Branding &

Brand Positioning
Prepared by: Samer Meqdad
Outline
 What is a Brand?
 Brand Elements
 Brand Role and Advantages
 Brand Equity
 Brand Portfolios
 Strategic Brand Management
 Brand Positioning
 PODs & POPs
 Product Lifecycle
 Market Evolution
What is a Brand?
A name, term, sign, symbol or design, or a
combination of them, intended to identify
the goods or services of one seller or group
of sellers and to differentiate them from
those of competitors.

What is Branding?
Providing goods and services with the
power of the brand.
Brand Elements
Brand Element Choice Criteria –
How to choose good elements?
 Memorable
 Meaningful
 Likeable
 Transferable
 Adaptable
 Protectable
Brand Naming
 Individual names
 Blanket family names
 Separate family names
 Corporate name/individual name combo
‫‪Slogans – Examples‬‬

‫عندما تعشق‬
‫الشوكوالتة‬
The Role of Brands
 Advantages of Strong Brands

 Improved  Larger margins

perceptions of  More inelastic consumer
product performance response
 Greater loyalty  Greater trade
 Less vulnerability to cooperation
competitive  Increased marketing
marketing actions communications
 Less vulnerability to effectiveness
crises  Possible licensing
opportunities
What is Brand Equity?
The added value given to goods and
services, through branding which may be
reflected in the way consumers, think, feel,
and act with respect to the brand.
The 10 Most Valuable Brands
Brand 2006 Brand Value (Billions)
Coca-Cola $67.00
Microsoft $56.93
IBM $56.20
GE $48.91
Intel $38.32
Nokia $30.13
Toyota $27.94
Disney $27.85
McDonald’s $27.50
Mercedes-Benz $22.13
Measuring Brand Equity
 Brand Audits
◦ Comprehensive examination of a brand to
assess the health of the brand
◦ Suggest ways to improve its equity.
 Brand Tracking
◦ Collecting information about the brand
performance
 Brand valuation
◦ Determining financial value of the brand
Managing Brand Equity
 Brand reinforcement
◦ Continuous product improvement and
innovation.
 Brand revitalization
◦ Change in Positioning
◦ Overhaul the brand image
Brand Portfolios
 A set of brands a company offers

 Advantages
◦ Increasing shelf presence and retailer
dependence in the store
◦ Attracting consumers seeking variety
◦ Increasing internal competition within the
firm
◦ Yielding economies of scale in advertising,
sales, merchandising, and distribution
Brand Roles in a Brand Portfolio
 Flankers
 Cash cows
 Low-end, entry-level
 High-end prestige
 Strategic Brand Management

 Identifying and establishing brand positioning

 Planning and implementing brand marketing
 Measuring and interpreting brand performance
 Growing and sustaining brand value
What is Positioning?
The act of designing the company’s
offering and image to occupy a distinctive
place in the mind of the target market.

Value Proposition
A good hot pizza, delivered to your
door within 30 minutes of
ordering, at a moderate price
Defining Associations
Points-of-difference Points-of-parity
(PODs) (POPs)
• Attributes or • Associations that are
benefits consumers not necessarily
strongly associate unique to the brand
with a brand, but may be shared
positively evaluate, with other brands
and believe they
could not find to the
same extent with a
competitive brand

Both are important!

PODs Success Criteria

Consumer Desirability Criteria

Deliverability Criteria
Examples of Negatively
Correlated Attributes and Benefits
 Low-price vs. High quality
 Taste vs. Low calories
 Nutritious vs. Good tasting
 Powerful vs. Safe
 Ubiquitous vs. Exclusive
 Varied vs. Simple
Differentiation Strategies
 Product
 Distribution Channel
 Personnel
 Image
Product Differentiation
 Product form  Style
 Features  Design
 Performance  Ordering ease
 Conformance  Delivery
 Durability  Installation
 Reliability  Customer training
 Reparability  Customer consulting
 Maintenance
Distribution Channel Differentiation
 Coverage
 Expertise
 Performance
Personnel Differentiation
 Better-trained staff
 Competent (skill and knowledge)
 Trustworthy
 Friendly and respectful
 Reliable (perform consistently & accurately)
 Responsive
 Good communicators (understand customer
and communicate clearly)
Image Differentiation
 Establish character and value proposition
 Convey in a distinctive way
 Deliver emotional power

‫عندما تعشق‬
‫الشوكوالتة‬
Product Life Cycles
Claims of Product Life Cycles
 Products have a limited life
 Product sales pass through distinct
stages each with different challenges and
opportunities
 Profits rise and fall at different stages
 Products require different strategies in
each life cycle stage
Product Life Cycles Stages
Stages in the Maturity Stage

Stable Decaying
Maturity
Growth
Strategies for Sustaining
Rapid Market Growth
 Improve product quality, add new features,
and improve styling
 Add new models and flanker products
 Enter new market segments
 Increase distribution coverage
 Shift from product-awareness advertising to
product-preference advertising
 Lower prices to attract the next layer of
price-sensitive buyers
Ways to Increase Sales Volume
 Convert nonusers
 Enter new market segments
 Attract competitors’ customers
 Have consumers use
◦ The product on more occasions
◦ More of the product on each occasion
◦ The product in new ways
Market Evolution
Market Evolution Stages

Emergence Growth Maturity Decline

 Latent New firms Competition Society needs

 Single-niche enter covers all decline or
 Multiple-niche market major new
market technology
 Mass-market
segments replaces old
Maturity Strategies
Market Market
Fragmentation Consolidation
References
 Philip Kotler, Marketing Management, 11th
Edition. Prentice Hall, 2002.