Course Structure

Marketing
Research
Pricing
Segmentation

Defining Strategic Distribution

Marketing Planning Channels
Targeting

Product
Strategies
Positioning

Marketing
Communications
¨ Positioning is the act
of designing the
company’s offering
and image to
occupy a distinctive
place in the mind of
the target market
relative to its
competitors.
¨ Critical Capabilities,
Competitive
Advantage, and
Positioning
¤ Competitive Advantage
is what the company
gains over its competition
by offering consumer
greater value.
¤ Competitive advantage
Known as one of the world's leading
stems out of critical cardiac surgeons. He was awarded the UK
Order of Merit and knighted by Queen
capabilities. Elizabeth II for his contribution to medicine
and surgery, becoming the first Egyptian to
receive this prestigious award.
¨ 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 requires that marketers define and
communicate similarities and differences between their
brand and its competitors.
¨ Specifically, deciding on a positioning requires:
1. choosing a competitive 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.
3. creating a brand mantra summarizing the positioning and
essence of the brand.
¨ Defining a competitive frame of reference for
brand positioning is to determine category
membership the products or sets of products with
which a brand competes and which function as close
substitutes.
¨ Using the market approach, we define
competitors as companies that satisfy the same
customer need. Competition may be defined in
terms of 4 levels:
1. Brand competition
2. Industry competition
3. Form competition
4. Generic competition
¨ Brand Competition
can be defined as the
rivalry between the
companies offering the
similar line of products
or services to the same
target audience.
¨ Industry competition
includes businesses that
sell a similar product
or service including
current and potential
competitors.
¨ Form competition is a
product or a brand
that serves the same
purpose and may act
as a close substitute.
¨ Generic competition:
anything that competes
for the same consumer
disposable dollars.
¨ Defines which other brands a brand competes with
and therefore which brands should be the focus of
competitive analysis.
¨ Points of Parity (POPS) are
attribute or benefit associations
that are not necessarily unique to
the brand but may in fact be
shared with other brands.
1. Category points-of-parity are
attributes or benefits that
consumers view as essential to
a legitimate and credible
offering within a certain
product or service category.
2. Competitive points-of-parity
are associations designed to
overcome perceived
weaknesses of the brand in
light of competitors’ points-of-
difference.
¨ Points of Distinction (PODS) are attributes, behaviors,
or qualities that make your brand stand out from its
competitive set. PODS have to be:
¤ Desirable to consumer. Consumers must see the brand
association as personally relevant to them.
¤ Deliverable by the company. The company must have the
internal resources and commitment to feasibly and
profitably create and maintain the brand association in the
minds of consumers.
¤ Differentiating from competitors. Finally, consumers must see
the brand association as distinctive and superior to relevant
competitors.
¨ Marketers typically focus on
brand benefits in choosing the
POPs and POPs that make up
their brand positioning.
¨ Brand attributes generally
play more of a supporting
role by providing “reasons to
believe” or “proof points” as
to why a brand can credibly
claim it offers certain benefits.

Dove soap, for example, its attribute

of one-quarter cleansing cream
uniquely creates the benefit of softer
skin.
¨ Some companies are
finding success in building a
sustainable competitive
advantage by choosing
specific anchor for their
PODs.
¨ But few competitive
advantages are inherently
sustainable. At best, they Biologics
may be leverageable. Roche Holding will enjoy an advantage of at
least three years with its $7 billion-a-year in
sales of the biologic rheumatoid arthritis
treatment Rituxan before a biosimilar
copycat version is introduced.22
¨ When a product is new,
marketers must inform
consumers of the brand’s
category membership.
¨ Sometimes consumers
may know the category
membership but not be
convinced the brand is a Positioning Statement
To young active soft-drink consumers who
valid member of the have little time to sleep, Mountain Dew is the
soft-drink that gives you more energy than
category. any other brand because it has the highest
level of caffeine.
Marketers should decide to which level to anchor the PODs