CRAFTING THE ‘BRAND

POSITIONING’!
MARKETING MANAGEMENT
ACCORDING TO PHILIP KOTLER…

“ No company can win, if its products and services

“
resemble every other product and  offering.
POSITIONING: A KEY COMPONENT
OF STP MARKETING…

1. Segmentation seeks to identify customers with similar

needs, wants, & desires.
2. Targeting selects customers whose needs, wants & desires
a company can fulfill.
3. Positioning seeks to create a distinctive benefit to satisfy
the customers needs, wants & desires.
 ORIGINS OF POSITIONING…

 The origins of ‘Positioning’ lie in the concept of USP, or

‘unique selling proposition’ coined by Rosser Reeves in the
1940s…
 USP remained in vogue until around 1980,
when Al Ries & Jack Trout came up with
the term Positioning.
 WHAT DOES POSITIOING DO?

 It helps in developing marketing strategy by:

1. Clarifying the brand’s essence (what customers must feel
when they interact with the brand).
2. Identifying goals the consumer can achieve.
3. Showing how it does so in a unique way.
POSITIONING DEFINED…

“ Positioning is the act of designing a company’s offering

and image to occupy a distinctive place in the
“
consumer’s mind.
…PHILIP KOTLER

 The ultimate objective: Maximize the potential benefit

for the firm in terms of sales & profits.
 HOW IS GOOD POSITIONING
CREATED?

 Creating a compelling, well-differentiated brand position

requires a keen understanding of consumer needs and
disciplined, but creative, thinking…
 …and a logical process!
CHOOSING A COMPETITIVE FRAME OF
REFERENCE…HOW?

1. Identifying current & potential competitors i.e. companies

focused on satisfying the same customer need.
2. Analyzing competitors in terms of real & perceived
strengths & weaknesses; understanding competitors’
strategies & objectives!
 SEEKING OUT ‘POINTS OF PARITY’ &
‘POINTS-OF-DIFFERENTIATION’

 Points of parity (POP): attributes or benefits that are similar to

other brands in the category.
 Points-of-difference (POD): attributes or benefits associated
with a particular brand i.e. not seen in any other brand.
CRITERIA THAT TRULY DETERMINE
POD…

1. What is desirable to customers – seen as being personally

relevant to them.
2. What is deliverable by company- feasible for company;
availability of resources & required commitment.
3. What is differentiated from competition – creating a
distinctive association of the brand.
 EXAMPLES: VISA & AMEX

 POP: both offer credit cards!

 Visa’s POD: Convenience – “Its Everywhere You Want to
Be.”
 American Express POD:
 BENEFIT - Prestige/ Brand Equity.
 PROMOTION - Celebrity based.
 CHOOSING POPs & PODs: WHY?

 …to build a sustainable competitive advantage.

 What is competitive advantage?

 A company’s ability to perform in ways that competitors
cannot match.
DOVE SOAP: LAUNCHED IN 1957…

 …as a “BEAUTY BAR” as opposed to a

soap, containing ¼ moisturizing cream,
was gentle, and was not drying to the
skin like other brands in the category.
 SWATCH WATCHES… 1983 to 2022

 LOW COST, FASHION

WACHES - making the
benefit more desirable,
more deliverable.
 APPLE SERIES 7…

…a reengineered Always-On
Retina display with
significantly more screen area
and thinner borders
 CHOOSING POPs & PODs: HOW?

 PERCEPTUAL MAPS: a simple tool to visually represent strengths of a

brand against competition based on two sets of criteria.
 BRAND POSITIONING STATEMENTS

 NIKE: “For serious athletes, Nike gives confidence that provides the
perfect shoe for every sport”.
 GOOGLE: “Organizing the world’s information”.

 APPLE: “Creating a better world through technology and design”.

 MICROSOFT: “Empowering people and organizations to achieve more.

 TAGLINES/BPS

TAGLINES:
 NIKE: Just do it
 GOOGLE: Do the right thing.
TAGLINE/ BPS:

 BMW: The ultimate driving machine

 MERCEDES: The best or nothing.
 UNILEVER: “Vitality”.
BMW “STRADDLE POSITIONING” at
launch in US…

When BMW entered the U.S. market in the late 1970s, American cars
were either positioned on luxury or on performance!

BMW positioned the

brand as the only
automobile that offered
both luxury and
performance.
ANOTHER MEANINGFUL DEFINITION OF
POSITIONING…

 “Brand positioning is what differentiates a

brand from competition & creates preference
for it.”
 BRAND MANTRA

 To further focus brand positioning, firms can and do define a

brand mantra…
 “…a three- to five-word articulation of the “heart and soul”
of the brand…”
 Its ­purpose: Ensure all stakeholders understand what is
most fundamental to the brand in a very simple way.
DESIGNING A BRAND MANTRA: HOW?

 Three basic criteria…

1. Communicate: clarify what is unique about brand; set
explicit brand boundaries.
2. Simplify: stay short, crisp, vivid & memorable.
3. Inspire: make it personally meaningful & relevant to as
many employees as possible.
BRAND MANTRA example…

 McDonald’s brand mantra

“Food, Folks, and Fun”
captures the “brand essence”
& reinforces the “core brand
promise.”
 THE BRAND MANTRA…

 NIKE: Nike has a rich set of associations with consumers,

based on innovative product designs, sponsorships of top
athletes, competitive drive, & its irreverent attitude.

 NIKE’s Mantra:
“authentic athletic performance”.
 OTHER APPROACHES TO BRAND
POSITIONING…

 Brand Narratives and Storytelling: Rather than outline

attributes or benefits, some experts describe positioning a
brand as telling a narrative or story.
 The advantage: Richness & imagination of story-telling props
up a brand’s perception.
Maltesers uses ‘chocolate’ braille on UK
billboard advertising
Mars brand Maltesers created a
braille poster to champion
diversity in advertising.
The advert, which appears on a
London bus shelter, spells out the
words: “Caught a really fast bus
once, turns out it was a fire
engine.”
The words used for the campaign slogan came from a blind woman from
Glasgow called Michelle, who took part in a focus group held by Maltesers
and disability charity Scope.
POSITIONING & BRANDING FOR A
SMALL BUSINESS…

 Building brands is a BIG challenge for SMALL businesses!

 Yet, many success stories exist of entrepreneurs who built
their brands from scratch, to become powerhouse brands.
Founded by Tadashi Yanai, now the wealthiest person in Japan, UNIQLO (short
for Unique Clothing Warehouse) has followed its mission statement and credo
of “Made for All” to become a brand with a goal of reaching $50 billion in sales
in 2020 and becoming the number-one retailer in the world.
UNIQLO stands out … by not standing out! Heavily inspired in its early days by
the Gap and its one-time president Mickey Drexler, the company expressly states that
it does not want to be in the fashion game of chasing ever-changing trends.

With a strong technology emphasis, the company focuses on continual process

improvement and the creation of new, innovative products. Its signature mix of
fleece, synthetic thermal underwear, down jackets, jeans, and other basics is designed
to capture the essence of each type of product.

Source: Marketing Management, Philip Kotler

UNIQLO feels it provides the perfect components for its
customer’s everyday lives, products they can combine in different
ways to create their own unique expressions. The company’s
marketing strategy combines active social media campaigns with
aggressive in-store activities to connect with customers and pull
them into the stores.
THE END