirm thepriorbrand name, packaging,
exposure to th¡t brand.
The brand recognition check may involve
direct measures or indirect
measures. A high response to indirect (disguised) measures would, reveal the
great strength of brand recognition.
Brand recall: Brand recall is the rigorous test of brand
stands for the
awareness. Recall
ability of the customer or prospect to retrieve the brand from
memory. Both aided recallor unaided recall may be used to test brand recall. In
unaided recall a respondent is asked to mention the brands in the particular
product category (for example, brand names in the cell phone market),. The
respondent may recall various brands (Nokia, Samsung, Motorola, etc). The
investigators should note the brand which is first recalled. Among those recalled,
the first recalled brand is assumed to have a strong position. It also signifies the
top of the mind avwareness. Investigators use aided recall tests when the brands
may not be recalled. Variety of aids used in this regard may include product
attributes, usage quantity, poduct form, etc.
(2) Brand Image
Brand image is decoded identity in the customer's mind. Image refers to the
associations that are linked to the brand name. While checking primary
associations, a respondent is asked to utter the first word that comes to his mind
when a brand name is sounded to him. Sometimes, marketers endeavour to
uncover whatever is associated with the brand name. However, the brand
associations revealed by thisexercise is not always real.
RrandPositioning 7.5
)Brandppositioningerrors
positioninganalysis reveals problems with a brand's positioning. The
The maybeinthe
problems
form of under positioning, over positioning, confused
positioning,doubtfulpositioning etc. Under positioning reflects astate of buyer's
understandingaboutthe brand. Over positioning reflects a very narrow
lackof
inage ofthebrand. Sometimes, a brand may try to asSociate with many things
inconfusion. Doubtful positioning occurs when customers find it hard
esulting
vethe claims made bythe brand.
belie
1o
Positioningstrategies
Positioningstrategyaims.at building brand differentiationint1thetarget market.
productororganization may existinthe perception of customer inthe form of
Aassociation set. This is what creates an overall
an
impression. So, brand
positioninginvolves deciding aboutthe kind of associations that are to be created.
Broadly, there are five positioning strategies
1 Attribute positioning: Customers find a unique benefit or attribute in
brands. Such an attribute, associated with brand tempts purchases. For
example, car buying motives include economy, speed, luxury, esteem and
safety. Anew brand of car becomes successful when it is superior to existing
brands.
2.Price or Quality positioning: Abrand may be positioned as high price and
high quality while others may take the low price and low quality position. At the
bottom end it means an economy position while at the top end it means
premium positions. It appeals to the price or quality conscious customers. For
example, HLL's Wheel detergent was positioned on the economy front while
Surf Excel was positioned as apremium brand. Madura Garments had the Peter
England at the lower end and Louis Philippe at the higher end.
3. Use or application positioning: Abrand is positioned on the basis of its
isage time on application. Abath cream is positioned for application after the
bath. Maggi Noodles for long promoted itself as aquick snack for kids when they
return from school.
4. User positioning: User positioning focuses on establishing a connection
between the brand and the user. For example, Johnson and Johnson soap is
POSItioned for kids. Developing strong, favourable and unique associations
Wth users of the brand is fundamental to user positioning. The class of people
WhO are associated with the brand differentiate brands powerfully.
5. Product
for its class positioning: Brandrepresents value that a marketer packs
taarget customer. Marketers position their brands with respect to a
uuctclass by developing class related associations. Nescafe is positioned as
instant coffee (product class). Bru brand is related with filter coffee.