Ch-3: Brand Positioning

Brand Positioning
A concept so simple,
people have difficulty understanding
how powerful it is!
 What…
 Positioning is owning a piece of
consumer’s mind

 Positioning is not what you do to

a product
 It’s what you do to the mind of the
prospect

 You position the product in the

prospect’s mind
 ‘It’s incorrect to call it Product
Positioning’ – Ries & Trout
Brand Positioning
 Is at the heart of the marketing strategy

 “. . . 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
Determining a frame of
reference
 What are the ideal points-of-parity and points-of-
difference brand associations vis-à-vis the
competition?
 Marketers need to know:
 Who the target consumer is
 Who the main competitors are
 How the brand is similar to these competitors
 How the brand is different from them
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.
Example of the 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
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 program?
Nature of Competition

 Deciding to target a certain type of consumer

often defines the nature of competition
 Do not define competition too narrowly
 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
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.
 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.
Choosing POP’s & POD’s
 Desirability criteria (consumer perspective)
 Personally relevant
 Distinctive and superior
 Believable and credible
 Deliverability criteria (firm perspective)
 Feasible

 Communicability

 Profitable

 Sustainability (Pre-emptive, defensible, and difficult to

attack)
 Core Brand Associations
 Core brand association is the set of abstract concepts or phrases
that characterize the five to ten most important dimensions of
the mental map of a brand.
 They can act as a basis of brand positioning in terms of how
they create points-of-parity and points-of-difference

 How do marketers identify core brand associations?

 Mental map  Core brand values  Brand mantra
Core Brand Values: How do Develop?

 Create a detailed Mental map

 Group brand associations into related
categories with descriptive labels (core brand
values)
 Designing brand mantra
Mental Map of Coca-Cola
Mental Map
 Brand Mantras

 An articulation of the “heart and soul” of the brand

 similar to “brand essence” or “core brand promise”
 Short three- to five-word phrases that capture the irrefutable(convincing)
essence or spirit of the brand positioning and brand values
 Considerations in designing brand mantra
 Communicate
 Simplify
 Inspire

N>B “Brand mantras are powerful device” . How???

Designing the Brand Mantra

 The term brand functions describes the nature of the product

or service or the type of experiences or benefits the brand
provides.
 The descriptive modifier further clarifies its nature.
 The emotional modifier provides another qualifier—how
exactly does the brand provide benefits, and in what way?
Designing the Brand Mantra

Emotional Descriptive Brand

Modifier Modifier Functions

Nike Authentic Athletic Performance

Fun Family Entertainment

Disney

Fun Folks Food

Designing the Brand Mantra
 Designing a Brand Mantra
Company Emotional Descriptive Brand
Name Modifier Modifier Function

Nike Authentic Athletic Performance

Mc Donald Fun Family Food

Disney Fun Family Entertainment

Coca Cola Sharing Happiness Tasty

Apple Smart Technologic Listen to

music
Positioning Statement Format

 The language of a well crafted positioning usually

takes this general form:

“To (target market), Brand X is the (definition of

business) that provides you with (stated point of
difference/key benefit)”
 Example of positioning Statement
 A positioning statement needs to answer 5 questions about your offering.
What Do You Sell?
Who Is Your Target Customer?
What Is The Customers Need?
How Does Your Product Satisfy This Need?
How Is Your Product Different From Others?
 Example: Mountain Dew – To young, active soft drink consumers who have little
time for sleep, Mountain Dew is the soft drink that gives you more energy than
any other brand because it has the highest level of caffeine. With Mountain Dew,
you can stay alert and keep going even when you haven’t been able to get a good
night’s sleep.

-Kellog Marketing Faculty, Northwestern University

Examples

 Colgate is Protection
 Lux is Glamour
 Pond’s Dream Flower Talc is
Confidence
 Axe is Sexual Attraction
 Gillette is Quality
 Positioning Guidelines

 Start by looking not at the product but at the

position in the market that you wish to occupy, in
relation to competition
 Think about how the brand will answer the main
consumer questions
 What will it do for me that others will not?
 Why should I believe you?

 Try to keep it short and make every word count

and be as specific as possible
 Vagueness opens the way to confused executions
Guidelines
 Keep the positioning up-do-date
 Give as careful consideration to change as you
did to the original statement

 Look for a Key Insight!

Insight
 An ‘Accepted Consumer Belief’
What is key insight?

 Key Insight is ‘seeing below the surface’ / ‘seeing

inside the consumer’

 Insight expresses the totality of all that we know

from seeing inside the consumer

 An insight is a single aspect of this that we use to

gain competitive advantage

 By identifying a specific way…

 That the brand can either solve a problem or
 Create an opportunity for the consumer
Key Insight
‘I wish to get married
to a handsome prince’
Key Insight
‘Fragrance of my current talc does not last long
and I miss opportunities to enjoy life’
Key Insight
‘Soap leaves my skin
feeling dry and tight’
Key
Insights?
Key Insights?
Key Insight?
Key Insight?
Key Insight?
Key Insight?
More on key insight…

 It will require two separate thoughts to be related

to each other in a new and fresh way

 Insight will generally be enduring

 Often the process will lead to several insights

 The one to use is the one that offers to be the

source of greatest competitive advantage
The 3C’s of positioning
 Be Crystal clear
 Be Consumer-based
 Be relevant and credible to the consumer
 Write in consumer language and from consumer’s view point

 Be Competitive
 Be distinctive
 Focus on building brand elements into powerful discriminator
 Be persuasive
 Be sustainable