Ch.10 'Crafting the Brand Positioning' Reading Notes
10.4 Which of the following attempted to position the brand based on point-of-difference rather than the brand's membership?
DiGiorno's
When resources are limited, how can small businesses succeed in branding?
Focus and consistency.
Which of the following could help a small business connect with customers and study competitors?
Local colleges and universities
10.4 Which of the following best describes the 90-10 rule for positioning?
Marketers should attempt to position at least 90 percent of products in the brand, and the remaining 10 percent should be reviewed for proper branding strategy.
Value proposition examples EXAM ***
One result of positioning is the successful creation of a customer-focused value proposition, a cogent reason why the target market should buy a product or service. a value proposition captures the way a product or service's key benefits provide value to customers by satisfying their needs
10.4 Which of the following offers a concise means of conveying category origin?
Product descriptors
10.1 Practice Quiz The act of designing a company's offerings and image to create distinction in the minds of the target market is called ________.
The act of designing a company's offerings and image to create distinction in the minds of the target market is called ________. Positioning
10.2 Questions Once a company has identified its main competitors and their strategies, what should the company consider next?
What each competitor is seeking in the marketplace.
Straddle Positioning : BMW
When BMW first made a strong competitive push into the U.S. market in the late 1970s, it positioned the brand as the only automobile that offered both luxury and performance At that time, consumers saw U.S. luxury carsas lacking performance and U.S. performance cars as lacking luxury. (1) a point-of-difference on luxury and a point-of-parity on performance with respect to U.S. performance cars like the Chevy Corvette and (2) a point-of-difference on performance and apoint-of-parity on luxury with respect to U.S. luxury cars like Cadillac.
A consistent use of distinctive logos, brand names, and packaging leads to which of the following?
A well-integrated set of brand elements
10.5 To build iconic leadership brands, what type of knowledge must be assembled?
Cultural
10.3Perceptual Maps
Perceptual maps are visual representations of consumer perceptions and preferences. They provide quantitative pictures of market situations and the way consumers view different products, services, and brands along various dimensions. For choosing specific benefits as POPs and PODs to position a brand, perceptual maps may be useful.
10.3 Designing a Brand Mantra
Unlike brand slogans meant to engage, brand mantras are designed with internal purposes in mind. Although Nike's internal mantra was "authentic athletic performance," its external slogan was "Just Do It." Here are the three key criteria for a brand mantra. Communicate. A good brand mantra should clarify what is unique about the brand. It may also need to define the category (or categories) of business for the brand and set brand boundaries. Simplify. An effective brand mantra should be memorable. For that, it should be short, crisp, and vivid in meaning. Inspire. Ideally, the brand mantra should also stake out ground that is personally meaningful and relevant to as many employees as possible. Words that describe the nature of the product or service, or the type of experiences or benefits the brand provides, can be critical to identifying appropriate categories into which to extend. For brands in more stable categories where extensions into more distinct categories are less likely to occur, the brand mantra may focus more exclusively on points-of-difference.
visa vs american express
Visa's point-of-difference in the credit card category is that it is the most widely available card, which underscores the category's main benefit of convenience. American Express, on the other hand, has built the equity of its brand by highlighting the prestige associated with the use of its card. Visa and American Express now compete to create points-of-parity by attempting to blunt each other's advantage. Visa offers gold and platinum cards to enhance the prestige of its brand, and for years it advertised, "It's Everywhere You Want to Be," showing desirable travel and leisure locations that accept only the Visa card to reinforce both its own exclusivity and its acceptability. American Express has substantially increased the number of merchants that accept its cards and created other value enhancements while also reinforcing its cachet through advertising that showcases celebrities such as Robert De Niro, Tina Fey, Ellen DeGeneres, and Beyoncé as well as promotions for exclusive access to special events.
10.1 The set of products with which a brand competes and that could be substitutes is referred to as ________.
category membership
10.3 When consumers find a unique and meaningful aspect of a market offering, the company has successfully created competitive advantage through _____.
relevant brand differentiation
10.4 When considering competition, ________ is measured by the percentage of customers who named the competitor in responding to the statement "Name the first company that comes to mind in this industry."
share of mind
10.5 Why do compaies use brand narratives and storytelling?
Companies like the richness and imagination they can derive from thinking of the story behind a product or service.
Company example: Miller Lite
The initial advertising strategy for Miller Lite beer had two goals: ensuring parity with key competitors in the regular, full-strength beer category by stating that Miller Lite "tastes great," while at the same time creating a point-of-difference around the fact that it contained one-third fewer calories and was thus "less filling." To overcome potential resistance, Miller employed credible spokespeople, primarily popular former professional athletes, who would presumably not drink a beer unless it tasted good.
10.3 Which of the following supplies employees with information about what a brand fundamentally represents to a customer?
brand mantra
10.1 The act of designing a company's offering and image to occupy a distinctive place in the minds of the target market is ________. The goal is to locate the brand in the minds of consumers to maximize the potential benefit to the firm.
positioning
10.5 Cultural branding
Douglas Holt believes that for companies to build iconic, leadership brands, they must assemble cultural knowledge, strategize according to cultural branding principles, and hire and train cultural experts. The University of Wisconsin's Craig Thompson views brands as sociocultural templates, citing research investigating brands as cultural resources Experts who see consumers actively cocreating brand meaning and positioning even refer to this as "Brand Wikification," given that wikis are written by contributors from all walks of life and points of view
10.2 Questions A company should identify competitors by using ________, which can be quite helpful in identifying competitors who are seeking to satisfy the same customers/needs and who are making similar offers.
both industry- and market-based analyses
10.2 Questions To build a strong brand and avoid the commodity trap, marketers must start with the belief that you can differentiate anything, resulting in ________.
competitive advantage
Unlike major brands that often have more resources at their disposal, small businesses ________, and must design and implement much more carefully.
do not have the luxury to make mistakes
10.6 Naturally, small businesses have limited resources and budgets with less to devote to brand building than larger firms. Because of these challenges, ________ are of critical importance.
focus and consistency
10.3 When developing a brand mantra, staking out ground that is personally meaningful and relevant to as many employees as possible fits which key criteria for a brand mantra?
inspiration
10.3 What is the most obvious means of product differentiation for consumers?
Benefits related to performance
10.5 Which of the following is a less structured approach to positioning?
Brand narratives
10.5 What is being referred to when consumers actively co-create brand meaning and positioning?
Brand wikification
10.5 Which of the following is considered an asset by Douglas Holt, author of several books on how brands become icons?
Brand wikification
10.3 What process is used to compare consumer preferences and brand perception, to identify unmet consumer needs and marketing opportunities?
perceptual maps
10.1 The study of competitors and potential customers by identifying competitors' strategies, objectives, strengths, and weaknesses can improve _____.
positioning
10.2 Questions Covering two frames of reference with one set of points-of-difference and points-of-parity is known as ________.
straddle positioning
Constructing a Brand Positioning Bull's-eye
A brand bull's-eye provides content and context to improve everyone's understanding of the positioning of a brand in the organization. Here we look at a hypothetical Starbucks example. In the inner two circles is the heart of the bull's-eye—key points-of-parity and points-of-difference as well as the brand mantra. Points-of-parity and points-of-difference should be made as specific as possible without being too narrow. Points-of-parity and points-of-difference should be constructed in terms of the benefits a customer would actually derive from the product or service. Points-of-difference should also be stated in positive, aspirational terms, like "Irresistible Taste," "Superior Value," Tireless Customer Service," and "Unimpeachable Trust." Points-of-parity are often stated in more muted terms to recognize the potential deficiencies they represent, such as "Sufficiently Accessible," "Appropriately Relevant," and "Fairly Priced." In the next circle out are the substantiators or reasons-to-believe (RTB)—attributes or benefits that provide factual or demonstrable support for the points-of-parity and points-of-difference. Finally, the outer circle contains two other useful branding concepts: (1) the brand values, personality, or character—intangible associations that help to establish the tone for the words and actions for the brand; and (2) executional properties and visual identity—more tangible components of the brand that affect the way customers see it. Three boxes outside the bull's-eye provide useful context and interpretation. To the left, two boxes highlight some of the input to the positioning analysis. One includes the consumer target and a key insight about consumer attitudes or behavior that significantly influenced the actual positioning; the other provides competitive information about the key consumer need the brand is attempting to satisfy and some competitive products or brands that need suggests. To the right of the bull's-eye, one box offers a "big picture" view of the output—the ideal consumer takeaway if the brand positioning efforts are successful. Brands are sometimes affiliated with categories in which they do not hold membership. This approach is one way to highlight a brand's point-of-difference, providing consumers know its actual membership. "Its not TV, its HBO"
10.3 Brand Mantras *** EXAM
A brand mantra is a three- to five-word articulation of the heart and soul of the brand and is closely related to other branding concepts like "brand essence" and "core brand promise Its purpose is to ensure that all employees within the organization and all external marketing partners understand what the brand is most fundamentally to represent with consumers so they can adjust their actions accordingly. By highlighting points-of-difference, they provide guidance about what products to introduce under the brand, what ad campaigns to run, and where and how to sell the brand. In effect, they create a mental filter to screen out brand-inappropriate marketing activities or actions of any type that may have a negative bearing on customers' impressions. Brand mantras must economically communicate what the brand is and what it is not. What makes a good brand mantra? McDonald's "Food, Folks, and Fun" captures its brand essence and core brand promise. NIKE EXAMPLE: - Internally,Nike marketers adopted the three-word brand mantra, "authentic athletic performance," to guide their marketing efforts. Thus, in Nike's eyes, its entire marketing program—its products and the way they are sold—must reflect that key brand value.For example, as Nike rolled out its successful apparel line, one important hurdle was that the products must be made innovative enough through material, cut, or design to truly benefit top athletes. At the same time, the company has been careful to avoid using the Nike name to brand products that do not fit with the brand mantra (like casual "brown" shoes). DISNEY EXAMPLE: - Disney developed its brand mantra in response to its incredible growth through licensing and product development during the mid-1980s. In the late 1980s, Disney became concerned that some of its characters, such as Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck, were being used inappropriately and becoming overexposed. - Disney moved quickly to ensure that a consistent image—reinforcing its key brand associations—was conveyed by all third-party products and services. To that end, Disney adopted an internal brand mantra of "fun family entertainment" to filter proposed ventures.
10.4 ways to convey a brand's category membership *** EXAM
Announcing category benefits - To reassure consumers that a brand will deliver on the fundamental reason for using a category, marketers frequently use benefits to announce category membership. Thus, industrial tools might claim to have durability, and antacids might announce their efficacy. Comparing to exemplars - Well-known, noteworthy brands in a category can also help a brand specify its category membership. - When Tommy Hilfiger was an unknown, advertising announced his status as a great U.S. designer by associating him with Geoffrey Beene, Stanley Blacker, Calvin Klein, and Perry Ellis, recognized members of that category. Relying on the product descriptor - The product descriptor that follows the brand name is often a concise means of conveying category origin. - Ford Motor Co. invested more than $1 billion in a radical new 2004 model called the X-Trainer, which combined the attributes of an SUV, a minivan, and a station wagon. To communicate its unique position—and to avoid association with its Explorer and Country Squire models—the vehicle, eventually called Freestyle, was designated a "sports wagon.
10.3 Means of Differentiation *** EXAM
Any product or service benefit that is sufficiently desirable, deliverable, and differentiating can serve as a point-of-difference for a brand. Sometimes changes in the marketing environment can open up new opportunities to create a means of differentiation. - Ex: Eight years after it launched Sierra Mist and with sales stagnating, Pepsico tapped into rising consumer interest in natural and organic products to reposition the lemon-lime soft drink as all-natural with only five ingredients: carbonated water, sugar, citric acid, natural flavor, and potassium citrate. Often a brand's positioning transcends its performance considerations. Companies can fashion compelling images that appeal to consumers' social and psychological needs. To identify possible means of differentiation, marketers have to match consumers' desire for a benefit with their company's ability to deliver it. For example, they can design their distribution channels to make buying the product easier and more rewarding.
10.6 Positioning and Branding for A Small Business
Building brands is a challenge for a small business with limited resources and budgets. Nevertheless, numerous success stories exist of entrepreneurs who have built their brands up essentially from scratch to become powerhouse brands. Consider the global success of UNIQLO Company example: 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. 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 ------- Here are some specific branding guidelines for small businesses. Find a compelling product or service performance advantage. - As for any brand, demonstrable, meaningful differences in product or service performance can be the key to success. Focus on building one or two strong brands based on one or two key associations. - These associations must be consistently reinforced across the marketing program and over time. Rooted in the snowboarding and surfing cultures, Volcom has adopted a "Youth Against Establishment" credo that has resulted in steady sales of its music, athletic apparel, and jewelry. Encourage product or service trial in any way possible - One way is to encourage trial through sampling, demonstrations, or any means to engage consumers with the brand. See's Candies allows walk-in customers to sample any piece of candy in the shop they choose. As one senior executive noted, "That's the best marketing we have, if people try it, they love it." Develop cohesive digital strategy to make the brand "bigger and better." - One advantage of the Internet is it allows small firms to have a larger profile than they might otherwise. Urbane Apartments, a property investment and management company from Royal Oak, Michigan, has a virtual prominence that far exceeds its real-world scope. Create buzz and a loyal brand community. - Small businesses often must rely on word of mouth to establish their positioning, but they can find public relations, social networking, and low-cost promotions and sponsorship to be inexpensive alternatives. As discussed in Chapter 5 , creating a vibrant brand community among current and prospective customers can also be a cost-effective way to reinforce loyalty and help spread the word to new prospects. Employ a well-integrated set of brand elements. - Tactically, it is important for small businesses to maximize the contribution of all types of brand equity drivers. In particular, they should develop a distinctive, well-integrated set of brand elements—brand names, logos, packaging—that enhances both brand awareness and brand image. Brand elements should be memorable and meaningful, with as much creative potential as possible. Innovative packaging can substitute for ad campaigns by capturing attention at the point of purchase. Leverage as many secondary associations as possible. - Secondary associations—any persons, places, or things with potentially relevant associations—are often a cost-effective, shortcut means to build brand equity, especially those that help to signal quality or credibility. In 1996, J. Darius Bickoff launched an electrolyte-enhanced line of bottled water called Smartwater, followed in two years by the introduction of Vitaminwater, a vitamin-enhanced and flavored alternative to plain bottled water, and by Fruitwater two years after that. Creatively conduct low-cost marketing research. - One way is to set up course projects at local colleges and universities to access the expertise of both students and professors. Many online options exist too.
Company ex: Louis Vuitton
Currently the highest-ranking luxury brand in the world, the company is best known for its iconic handbags, leather goods, shoes, watches, jewelry, accessories. Louis Vuitton's products stand out in both quality and design. Everything is made with state-of-the-art materials, combining art, precision, and craftsmanship, and tested rigorously. For example, the company spends as long as 60 hours making one piece of luggage by hand—the same way it did 150 years ago—and tests zippers 5,000 times before putting them in its luxurious handbags. and sunglasses. Until the 1980s, Louis Vuitton products were available in a wide variety of department stores. However, this led to a high rate of counterfeiting—one of the brand's most difficult challenges—so the company now maintains tighter control over its distribution channels. It sells only through its 3,200 authentic Louis Vuitton boutiques, located in upscale shopping areas and high-end department stores and run by its own employees and managers. Louis Vuitton prices are never reduced. In fact, the company recently increased prices as much as 13 percent and has been primarily marketing its more expensive line of bags in order to push the concept that owning an LV product is a rare luxury. This presents the company with the challenge of trying to sell as much as possible while maintaining an aura of exclusivity, luxury, and prestige. Over the years, it has used high-profile celebrities and supermodels to showcase its products. Marketing campaigns often include a combination of high-fashion celebrities, billboards, print ads, and Vuitton's own international regatta—the Louis Vuitton Cup.
Criteria to determine if a brand association can function as a point-of-difference *** EXAM
Desirability - Consumers must see the brand association as personally relevant to them. -Consumers must also be given a compelling reason to believe and an understandable rationale for why the brand can deliver the desired benefit. (Chanel No. 5 perfume may claim to be thequintessentially elegant French perfume and support this claim by noting the long association between Chanel and haute couture.) Deliverability - The company must have the internal resources and commitment to feasibly and profitably create and maintain the brand association in the minds of consumers. The product design and marketing offering must support the desired association. - Ex: General Motors has had to work to overcome public perceptions that Cadillac is not a youthful, modern brand and has done so through bold designs, solid craftsmanship, and active, contemporary images. - The ideal brand association is preemptive, defensible, and difficult to attack. It is generally easier for market leaders such as ADM, Visa, and SAP to sustain their positioning, based as it is on demonstrable product or service performance, than it is for market leaders such as Fendi, Prada, and Hermès, whose positioning is based on fashion and is thus subject to the whims of a more fickle market. Differentiability - Finally, consumers must see the brand association as distinctive and superior to relevant competitors. Splenda sugar substitute overtook Equal and Sweet'N Low to become the leader in its category in 2003 by differentiating itself as a product derived from sugar without the associated drawbacks
POINTS-OF-PARITY VERSUS POINTS-OF-DIFFERENCE ** EXAM
For an offering to achieve a point-of-parity on a particular attribute or benefit, a sufficient number of consumers must believe the brand is "good enough" on that dimension. There is a zone or range of tolerance or acceptance with points-of-parity. The brand does not literally need to be seen as equal to competitors, but consumers must feel it does well enough on that particularattribute or benefit. Often, the key to positioning is not so much achieving a point-of-difference as achieving points-of-parity!
Brand substitution test
If, in some marketing activity—an ad campaign, a viral video, a new product introduction if a brand were replaced by a competitive brand, the marketing activity should not work as well in the marketplace.
Multiple Frames of Reference
It is not uncommon for a brand to identify more than one actual or potential competitive frame of reference, if competition widens or the firm plans to expand into new categories. For example, Starbucks could define very distinct sets of competitors, suggesting different possible POPs and PODs as a result:19 - Quick-serve restaurants and convenience shops (McDonald's and Dunkin' Donuts)— Intended PODs might be quality, image, experience, and variety; intended POPs might be convenience and value. - Home and office consumption (Folgers, NESCAFÉ instant, and Green Mountain Coffee K-Cups)— Intended PODs might be quality, image, experience, variety, and freshness; intended POPs might be convenience and value. - Local cafés— Intended PODs might be convenience and service quality; intended POPs might be product quality, variety, price, and community. ------------ There are two main options with multiple frames of reference. One is to first develop the best possible positioning for each type or class of competitors and then see whether there is a way to create one combined positioning robust enough to effectively address them all. - if there are too many competitors you need to prioritize competitors and then choose teh most important set of competitors to serve as teh competetive frame. - if there are many competitors in different categories or subcategories, it may be useful to either develop the positioning at the categorical level for all relevant categories or with an exemplar from each category
10.3Emotional Branding
Many marketing experts believe a brand positioning should have both rational and emotional components. In other words, it should contain points-of-difference and points-of-parity that appeal to both the head and the heart. Strong brands often seek to build on their performance advantages to strike an emotional chord with customers. When research on scar-treatment product Mederma found that women were buying it not just for the physical treatment but also to increase their self-esteem, the marketers of the brand added emotional messaging to what had traditionally been a practical message that stressed physician recommendations: "What we have done is supplement the rational with the emotional. A person's emotional response to a brand and its marketing will depend on many factors. An increasingly important one is the brand's authenticity. Authenticity also has functional value. Family farmer-owned Welch's—1,150 Concord and Niagara grape farmers make up the National Grape Cooperative—is seen by consumers as "wholesome, authentic and real."
Company Example: Method Products
Method launched a sleek, uncluttered dish soap container that also had a functional advantage—the bottle, shaped like a chess piece, was built to let soap flow out the bottom so users would never have to turn it upside down. Sustainability also became part of the core of the brand, from sourcing and labor practices to material reduction and the use of nontoxic materials. By creating a line of unique eco-friendly, biodegradable household cleaning products with bright colors and sleek designs, Method grew to a $100 million company in revenues. Because of its limited advertising budget, the company believes its attractive packaging and innovative products must work harder to express the brand positioning. Social mediacampaigns have been able to put some teeth into the company's "People Against Dirty" slogan and its desire to make full disclosure of ingredients an industry requirement.
Straddle Positioning *** EXAM
Occasionally, a company will be able to straddle two frames of reference with one set of points-of-difference and points-of-parity. In these cases, the points-of-difference for one category become points-of-parity for the other and vice versa. Subway restaurants are positioned as offering healthy, good-tasting sandwiches. This positioning allows the brand to create a POP on taste and a POD on health with respect to quick-serve restaurants such as McDonald's and Burger King and, at the same time, a POP on health and a POD on taste with respect to health food restaurants and cafés. Straddle positions allow brands to expand their market coverage and potential customer base Although a straddle positioning is often attractive as a means of reconciling potentially conflicting consumer goals and creating a "best of both worlds" solution, it also carries an extra burden. If the points-of-parity and points-of-difference are not credible, the brand may not be viewed as a legitimate player in either category.
10.4 Establishing a Brand Positioning ** EXAM
Once they have fashioned the brand positioning strategy, marketers should communicate it to everyone in the organization so it guides their words and actions. One helpful schematic with which to do so is a brand-positioning bull's-eye. Often a good positioning will have several PODs and POPs. Of those, often two or three really define the competitive battlefield and should be analyzed and developed carefully. A good positioning should also follow the "90-10" rule and be highly applicable to 90 percent (or at least 80 percent) of the products in the brand. The remaining 10 percent or 20 percent of products should be reviewed to ensure they have the proper branding strategy and to see how they could be changed to better reflect the brand positioning. ***EXAM COMMUNICATING CATEGORY MEMBERSHIP Category membership may be obvious. Target customers are aware that Maybelline is a leading brand of cosmetics, Cheerios is a leading brand of cereal, Accenture is a leading consulting firm, and so on. When a product is new, marketers must inform consumers of the brand's category membership. The typical approach to positioning is to inform consumers of a brand's membership before stating its point-of-difference. Presumably, consumers need to know what a product is and what function it serves before deciding whether it is superior to the brands against which it competes For new products, initial advertising often concentrates on creating brand awareness, and subsequent advertising attempts to create the brand image
Identifying Potential Points-of-Difference and Points-of-Parity
POINTS-OF-DIFFERENCE Points-of-difference (PODs) are attributes or benefits that consumers strongly associate with a brand, positively evaluate, and believe they could not find to the same extent with a competitive brand. Associations that make up points-of-difference can be based on virtually any type of attribute or benefit. - Louis Vuitton may seek a point-of-difference as having the most stylish handbags, Energizer as having the longest-lasting battery, and Fidelity Investments as offering the best financial advice and planning. Strong brands often have multiple points-of-difference. Some examples are Apple (design, ease-of-use, and irreverent attitude), Nike (performance, innovative technology, and winning), and Southwest Airlines (value, reliability, and fun personality). Creating strong, favorable, and unique associations is a real challenge, but an essential one for competitive brand positioning.
10.4 MONITORING COMPETITION **EXAM
Positioning requires an organizational commitment. It is not something that is constantly overhauled or changed. At the same time, it is important to regularly research the desirability, deliverability, and differentiability of the brand's POPs and PODs in the marketplace to understand how the brand positioning might need to evolve or, in relatively rare cases, be completely replaced. In assessing potential threats from competitors, three high-level variables are useful: Share of market —The competitor's share of the target market. Share of mind —The percentage of customers who named the competitor in responding to the statement "Name the first company that comes to mind in this industry." Share of heart —The percentage of customers who named the competitor in responding to the statement "Name the company from which you would prefer to buy the product." We could generalize as follows: Companies that make steady gains in mind share and heart share will inevitably make gains in market share and profitability. Firms such as CarMax, Timberland, Jordan's Furniture, Wegmans, and Toyota are all reaping the benefits of providing emotional, experiential, social, and financial value to satisfy customers and all their constituents.
DirecTV Company Example
Positioning: "state of the art tech" "unmatched programming" "industry leading customer service"
Analyzing Competitors
SWOT A company needs to gather information about each competitor's real and perceived strengths and weaknesses. Once a company has identified its main competitors and their strategies, it must ask: What is each competitor seeking in the marketplace? What drives each competitor's behavior? Many factors shape a competitor's objectives, including size, history, current management, and financial situation. If the competitor is a division of a larger company, it's important to know whether the parent company is running it for growth or for profits, or milking it Finally, based on all this analysis, marketers must formally define the competitive frame of reference to guide positioning. In stable markets where little short-term change is likely, it may be fairly easy to define one, two, or perhaps three key competitors. In dynamic categories where competition may exist or arise in a variety of different forms, multiple frames of reference may be present, as we discuss below.
10.5 Alternative Approaches to Positioning
Some marketers have proposed other, less-structured approaches in recent years that offer provocative ideas on how to position a brand. We highlight a few of those here. BRAND NARRATIVES AND STORYTELLING ***EXAM - Rather than outlining specific attributes or benefits, some marketing experts describe positioning a brand as telling a narrative or story. Companies like the richness and imagination they can derive from thinking of the story behind a product or service. - To help sharpen its marketing and positioning, Jim Beam, with its namesake Jim Beam and Maker's Mark brands, hired The Moth, a group of professional storytellers best known for a weekly public radio broadcast, to kick off a three-day biannual gathering of its marketing teams. - They identify five elements of narrative branding: (1) the brand story in terms of words and metaphors, (2) the consumer journey or the way consumers engage with the brand over time and touch points where they come into contact with it, (3) the visual language or expression for the brand, (4) the manner in which the narrative is expressed experientially or the brand engages the senses, and (5) the role the brand plays in the lives of consumers. - Setting. The time, place, and context Cast. The brand as a character, including its role in the life of the audience, its relationships and responsibilities, and its history or creation myth Narrative arc. The way the narrative logic unfolds over time, including actions, desired experiences, defining events, and the moment of epiphany Language. The authenticating voice, metaphors, symbols, themes, and leitmotifs
Choosing a Competitive Frame of Reference ***EXAM
The competitive frame of reference defines which other brands a brand competes with and which should thus be the focus of competitive analysis. Identifying Competitors - A good starting point in defining a competitive frame of reference for brand positioning is category membership—the products or sets of products with which a brand competes and that function as close substitutes. - The range of a company's actual and potential competitors, however, can be much broader than the obvious. To enter new markets, a brand with growth intentions may need a broader or maybe even a more aspirational competitive frame. - EX: The energy-bar market created by PowerBar ultimately fragmented into a variety of subcategories, including those directed at specific segments (such as Luna bars for women) and some possessing specific attributes (such as the protein-laden Balance and the calorie-control bar Pria). Each represented a subcategory for which the original PowerBar may not be as relevant Firms should broaden their competitive frame to invoke more advantageous comparisons. Consider these examples: - In the United Kingdom, the Automobile Association positioned itself as the fourth "emergency service"—along with police, fire, and ambulance—to convey greater credibility and urgency. -The International Federation of Poker is attempting to downplay some of the gambling image of poker to emphasize the similarity of the card game to other "mind sports" such as chess and bridge -The U.S. Armed Forces changed the focus of its recruitment advertising from the military as patriotic duty to the military as a place to learn leadership skills—a much more rational than emotional pitch that better competes with private industry We can examine competition from both an industry and a market point of view -*** EXAM An industry is a group of firms offering a product or class of products that are close substitutes for one another. Marketers classify industries according to several different factors, such as the number of sellers; degree of product differentiation; presence or absence of entry, mobility, and exit barriers; cost structure; degree of vertical integration; and degree of globalization. Using the market approach, we define competitors as companies that satisfy the same customer need. For example, a customer who buys a word-processing software package really wants "writing ability"—a need that can also be satisfied by pencils, pens, or, in the past, typewriters.
Choosing specific pops and pods *** EXAM
To build a strong brand and avoid the commodity trap, marketers must start with the belief that you can differentiate anything. Michael Porter urged companies to build a sustainable competitive advantage. Competitive advantage is a company's ability to perform in one or more ways that competitors cannot or will not match. But few competitive advantages are inherently sustainable. At best, they may be leverageable. A leverageable advantage is one that a company can use as a springboard to new advantages, much as Microsoft has leveraged its operating system to Microsoft Office and then to networking applications. In general, a company that hopes to endure must be in the business of continuously inventing new advantages that can serve as the basis of points-of-difference. Marketers typically focus on brand benefits in choosing the points-of-parity and points-of-difference that make up their brand positioning. Consumers are usually more interested in benefits and what exactly they will get from a product. Multiple attributes may support a certain benefit, and they may change over time.
10.4 COMMUNICATING POPS AND PODS
We saw above that one common challenge in positioning is that many of the benefits that make up points-of-parity and points-of-difference are negatively correlated. ConAgra must convince consumers that Healthy Choice frozen foods both taste good and are good for you. Consider these examples of negatively correlated attributes and benefits: - Low price vs high quality - powerful vs safe - nutritious vs good tasting - varied vs simple - strong vs refined Moreover, individual attributes and benefits often have positive andnegative aspects. For example, consider a long-lived brand such as La-Z-Boy recliners, Burberry outerwear, or the New York Times. The brand's heritage could suggest experience, wisdom, and expertise as well as authenticity. On the other hand, it could also imply being old-fashioned and not contemporary and up to date. Unfortunately, consumers typically want to maximize both the negatively correlated attributes or benefits. Much of the art and science of marketing consists of dealing with trade-offs, and positioning is no different. The best approach clearly is to develop a product or service that performs well on both dimensions. GORE-TEX was able to overcome the conflicting product images of "breathable" and "waterproof" through technological advances. When in-depth and quantitative interviews and focus groups suggested that consumers wanted the benefits of technology without the hassles, Royal Philips launched its "Sense and Simplicity" campaign for its Philips brand of electronics, using print, online, and television advertising. Other approaches include launching two different marketing campaigns, each devoted to a different brand attribute or benefit; linking the brand to a person, place, or thing that possesses the right kind of equity to establish an attribute or benefit as a POP or POD; and convincing consumers that the negative relationship between attributes and benefits, if they consider it differently, is in fact positive.
10.1 Practice Quiz Which of the following has the goals of guiding marketing strategy by clarifying the brand's essence, identifying the goals it helps the consumer achieve, and showing how it does so in a unique way?
Which of the following has the goals of guiding marketing strategy by clarifying the brand's essence, identifying the goals it helps the consumer achieve, and showing how it does so in a unique way? Positioning
Points of Parity *** EXAM
attribute or benefit associations that are not necessarily unique to the brand but may in fact be shared with other brands. These types of associations come in three basic forms: category, correlational, and competitive. Category points-of-parity - attributes or benefits that consumers view as essential to a legitimate and credible offering within a certain product or service category -they represent necessary—but not sufficient—conditions for brand choice. Consumers might not consider a travel agency truly a travel agency unless it is able to make air and hotel reservations, provide advice about leisure packages, and offer various ticket payment and delivery options. Correlational points-of-parity - potentially negative associations that arise from the existence of positive associations for the brand. - One challenge for marketers is that many attributes or benefits that make up their POPs or PODs are inversely related. In other words, if your brand is good at one thing, such as being inexpensive, consumers can't see it as also good at something else, like being "of the highest quality. Competitive points-of-parity - associations designed to overcome perceived weaknesses of the brand in light of competitors' points-of-difference. One good way to uncover key competitive points-of-parity is to role-play competitors' positioning and infer their intended points-of-difference. Competitor's PODs will, in turn, suggest the brand's POPs.
Positioning *** EXAM
the act of designing a company's offering and image to occupy a distinctive place in the minds of the target market. A good brand positioning helps guide marketing strategy by clarifying the brand's essence, identifying the goals it helps the consumer achieve, and showing how it does so in a unique way. Positioning on the basis of the current state of the market is not forward-looking enough, but at the same time, the positioning cannot be so removed from reality that it is essentially unobtainable. The real trick is to strike just the right balance between what the brand is and what it could be. Positioning requires that marketers define and communicate similarities and differences between their brand and its competitors. (1) choosing a frame of reference by identifying the target market and relevant competition, (2) identifying the optimal points-of-parity and points-of-difference brand associations given that frame of reference, and (3) creating a brand mantra summarizing the positioning and essence of the brand.
10.2 Questions Which of the following can be described as attributes or benefits consumers strongly associate with a brand, believing they could not find to the same extent with another brand?
Points-of-difference
10.4 After developing a brand-positioning strategy, marketers should use ________ to communicate the strategy to everyone in the organization.
brand-positioning bull's eye
