Crafting Brand Positioing

1 Chapter No 10
Crafting Brand
Positioning
Dr.Rukhsana Gul
Chapter Questions
 In this chapter, we focus on the questions:
 How can a firm develop and establish an effective positioning in

the market?
 How are brands successfully differentiated?
 How do firms communicate their positioning?
 What are some alternative approaches to positioning?
 What are the differences in positioning and branding for a small

business?
Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall 6-2

What is Positioning?
Positioning is the act of designing the company’s offering and image
to occupy a distinctive place in the mind of the target market.
OR
Establishing a specific image for a brand in the consumer’s mind in
relation to competing brands.
The goal is to locate the brand in the minds of consumers to

maximize the potential benefits to the firms.
A good brand positioning helps guide marketing strategy by ;
 Clarifying the brand essence
 What goals it helps consumer achieve and how it does so in unique
way.

Brand Positioning
 Example: Paras pharmaceuticals limited launched their brand
MOOV as a balm for relieving back ache pains. It was positioned as
the “ backache specialist” that addresses the problem that house
wives frequently encounter.

Brand Positioning
 Example: The brand positioning of Evian is the high-end and high-
quality drinking water.
 In advertising, the main elements have been always baby, vitality and
water in order to effectively deepen the customer association for the
brand.
 The core concept of Evian is “Live Young”, so the most appropriate
expression carrier is “Baby”.
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ikuiByrF6rs
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iKo6MsCaPTs

Brand Positioning
 Deciding on a positioning requires:
 choosing a frame of reference by identifying the target market

and relevant competition.
 identifying the optimal points-of-parity and points of- difference

brand associations given that frame of reference.
 Creating a brand mantra summarizing the positioning and

essence of the brand.

Competitive Frame of Reference
 A starting point for defining a competitive frame of reference for a
brand positioning is to determine;
 Category membership
 Resources & capabilities of firm
 Deciding the segment to enter
 Understand Consumer Behavior
 Category membership: The products and set of products

with which a brand competes and which function as close substitute.
 Example
 Category membership of Coke is soft drinks brands.
 Category membership of Maybelline is cosmetics brands.

Point of Difference and Point of Parity
Points-of-difference (PODs)
 Attributes or benefits consumers strongly associate with a brand,
positively evaluate, and believe they could not find to the same extent
with a competitive brand.
 Example: POD of Apple Design
 POD of Nike Performance
 POD of Dettol Soap is its anticiptic
Points-of-parity (POPs)
 Associations that are not necessarily unique to the brand but may be
shared with other brands.
 Point of Parity association come in Two basic forms;
 Category Point of Parity
 Competitive Point of Parity
Point of Parity
 Category Point of Parity
 A category point of parity means that the brand offers necessary
category features.
 A bank will not be suitable, for example, unless it offers adequate ATM
service.
 At first, some German car manufactures resisted adding cup holders,
believing that car purists would not want such distractions in their car.
But this became a “must have” for many and they eventually had to add
them.

Competitive Point of Parity
 A competitive point of parity is designed to negate a competitor’s point
of difference.
 The Dettol antiseptic lotion has properties like strong smell, turning
cloudy when poured on water and sting sensation on wounds become
the category properties of antiseptic lotion.
 Savlon introduced in market without any of properties like Detol. In
order to obtain consumer acceptance, Savlon communicate through
advertising the superior efficacy of the product and high “no sting”
property of Savlon antiseptic liquid as the key differentiator.
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8xSVL35_3pg

Communicating Category Membership
 There are three main ways to communicate the brand’s category
membership.
 Announcing category benefits

 Comparing to exemplars
 Relying on the Product descriptors

 Announcing category benefits
 Announcing Category benefits, Marketers frequently use benefits to
announce category membership.
 A brownie mix might attain category membership in the baked dessert

category by claiming the benefit of great taste & support this claim by
including high quality ingredients.

 Comparing to exemplars: Well known brands in a category can also
help a brand specify its category membership.
 When Tommy Hilfiger was an unknown designer, advertising

announced his membership as a great American designer by
associating him with Geoffrey Beene, Stanley Blacker, Calvin Klein,
and Perry Ellis, who were recognized members of that category at
that time.

 Relying on the product descriptors, 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 on a radical new 2004
model called the X-Trainer, which combines 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 is designated a sports wagon.

Choosing POPs and PODs
• Marketers must decides at which levels to anchor the brand’s PODs;
• The lowest level is brand attributes
• The next level is brand’s benefits
• The top are the brand Values.
• The marketer of Dove soap may talk about its attribute of one quarter
cleansing cream; or the benefits of softer skin; or its value of being
more attractive.

Choosing POPs and PODs
• Pamper marketing campaign focused on three level for positioning;
• When pamper was initially launched in market, early marketing
focused on its attributes as fluid protection, fit and disposability.
• Pampers marketing campaign focused on benefits level by
communicating the skin, health benefits from dryness.
• Then pampers marketing campaign focused on brand values and
communicate “parent ,child relationship”

Creating POPs and PODs
 One common difficulty in creating a strong, competitive brand
positioning is that many of the attributes or the benefits that makeup
the POPs and PODs are negatively correlated.
 Examples of Negatively Correlated attributes and

functions
 Low-price vs. High quality
 Taste vs. Low calories
 Nutritious vs. Good tasting
 Efficacious vs. Mild
 Powerful vs. Safe
 Strong vs. Refined
 Ubiquitous vs. Exclusive
 Varied vs. Simple
Addressing negatively correlated PODs
and POPs
 Present separately
 Leverage equity of another entity
 Redefine the relationship
 Example:
 The best approach is to develop a product or service that perform
well on both dimensions.
 The marketers of Head & shoulders launched two different marketing
campaign, each devoted to a different attribute and benefit (eg Silky
and dandruff free hair).
 Celebrity Endorsement

Addressing negatively correlated PODs
and POPs

Consumer Desirability Criteria for PODs
 Consumer desirability criteria for PODs ; PODs Must be
 Relevant
 Distinctive
 Believability
 Relevance Target consumers must find the POD personally relevant

and important.
 The Westin Stamford hotel in Singapore advertised that it was the
world’s tallest hotel, but a hotels height is not important to many
tourists.

Consumer Desirability Criteria for PODs
 Believability : Target consumers must find the POD believable
and credible. A brand must offer a compelling reason for
choosing it over the other options.
 Mountain Dew may argue that it is more energizing than other
soft drinks and support this claim by noting that it has a higher
level of caffeine.

Deliverability Criteria for PODs
 The deliverability criteria PODs are;
 Feasibility
 Communicability
 Sustainability
 Feasibility The product design and marketing offering must support the
desired association.
 Does communicating the desired association involve real changes to the
product itself, or just perceptual ones as to how the consumer thinks of
the product or brand?
 Example: General Motors had to work to overcome public perceptions
that Cadillac is not a youthful, contemporary brand.
 Rin Detergent when launched in 1980s, consumer get confused because
of color of soap, start using it as dish washing instead of fabric washing.

 Communicability Consumers must be given a compelling reason and
understandable rationale as to why the brand can deliver the desired
benefits.
 Consumers must be given factual, verifiable evidences or proof points.
 Example : Substantiates often come in the form of patented, branded
ingredients, such as Nivea Wrinkle Control Cream with Q10 co-
enzyme or Herbal Essences hair conditioner with Hawafena.

 Sustainability Is the positioning preemptive, defensible, and
difficult to attack? Can the favorability of a brand association be
reinforced and strengthened over time? If yes, the positioning is
likely to be enduring.
 It is generally easier for market leaders such as Gillette, Intel,
and Microsoft, whose positioning is based in part on
demonstrable product performance, to sustain their positioning.
 Whereas market leaders such as Gucci, Prada, and Hermes,
whose positioning is based on fashion and is thus subject to the
whims of a more fickle market.

Differentiation Strategy
 A company can differentiate itself and its market offering by;
 Product
 Service
 People
 Image

Differentiation Strategies
 Through product differentiation brands can be differentiated on
features, functions, performance or style and design.
 Example: Apple position its IOS and aesthetic design and touch screen
 Hero Honda differentiated itself by “Fill it, shut it and forget it”, thus
promising great performance in terms of mileage.
 Pantene differentiated its product by stronger and shiny hair.

Service Differentiation
 A firm can also differentiate the services that accompany the product.
 Some companies gain service differentiation through speedy,
convenient or careful delivery.
 Suzuki differentiated itself from the rest of automobile manufacturing
companies through a number of authorized service stations and
dealers.
 Home Appliance company Dawlance differentiated its reliable
product & after sale services.
 Mcdonald’s differentiated its Courteous services & IBM by
professional services.

Channel differentiation
 Firms that’s practice channel differentiation gain competitive
advantage through the way they design their channel’s coverage,
expertise and performance.
 Amazon.com set themselves apart with their smooth functioning
direct channels.

People differentiation
 Companies can also get strong competitive advantage through people
differentiation, by hiring and training better people than the
competitors.
 Example Singapore airline enjoys an excellent reputation, largely
because of the grace of its flight attendants.
 Emirates airline are known for its courteous, efficient and friendly
flight attendants.
 Disney people are known to be friendly.

Image Differentiation
 A company or brand image should convey the product’s distinct
benefits and positioning.
 A company can not develop an image in public’s mind over nightly
using few advertisements. Developing strong brands calls for
creativity and hard word.
 Example: Brands Coca-Cola, Nike, McDonald's and Google provide
strong company brand recognition and image differentiation

Product Lifecycle Strategies
 A company’s positioning and differentiation strategies must change as
the product, market and competitors change over the product lifecycle.
 To say that a product has a lifecycle is to assert four things;
 Product has limited Life
 Product sales pass through distinct stages posing different challenges,
opportunities and problem to sellers.
 Profit rise and fall at different stages of the product life cycle.
 Product requires different marketing, financial, manufacturing,
purchasing and human resource strategies in each life cycle stage.

Product Life Cycle
Introduction Stage:
 The product life cycle stage in which the new product is first
distributed and made available for purchase.
 Slow sales growth
 Little or no profit
 High distribution and promotion expense
 Example Zingarathha by KFC
 Prices James and Mini Oreo By Lu
 Fish Kar restaurant Sukkur

Product Life Cycle Strategies
 Product Introduction Strategies
 Inform potential consumers about offering through marketing
communication
 Induce Product Trial
 Secure distribution in retail outlets.

Product Life Cycle
 Growth Stage
The product life cycle stage in which a product sales start climbing
quickly.
Growth stage is characterized by;
 Sales increase
 New competitors enter the market
 Price stability or decline to increase volume
 Consumer education
 Profits increase
 Promotion and manufacturing costs gain economies of scale

Product Life Cycle
 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

Product Life Cycle
Maturity Stage:
 The product life cycle stage in which sales growth slows or level
off (stay the same over a time).
 Slowdown in sales
 Many suppliers
 Substitute products
 Overcapacity leads to competition
 Increased promotion and R&D to support sales and profits
Maturity Stage Modifying Strategies

 Market modifying
 Product modifying
 Marketing mix modifying

Product Life Cycle
 Example:of Product at Maturity Stage
 Zong Telecommunication
 Lux soap
 Haleeb Milk
 Vicks Vapo Rub

Maturity Stage Modifying Strategies
 Market Modification
 Converting nonusers
 Entering new market segments
 Winning competitors’ customers
 Convince current users to increase usage by:
 Using the product on more occasions
 Using more of the product on each occasion
 Using the product in new ways
 Product Modification managers also try to stimulate sales by

modifying the product’s characteristics through quality improvement,
feature improvement, and style improvement.

Product Life Cycle
 Decline Stage
The product life cycle stage in which a product’s sales decline. Sales
decline for many reasons including;
 Technological advancement
 Shifts in consumer tastes
 Increased competition

Decline Stage
 Example:
 Fuji Film camera
 window air conditioner
 Floppy Disk
 Sewing Machine
 Music Tape

Product Life Cycle Strategies
 Strategies for Decline Stage
Carrying a weak product can be very costly to a firm. Therefore,

management has to decide whether
 Maintain the product
 Harvest the product (extract maximum profit from any remaining
sales)
 Drop the product

Product Life-Cycle Strategies

Emotional Branding
 Many marketing experts believe a brand positioning should have both
rational and emotional components.
 The brand 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.
 Example: Dastak cooking oil build relationship with customers with

emotional branding contents.
 Dove Soap build their positing through rational and emotional
branding.

Emotional Branding
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J-WcRAnEokk
 youtube.com/watch?v=1enjb9kwWKU
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TOOAC0_2uuo
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j275XmLGDyI

Brand Mantras
 To further focus brand positioning and guide the way their marketers
help consumers think about the brand, firms can define a brand mantra.
 A brand mantra is a three- to five-word articulation of the heart and
soul of the brand.
 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.
 Example:

Nike Brand Mantra is Authentic, Athlete ,Performance

Mc Donald’s Brand Mantra is Food, Folks and Fun

Disney Brand Mantra is Fun, Family, Entertainment

Brand Mantras
 Role of Brand Mantras
Brand mantras are powerful devices. 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.
 Example: Nike marketers adopted the three-word brand mantra,
“authentic athletic performance,” to guide their marketing efforts.
 Thus, its entire marketing program—its products and the way they are
sold—must reflect that key brand value.
 Over the years, Nike has expanded its brand meaning from “running
shoes” to “athletic shoes” to “athletic shoes and apparel” to “all things
associated with athletics (including equipment).
 Each step of the way, however, it has been guided by its “authentic
athletic performance” brand mantra.

Designing of Brand Mantra
 Unlike, brand slogans meant to engage, brand mantras are designed
with internal purposes in mind.
 Nike’s internal mantra was “authentic athletic performance,” its
external slogan was “Just Do It.”
 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 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.
Bull’s Eye Positioning
 Once the marketing department 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.
 Constructing a Brand Positioning Bull’s-eye” outlines one way
marketers can formally express brand positioning without skipping
any steps.
 A brand bull’s-eye provides content and context to improve
everyone’s understanding of the positioning of a brand in the
organization.


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1 Chapter No 10

 How can a firm develop and establish an effective positioning in

 How are brands successfully differentiated?

 How do firms communicate their positioning?

 What are some alternative approaches to positioning?

 What are the differences in positioning and branding for a small

Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall 6-2

relation to competing brands.

The goal is to locate the brand in the minds of consumers to

 Clarifying the brand essence

 What goals it helps consumer achieve and how it does so in unique

Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall 6-3

Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall 6-4

Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall 6-5

 choosing a frame of reference by identifying the target market

 identifying the optimal points-of-parity and points of- difference

 Creating a brand mantra summarizing the positioning and

Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall 6-6

 Resources & capabilities of firm

 Deciding the segment to enter

 Understand Consumer Behavior

 Category membership: The products and set of products

Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall 6-7

Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall 6-9

Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall 6-10

 Announcing category benefits

Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall 6-11

 A brownie mix might attain category membership in the baked dessert

Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall 6-12

 When Tommy Hilfiger was an unknown designer, advertising

Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall 6-13

Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall 6-14

Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall 6-15

Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall 6-16

 Examples of Negatively Correlated attributes and

Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall 6-18

Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall 6-19

 Relevance Target consumers must find the POD personally relevant

Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall 6-20

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Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall 6-22

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Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall 6-35

 Overcapacity leads to competition

 Increased promotion and R&D to support sales and profits

Maturity Stage Modifying Strategies

 Marketing mix modifying

Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall 6-36

Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall 6-37

 Product Modification managers also try to stimulate sales by

Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall 6-38

 Shifts in consumer tastes