Brand positioning

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Lesson # 6
BRAND POSITIONING
Subject:
BRAND BUILDING
Faculty Name:
Vishal Desai
Batch
(BMM class of 2015)
Year (TY)
India’s premier M-school
Deviprasad Goenka Management College of Media Studies (dgmcms.org.in)

Positioning
“The act of fixing the locus of the product offer in the minds of the
target consumers”
Al Ries & Jack Trout in their book ‘Positioning – The Battle for
Your Mind’ say “Positioning is not what you do to the product. It is
what you do to the mind of the prospect. You position the product
in the prospect’s mind”.
According to them positioning is more concerned with the
consumer’s perception about the brand rather than the product
offer as such.
Subroto Sengupta in his book Brand Positioning says “The aim
of brand positioning is create a perception for the brand in the
prospect’s mind so that it stands apart from the competing
brands….We must cover the space in the consumer’s mind as if
we had won a long term lease over it. We must find a strong
position in that mind and sit on it.
Michael Rothschild in his book Marketing Communications –
From Fundamentals to Strategies says “ Positioning refers to

Examples
 Maggi is positioned as an evening snack among the
youth and in young urban mother’s mind – ‘good to eat,
fast to cook and anytime snack’
 Maruti Cars are positioned as Value for Money Cars
 SX4 car is positioned as “ Car for Men with career
success”
 Kellogg’s cereal is positioned as a breakfast food
 Woodland shoes are positioned as shoes that last long
– “Leather that weathers”
 7-Up is positioned as an Un-cola drink
 Parker Pen is positioned as a pen that marks a
corporate executive’s identity.
 Thums-Up and Mountain Dew are positioned as
adventure brands
 Maruti Omni is positioned as MUV: ambulance, delivery
van, school van, etc

Why is positioning imp?
 A brand cannot be Everything to
Everyone
 Positioning connects product offering with
the target market
 Make the target consumer feel “This
brand is for me”
 Create a sense of belonging to the brand
in the mind of the target consumer
Case Study analysis- Cadbury’s Dairy Milk

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Crafting a Positioning Strategy:
• “A Positioning strategy results in the image you want to draw
in the minds of your customers, the picture you want him/her to
visualize of you, what you offer, in relation to the market
situation, and any competition you may have.”
• Positioning reflects the “place” a brand occupies in a market or
segment
• A successful brand position has characteristics that are both
differentiating and important to consumers
• Every brand has some sort of position whether intended or not
• Positions are based upon consumer perceptions, which may or
may not reflect reality

• A brand position is effectively built by communicating a
consistent message to consumers about the product and where
it fits into the market – through advertising, brand name and
packaging
• Positioning is inextricably linked with market segmentation
• Three key research issues must be addressed:
1) What is your current position?
2) What position do you want to have?
3) How do you create a new positioning?

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Four bases of positioning:
1) Product class
2) Consumer segmentation
3) Consumer perception
4) Brand Benefits and Attributes

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Product class:
• A product class or product market can be defined as the set of
products and brands which are perceived as substitutes to
satisfy some specific consumer need.
• The term, product category, is also used interchangeably with
the product class and product market.
• Which other brands/product must our brand compete with in
order to lodge itself in the target consumer’s perceptual space?

For Example:
• In India, if we consider product class of chocolates, Cadbury’s,
Amul and Nestle are clearly positioned against one another
• If we consider product class of sweets and deserts – decorative
box of chocolates against Indian mithais, ice creams, cakes
and pastries

For Example:
• Haldiram’s comfortable position was challenged by a brand
from another product class altogether.
• Cadbury’s – ‘Kuch Metha Ho Jaye’ came as a rude shock
being launched as a synonymous with traditional sweets
(Mithai ) followed by a positioning as ‘Khaane Ke Baad
Meethe Mein Kuch Meetha Ho Jaye’, to introduce the
thought of having Cadbury Dairy Milk as a post dinner
desert

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Consumer segmentation:
• What is the profile of the consumers whom our brand will serve
and what are their needs?
• The main focus is on the target consumer’s characteristics,
needs and expectations
• Leading brands – those with very large market shares-tend to
position themselves across several segments whereas other
brands are focused more narrowly

For example:
• Horlicks, “the great nourisher” is positioned across age groups
and gender
• Complan, “complete planned food for growing children” is
positioned as a children’s drink
• Boost, positioned as “an energy drink” for children
• Bournvita, positioned as providing children with “power to
win”.

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Consumer Perception or Perceptual Mapping:
• Firms use perceptual or positioning maps to help them develop a
market positioning strategy for their products or services
• Called perceptual maps because the maps are based on the
perception of the buyers
• Positioning maps show where existing products and services are
positioned in the market so that the firm can decide where they
would like to place their product
• Firms have two options, they can either position their product so
that it fills a gap or if they would like to compete against the other
brands they can position it where the competitors have placed
their products.

Drawing a perceptual (positioning) map
• Usually have 2 axis-the x and y axis
• Criteria such as price, quality, status, features, safety, reliability,
etc can be used for either of the axis
• Once the 2 axis have been drawn and labeled existing brands will
be placed onto the map

Example of Perceptual Mapping
PRESTIGE
Ferrari
CONSERVATIVE SPORTY
BUDGET
MERCEDES
AUDI
HONDA
BMW
PORSCHE
JAGUAR
VOLKSWAGEN
FORD
HYUNDAI FIAT
TATA
MARUTI
TOYOTA
RENAULT
MAHINDRA
Chevrolet
Class Exercise – Perceptual Map (Group Assignment)

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Brand attributes and benefits:
To enter the consumer’s perceptual space and to secure a ‘position’ there,
the brand must satisfy his question: “what’s in it for me?”
It must offer a benefit which is of importance to him
The consumer’s frame of reference requires that those manufacturer’s
claims or brand attributes be translated into consumer benefits in order to
map consumer perceptions

For example:
• Robin liquid or Ujala
Washing powders take away the dirt but Robin Liquid or
Ujala give clothes that extra ‘coat of white’- the whiteness
dip

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Characteristics of Positioning Statement:
• The company’s positioning can be effectively described to the customers
with the help of a positioning statement
• A positioning statement is “the message that communicates the brand image
to consumers
• A strong and consistent positioning statement is necessary to stand out
against competitors and should help sharpen and strengthen the brand
identity
• Positioning statement elucidates what a company is, what it does, and how it
is different from competitors
• It should be brief and more importantly defensible
• It should be a short, unique, believable, compelling declarative sentence that
states just one benefit and address target market’s No.1 problem

The positioning statement should answer the following:-
• Our product is (describe the product or solution)
• For which target customers ……..(For whom)
• Who have the following problem …….(Who/Why)
• That provides some breakthrough capability
• Unlike competitor’s product
• Our product/solution (describe the key point of competitive
differentiation)

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For example:
• Ponds Energy Face wash is
for
Men (20-30 age group) or older (secondary audience)
who
have dull and tired skin
that
Coffee extract beans
unlike
other ordinary face wash
with
coffee extracts being key differentiator

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For example:
• Emami Fair & Handsome Face wash
for
Men (20-30 age group)
who
want oil, dirt and sweat removal
that
has acti-fair peptides
unlike
other face wash
with
instant fairness being key differentiator

For example:
• Haldiram’s positioning statement (taste of tradition)
states that
(our product is ready to eat, high quality, Indian snack)
for
(consumers having inclination towards Indian meals)
that provides
(excellent packaging and increased shelf life)
• Organizations can also develop single line positioning statements
For example:
• Dominos – ‘Khushiyon ki home delivery’, which means delivering
happiness to your house
• Thumps up – ‘Taste the thunder’

The brand positioning statement should thus address four set of
questions:
1)Which element of the brand identity and value proposition should be a part
of the position, a part of the active communication program? Which will
resonate with customers, and differentiate the brand from competitors?
2)Who is the primary target audience? Who are secondary target audience?
3)What are the communication objectives? Does the current image need to be
augmented or strengthened , reinforced and exploited, or diffused or deleted .
4)What will be the point of advantage? What will be the points where parity
or near-parity is the best the brand image should strive for?

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Qualities of A Successful Brand Position:
1) Relevance
• Positioning should focus on benefits that are important to
the people or reflect the character of the product
For example:
The Air India Maharaja – symbolizes graciousness and
high living, an example of a powerful position based on the
services provided by Air India

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2) Clarity
• A position should be easy to communicate and quick to
comprehend
For example:
“Utterly Butterly Delicious Amul” – established Amul over the
years and still strongly holds the dominant position in the
market
3) Distinctiveness
•It should clearly state the distinctiveness from its
competitor
•If a brand’s position lacks distinctiveness it will be
forced to compete on the bases of price or promotion.

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4) Coherence
• Speak with one voice through all the elements of the marketing
mix if you wish to create a strong position
• The shipping cartons, envelope franking, packaging,
advertising, promotions, shelf displays, etc should all reflect
and translate the brand’s position into the appropriate form for
the media
• For example:
If a brand that is positioned as premium quality and the price
appears in an end-aisle “sale” display, its quality image will
suffer

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5) Commitment
• Once a position is adopted, it takes commitment to see through, in the
face of criticism and pot shots
6) Patience
Patience is key to successful position
• For example:
Crest toothpaste has dominated its market for over thirty years. When it
was first introduced and positioned as a cavity fighter its shares never
rose above 13% for three years. The ADA approval was the key in
increasing the brand share to over 40% of the market. Had P&G lost
patience after two or three years, someone else would be enjoying the
profit of this powerful brand position

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7) Courage
• Adopting a strong brand position requires bravery
• You must believe that the position makes strategic sense for the
brand and then stick to your guns
• Adopting a strong position is not a passive act; rather it is a
deliberate attempt to influence events

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Brand Identity, Image And Positioning:
IDENTITY IMAGE POSITION
BRAND AS INTENDED BRAND AS RECEIVED
s
OR DECODED
BRAND IN RELATION TO
COMPETITVE BRAND(S)
PERCEPTUAL
FILTER /SCREEN
RECEIVER’S
PERCEPTUAL SPACE

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Augmenting an Brand Image:
• A brand image might be too restrictive – that is, it maybe geared to
one age group or application, while the identity points the way to
adding other segments or application
• A firm might want to market to the homes as well as the office, or to
those requiring style as well as durability
The brand position might therefore attempt –
1) to add associations to the brand image.
2) to broaden the perceptual space of consumer.
Eg: Cadbury’s Dairy Milk’s association with every happy
occasion

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Reinforcing a Brand Image:
• A decision to create a new position that does not build on a
brand’s strengths is usually difficult and risky
For example:
• Mahindra’s greatest asset has been its association with all-wheel
drive and the performance and safety that all-wheel drive
affords. An attempt was made to reposition the brand to appeal
to more general market, where it would compete directly with
Honda Accord and Toyota Camry. The result was, Mahindra
could not create a strong positioning and returned to its earlier
accepted positioning

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Diffusing an Image:
• Sometimes specifying what a brand “is not” is as important to
the integrity of the communication program as specifying what
it is.

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Cornerstones Of Positioning Strategy:
• These strategies revolve around different aspects of the brand –
expressed as four strategic questions:
1) Who am I?
2) What am I?
3) For whom am I?
4) Why me?
• The answer to these would determine the brand’s position in
the prospect’s mind

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Who am I?
• This question concerns the corporate credentials of the brand
• The prospect is urged to think of the brand in terms of its
origins, its family tree and the ‘stable’ from which it comes
• This can give the brand a competitive advantage

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Positioning by Corporate Identity :
• Most often with durables when a tried and trusted corporate
identity or source has become a household name
For example:
• Philips radio, Philips lamp, Philips Mixies, Philips
Refrigerators etc
• Lux – a quality product of Hindustan Lever

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Positioning by Brand Endorsement :
• When a brand has proved very successful the marketers can
exploit the strength of that name for entering another product
category
• This positioning strategy is known as ‘Parentage’
For example:
• After the phenomenal success of Nirma Washing Powder –
Launch of Nirma detergent bar and then Nirma toilet soap

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What am I?
• The positioning strategy around this question relate to the
product’s functional capabilities
• They offer brand manager considerable scope for perceived
brand differentiation
• Differentiation strategies can be grouped under
• a) Category-related positioning
• b) Benefit-related positioning
• c) Positioning by usage and occasion and time
• d) Price-Quality positioning

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Category-related positioning:
• An important differentiating strategy when an existing product
category is too crowded is to take the same basic product and position
it in another category
• Provided the attributes of the product can match consumer
expectations from that category
• This is referred to in a jargon as ‘macro-positioning’ or ‘inter-set
positioning’

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For example:
• If you are marketing a skimmed milk powder, the same basic product
can be positioned as:-
a) Re-constituted Milk
- in metal can packaging
b) A whitener for tea & coffee
- in sachet packaging
- instantly soluble in water
- introduce a creamier variety
c) Weight –Watcher, low calorie milk
- in tetra pack packaging
- available at chemist shops and health food outlets
d) Instant Breakfast
- in jar packaging
- with added vitamins and nutrients

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Benefit-Related positioning:
• A well made product would usually offer more than one benefit
• Promises of multiple benefits tends to get lost because they
leave in the consumer’s mind a vague and diffused imprint
• Successful consumer product promises one or at the most two
benefits and brand franchises are created around those specific
benefits
• Consumers, who are similar in important ways, cluster around
the same benefits, others would cluster around other benefits
• This enables differentiation in a product market and has been
well documented as ‘Benefit Segmentation’

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• Russel J Haley conducted research among toothpaste users in
USA ( 1963 ) and divided them into segments.
• He uncovered four such benefit segments and their respective
brand choices
• Economy: those who were looking for low price
• Cosmetic: those who wanted white, bright teeth
• Taste: those to whom taste mattered the most
• Medicinal: those who were concerned about prevention of
decay
• Each benefit-seeking group or segment had certain common
characteristic – demographic, psychographic, behaviouristic

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Benefit Position Brand
Cosmetic : white, bright teeth
Fresh breath
Taste
Decay prevention
Gum care and
Other therapeutic
Pepsodent whitening, Close-Up
Colgate, Close-Up
Colgate
Colgate, Sensodyne
Colgate Total Pro Gum Health,
Sensodyne, Babool, Neem, Meswak
As you can see, Colgate, the market leader by far, is positioned
across a broad band of benefits. Others are positioned by more
specific benefits

+Positioning by usage occasion and time:
• It is another strong differentiating strategy within the ambit of the question
• Find a strong usage position and sit on it
For example:
• Milkmaid dominates the dessert usage position so strongly that it cannot
be easily dislodged by a competitor (Usage Positioning)
• Vicks Vapo Rub to be applied for child’s cold – Vicks made this usage
position virtually unassailable (Time positioning)
• Burnol antiseptic ointment is for burns and strongly entrenched for that
usage (Usage positioning)
• Dettol is for cuts and nicks, insect bites and other minor infections (usage
positioning)
• Dettol soap is used when you are feeling sticky, grimy or dirty and want to
have 100% evening bath (time positioning)

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Price-quality positioning:
• Simple concept but a powerful one in developing economy like
India
• The consumer looks at the product in a category, at different
levels of price, offering different standards of quality and
decides which price-cum-quality level is most suitable for a
given need
Eg: Savings A/c – Regular v/s Priority banking
Credit Cards – Classic/Gold/Titanium/Signature

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For Whom Am I?
• A segment is made up of customers with more or less similar
needs and expectations from a product and who have some
important similar characteristics
• Their responses to product and brand offering are also likely to
be similar
• The factors which bind such consumers together into a market
segment are:
• Demographics – age , income, sex, occupation, education and
sometimes geographic location
• Behavioral – in terms of usage volume, heavy, medium, light
users
• Psychographic - personality, lifestyle, social class

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Why me?
• The reason why he or she should select our brand in preference
to any other brand

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Positioning by Unique Attribute:
• There are some companies ( P&G, HUL, Nestle, Nirma etc) who will
not market a product unless they have endowed it with some unique
feature or benefit that makes it superior to competition
• This unique feature becomes the clinching reason – why the
‘support’, as it is called-to claim the consumer’s preferences
• Positioning a brand by its features or attributes: giving the brand a
differential advantage because of some unique attribute that translates
into a benefit for the consumers
For example:
Tuborg Beer – differentiating feature is the packaging (pull-off cap)
Kinder Joy product, its packaging and free toy

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Positioning by Competitors:
• It is an offensive strategy to deal with the question: “why me?”
• Positioning with respect to a competitor is done through the use
of comparison advertising of which we see a growing amount
in India
• Here the competitor is explicitly named or shown in masked
form which everybody can recognize, and the respective
attributes are compared to prove that ‘our’ brand is superior
For example:
• Pepsi vs Coca-Cola
• Rin vs Tide
• Colgate v/s Pepsodent

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END

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