Brand Positioning

Chapter 3

3.1
 Topics
 Identifying and establishing brand positioning
 Positioning guidelines
 Defining and establishing brand mantras
 Internal branding
 Brand audits
 Review

3.2
Section 1
IDENTIFYING & ESTABLISHING
BRAND POSITIONING

3.3
 Brand Positioning
 “. . . the act of designing the company’s offer
and image so that it occupies a distinct and
valued place in the target customer’s minds.”
(Philip Kotler)
 Deciding on a positioning requires:
 Determining a frame of reference (by identifying
the target market and the nature of competition)
 Determining the ideal points-of-parity (POP) and
points-of-differences (POD) brand associations
3.4
 Brand Positioning
 Marketers need to know:
 Who the target consumer is (frame of reference)
 Who the main competitors are (frame of reference)

 How the brand is similar to these competitors

(POP)
 How the brand is different from them (POD)

3.5
Trying To Find Some Homes For
New Diet Colas

3.6
 Target Market
 A market is the set of all actual and potential
buyers who have sufficient interest in, income
for, and access to a product.
 Market segmentation divides the market into
distinct groups of homogeneous consumers
who have similar needs and consumer
behavior, and who thus require similar
marketing mixes.
 Market segmentation requires making
tradeoffs between costs and benefits.
3.7
 Segmentation Bases
Consumer Segmentation
Bases
 Behavioral:
 User status/Usage rate/Usage
occasion
 Brand Loyalty/Benefits sought
 Demographic
 Income/Age/Sex/Race/Family
 Psychographic
 Values, opinions, and attitudes
 Activities and lifestyle
 Geographic
 International/Regional
Business Segmentation Bases
 Nature of good
 Kind/where used/type of buy
 Buying condition
 Purchase location/who
buy/type of buy
 Demographic
 SIC code
 Number of employee
 Number of production workers
 Annual sales volume
 Number of establishments
FF
3.8
 Behavioral Segmentation
(Ex: toothpaste market)
 Four main segments:
1. Sensory: Seeking
flavor and product
appearance
2. Sociables: Seeking
brightness of teeth
3. Worriers: Seeking
decay prevention
4. Independent: Seeking
low price

3.9
 Criteria for Segmentation
 Identifiability: Can we easily identify the
segment?
 Size: Is there adequate sales potential in the
segment?
 Accessibility: Are specialized distribution
outlets and communication media available to
reach the segment?
 Responsiveness: How favorably will the
segment respond to a tailored marketing FF
program? 3.10
 Nature of Competition
 Deciding to target a certain type of consumer
often defines the nature of competition
 Do not define competition too narrowly. Often,
competition can occur at the benefit level
rather than the attribute level.
 Ex: a luxury good with a strong hedonic benefit
like stereo equipment may compete as much with
a vacation as with other durable goods like
furniture

3.11
 Points-of-Parity
and Points-of-Difference
 Points-of-difference
(PODs) are attributes or
benefits that consumers
strongly associate with a
brand, positively
evaluate, and believe
that they could not find
to the same extent with
a competitive brand.

3.12
 Points-of-Parity
and Points-of-Difference
 Points-of-parity associations (POPs), on the
other hand, are not necessarily unique to the
brand but may in fact be shared with other
brands.

3.13
Section 2
POSITIONING GUIDELINES

3.14
Brand Positioning Guidelines

Defining and
communicating
the competitive
frame of
reference

Brand
Positionin
g
Choosing and
establishing
points-of-parity
and points-of-
difference

3.15
 Defining and Communicating the
Competitive Frame of Reference
 Defining a competitive frame of reference for
a brand positioning is to determine category
membership.
 The preferred approach to positioning is to
inform consumers of a brand’s membership
before stating its point of difference in
relationship to other category members.

3.16
 Choosing POP’s & POD’s
 Desirability criteria (consumer perspective)
 Personally relevant
 Distinctive and superior

 Believable and credible

 Deliverability criteria (firm perspective)

 Feasible
 Profitable

 Pre-emptive, defensible, and difficult to attack

3.17
Competitive frames of Reference
for FedEx
Normal delivery service Overnight Delivery Service
 Competition:  Competition:
 Traditional delivery services:  Fax machine, e-mail (files
US Portals attached)
 POP:  POP:
 Delivery services of mail and  Fast delivery service
packages  POD:
 POD:  Security and confidentiality
 Overnight (fast speed)  Packages other than document
 Tracking system  Tracking system

3.18
 Attribute and Benefit Trade-offs
 Price and quality
 Convenience and quality
 Taste and low calories
 Efficacy and mildness
 Power and safety
 Ubiquity and prestige
 Comprehensiveness (variety) and simplicity
 Strength and refinement
3.19
 Strategies to Reconcile
Attribute and Benefit Trade-offs
 Establish separate marketing programs
 Leverage secondary association (e.g., co-
brand)
 Re-define the relationship from negative to
positive

3.20
Section 3
DEFINING AND ESTABLISHING
BRAND MANTRAS

3.21
 Why core brand associations and
brand mantra?

P1
P3 CBA 1
A The essential
“heart and
Brand soul” of the
brand
P4 CBA 3.. CBA 2
P2

Core brand association Core brand promise

Extensions Positioning (P)
(CBA) (Brand mantra)

3.22
 Core Brand Associations (Values)
 Set of abstract concepts or phrases that
characterize the five to ten most important
aspects or dimensions of a brand.
 They can serve as the basis of brand
positioning in terms of how they create points-
of-parity and points-of-difference.
 Identifying core brand associations:
 Mental map  Core brand values  Brand mantra
3.23
 MTV Mental Map
Core Brand
Associations Trendsetting Changing
Music
Popular Real and
Credibility genuine
Leader For me
Personality
Mainstream
Fun &
Accessibility entertaining
Trusting
Interactivity Young

Community Informative
Hip and cool
Modern Music
Irreverent and rebellious
Spontaneous Lifestyle

Originality Live and immediate Interactiv

e
Fluidity
3.24
 Brand Mantras
 To find even more about what a brand represents,
marketers will often define a brand mantra
 A Brand mantra is an n articulation of the
“heart and soul” of the brand, a short three- to
five-word phrases that capture the irrefutable
essence or spirit of the brand positioning.
 It’s similar to “brand essence” or “core brand
promise”
 Example: Brand Mantra of McDonald: “Food, Folks,
and Fun”

3.25
 Why Brand Mantra?
 Any time a consumer encounters a brand –in
any way- his/her knowledge about the brand
may change and affect the equity of the brand.
 Brand mantra help the brand present a
consistent image by creating mental filter to
screen out brand-inappropriate marketing
activities or actions of any type that may have
a negative bearing on customers’ impressions
of a brand.
3.26
 Designing the Brand Mantra
Emotional Descriptive Brand
Modifier Modifier Function
(How exactly does (Further clarifies (Nature of
the brand provide the its nature) product/service; type
benefits and it of experiences/
what ways?) benefits)

Authentic Athletic Performance

Nike

Fun Family Entertainment

Disney The brand boundaries

Fun Folks Food

3.27
 Notes on Brand Mantra
 For the brand mantra to be effective, no other
(competitive) brand should singularly excel on
all dimensions.
 Brand mantra typically are designed to capture
the brand’s points-of-difference, what is unique
about the brand.
 Brand functions (of the brand mantra) can
provide critical guidance as to appropriate and
inappropriate categories into which to extends.
3.28
 Implementing a Brand Mantra
 Marketers can often summarize the brand
positioning in a few sentences or a short paragraph
that suggests the ideal core brand associations
should hold.
 A brainstorming session can attempt to identify
different brand mantra candidates.
 Criteria for a good brand mantra:
 Communicate (brand boundaries + Uniqueness)
 Simplify (memorable, ideal: three-words)
 Inspire (personally meaningful & relevant to every
employee)
3.29
Section 4
INTERNAL BRANDING

3.30
 Internal Branding
 Members of the organization are properly
aligned with the brand and what it represents.
 Crucial for service companies

3.31
Section 5
BRAND AUDIT

3.32
 Brand Audit
 Externally, consumer-focused assessment
 A comprehensive examination of a brand
involving activities to assess the health of the
brand, uncover its sources of equity, and
suggest ways to improve and leverage that
equity
 It includes brand vision, mission, promise,
values, position, personality, and performance.

3.33
 Importance of Brand Audits
 Understand sources of brand equity
 Firm perspective
 Consumer perspective
 Set strategic direction for the brand
 Recommend marketing programs to maximize
long-term brand equity

3.34
 Brand Audit Steps
 Brand inventory (supply side)
 Brand exploratory (demand side)

3.35
 Brand Inventory
 A current comprehensive profile of how all the
products and services sold by a company are
branded and marketed:
 Brand elements
 Supporting marketing programs

 Profile of competitive brands

 POPs and PODs

 Brand mantra

3.36
 Brand Inventory (Cont.)
 Suggests the bases for positioning the brand
 Offers insights to how brand equity may be
better managed
 Assesses consistency in message among
activities, brand extensions, and sub-brands in
order to avoid redundancies, overlaps, and
consumer confusion

3.37
 Brand Exploratory
 Provides detailed information as to how
consumers perceive the brand:
 Awareness
 Favorability
 Uniqueness of associations

 Helps identify sources of customer-based

brand equity
 Uncovers knowledge structures for the core
brand as well as its competitors
3.38
 Suggested Brand Audit Outline
 Brand audit objectives, scope, and approach
 Background about the brand (self-analysis)
 Background about the industries
 Consumer analysis (trends, motivation, perceptions, needs,
segmentation, behavior)
 Brand inventory
 Elements, current marketing programs, POPs, PODs
 Branding strategies (extensions, sub-brands, etc.)
 Brand portfolio analysis
 Competitors’ brand inventory
 Strengths and weaknesses
3.39
 Brand Audit Outline (Cont.)
 Brand exploratory
 Brand associations
 Brand positioning analysis
 Consumer perceptions analysis (vs. competition)
 Summary of competitor analysis
 SWOT analysis
 Brand equity evaluation
 Strategic brand management recommendations

3.40
THE END

3.41