POSITIONING:Strong Positioning, Understanding of components through an example

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Brand Management (MKT624)

Lesson 17

POSITIONING

Introduction

This lecture discusses dimensions of strong positioning. What is it that happens to your brand

in terms of its strategic placement on the market and future direction is discussed hereunder.

Competition drives customers to go by comparisons and a process of selection, which is

governed by four fundamental questions brand for what; brand for whom; brand for when;

and, brand against whom.

The discussion touches upon the abovementioned questions that you undertake while

positioning your brand to essentially make it distinguishable from others. With that

understanding, effort is made to define positioning and then discuss various components of the

definition in relation to a hypothetical positioning statement.

Strong Positioning

A strong positioning has the following properties1:

· Unique valued place

A strong brand position means a brand has a unique, credible, sustainable, and valued

place in customers' mind.

· Revolves around a benefit

It revolves around a benefit, which makes the brand stand apart from competition.

· Provides focus

It makes the organization focus its resources and follow the right direction.

· Externally driven

Positioning is externally driven, meaning it has to be owned by customers.

· New avenues for brand leveraging

Good positioning opens many new avenues for the brands to leverage themselves in areas

of growth.

· Key determinant of operational strategies

Positioning is the key determinant of key operational strategies that form a company's

strategic direction.

All the above factors mean that through positioning you can distinguish your brand from the

rest of the crowd. You do that by communicating the distinctive characteristics of your brand.

The prospects already have a picture in their minds. You capitalize on that.

In case yours is a new brand, you must try hard to create a position which is unique, and then

must not stop there. You communicate that by being the first one to start the communication

process and keep communicating (regularly or momentarily) that until you have created a

position in customers' mind.

What is different about your brand does appeal to customers. And, this appeal results from an

analytical process based on the following four questions2.

1. A brand for what? This refers to brand promise and the benefit an orange drink having

real orange pulp can be positioned by claiming that benefit. You are positioning the

product against no-pulp, which is the market norm. Therefore, you are manipulating the

picture that already is in consumer's mind.

2. A brand for whom? This refers to the target segment. It is important to understand the

category in absolute clarity and the segments it consists of. You position your brand for

the right target segment and not others.

3. A brand for when? This refers to the occasion when the product will be used. Milk is

milk, and it can be drunk any time of the day by anyone. But, if you introduce an offering

Brand Management (MKT624)

with features offering special benefits to tea drinkers, you position that milk for that

purpose and communicate with tea drinkers not to deny themselves the benefit of

enjoying the best milk good tea deserves. If you find out as part of your effort to expand

the category, through research and informal communication, that consumers are looking

for a milk variation best suited to desserts, then you should position a milk product for

that purpose and communicate what it is not. This implies that you highlight the special

nature of that milk and tell you prospects that it is not the ordinary thing; rather it is

something special that needs their attention to satisfy a special need.

4. A brand against whom? In the competitive context, it explains competitors from whom

we expect to capture business. By introducing milk offerings that are so different in

character you should know the competitors as well as your own business that may be

affected by those introductions.

Positioning, therefore, means that all consumer choices are based on comparison and a

selection process defined by the questions we have just discussed above. These questions help

position a new brand by making brand's contribution obvious to consumers.

Definition

With the understanding developed through the above discussion, we can define positioning as

follows:

"It is a concise statement that summarizes brand's commitment or promise to target

consumers and actively communicates the advantage over competing brands."

Going by the definition, positioning has three primary components3:

· The component of company business

· The component of target market

· The component of point of difference and key benefits

Understanding of components through an example

In order to better understand the components let's develop and discuss the positioning

statement of the fast food set-up.

"Brand XYZ seeks to be perceived as top quality player in the area of fast food of international

standards. It intends to sell price-effective,

The Positioning Map

high-quality, cold gourmet sandwiches

Figure 22

delivered free primarily at lunch time".

Price

XYZ is talking about company business, the

category, and promising its target market

fullest value for their money through

differentiated features, while fulfilling three

fundamental determinants of consumer

Gap filled by XYZ

purchase, that is

Affordability -

Quality -

Quality

Low

High

Accessibility -

With the components discussed, let us take a

look at the positioning map every good

organization should make to see how best

can it formulate its strategic moves in light

of the positioning?

Let's discuss the three components for a

Brand Management (MKT624)

better understanding by relating those to the definition of positioning.

Clarity about business

· What exactly is the category and who are the players? Know your competitors, assess

their roles, and understand the category for an accurate definition of your own business.

· What is the size and growth rate? How has it shaped up over the years? Refer to industry

analysis and see how different players have been playing the game. What have been the

growth patterns in terms of the industry, major players, and your own firm?

· What are the entry barriers? Are there any resource constraints? Is the company fully

capable of deploying resources for a comprehensive communication campaign? Without

communication, positioning will not come to life.

· Will the market value our participation? Is there something missing from the market? Are

we really going to fulfill a need that genuinely seeks fulfillment? If yes, then the market

will definitely value our participation.

· Are there promises for multi-segment growth? Are we going to get into an area that will

go across related businesses and allow us to participate in those? Company XYZ should

know from the start that the potential to get into small restaurants (after having started

delivery business) offers itself in all its forms and the company should be formulating its

moves, adjusting promises and positioning its products in a way that multi-segmental

growth becomes its hallmark.

Bibliography

A. Scot M. Davis: "Brand Asset Management Driving Profitable Growth through

Your Brands"; Jossey-Bass, A Wiley Imprint (109)

B. Jean-Noel Kapferer: "Strategic Brand Management Creating and Sustaining

Brand Equity Long term"; Kogan Page (97)

C. Scot M. Davis: "Brand Asset Management Driving Profitable Growth through

Your Brands"; Jossey-Bass, A Wiley Imprint (110)

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