Basics of brand positioning
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This document discusses brand positioning and provides guidelines for effective positioning. It explains that positioning is about how a brand is perceived in a customer's mind rather than the product itself. It emphasizes finding the right key insight about an unmet consumer need or desire. Effective positioning is clear, consumer-focused, and competitive. It also stresses the importance of choosing a brand name that begins the positioning process by signaling the main product benefit in a simple yet appropriate way.
Basics of brand positioning
- 2. A concept so simple, people have difficulty understanding how powerful it is!
- 3. What… • Positioning is owning a piece of consumer’s mind • Positioning is not what you do to a product – It’s what you do to the mind of the prospect • You position the product in the prospect’s mind – ‘It’s incorrect to call it Product Positioning’ – Ries & Trout
- 4. Examples • Colgate is Protection • Lux is Glamour • Pond’s DFT is Confidence • Axe is Sexual Attraction • Gillette is Quality
- 5. Why… The assault on our mind… • The media explosion • The product explosion • The advertising explosion • So little message gets through that you ignore the sender and concentrate on the receiver
- 6. How… • The easy way to get into a person’s mind is to be first – Xerox, Kodak, Polaroid, Sun TV, The Hindu, F&L • If you didn’t get into the mind of your prospect first, then you have a positioning problem – Better to be first than be best • In the positioning era, you must, however, be first to get into the prospect’s mind
- 7. How… • The basic approach is not to create something new or different, but manipulate what’s already in the mind • To find a unique position, you must ignore conventional logic • Conventional logic says you find concept inside product – Not true; look inside prospect’s mind • You won’t find an uncola idea inside 7-up; you find it inside cola drinker’s head
- 8. ‘You concentrate on the perceptions of the prospect, not the reality of the product’ - Al Ries & Jack Trout
- 9. ‘It’s difficult to change behaviour, but easy to work with it’ - Paco Underhill
- 10. What you need… • Understand the role of words and how they affect people – Turtle vs. Lexus • Be careful of change – Disney • Need vision – Long term / Not on technology or fad
- 11. What you need… • Courage – To slug it out when others watch and wait • Objectivity – You need a backboard / a springboard • Simplicity – Not complicated or convoluted
- 12. What you need… • Subtlety – Unique position and appeal that’s not narrow • Willingness to sacrifice – The case of Nyquil – Rexona wooing male and female • Patience – Geographical roll out / Demographic / Chronological • Global outlook – Taj Mahal tea
- 13. Guidelines • Start by looking not at the product but at the position in the market that you wish to occupy, in relation to competition • Think about how the brand will answer the main consumer questions – What will it do for me that others will not? – Why should I believe you? • Try to keep it short and make every word count and be as specific as possible – Vagueness opens the way to confused executions
- 14. Guidelines • Keep the positioning up-do-date – Give as careful consideration to change as you did to the original statement • Look for a Key Insight! – An ‘Accepted Consumer Belief’
- 15. What is key insight? • Key Insight is ‘seeing below the surface’ / ‘seeing inside the consumer’ • Insight expresses the totality of all that we know from seeing inside the consumer • An insight is a single aspect of this that we use to gain competitive advantage • By identifying a specific way… – That the brand can either solve a problem or – Create an opportunity for the consumer
- 16. Key Insight ‘I wish to get married to a handsome prince’
- 17. Key Insight ‘Fragrance of my current talc does not last long and I miss opportunities to enjoy life’
- 18. Key Insight ‘Soap leaves my skin feeling dry and tight’
- 19. More on key insight… • It will require two separate thoughts to be related to each other in a new and fresh way • Insight will generally be enduring • Often the process will lead to several insights • The one to use is the one that offers to be the source of greatest competitive advantage
- 20. More on key insight… • No need for insight to change if you have identified the higher-order needs of consumers • Keep asking ‘why’ to find the real need behind the obvious insight • Remember, the insight is always the basis for a brand’s positioning
- 21. How to find one? • What are the ways in which the category / brand can improve someone’s life? • What are the conflicting needs that people face and that the brand can solve? • How important is it that the product delivers? Who will notice? • What is standard of excellence in the category? • With every answer you get, you need to probe deeper: – ‘Why is that?’
- 22. The 3C’s of positioning • Be Crystal clear • Be Consumer-based – Be relevant and credible to the consumer – Write in consumer language and from consumer’s view point • Be Competitive – Be distinctive – Focus on building brand elements into powerful discriminator – Be persuasive – Be sustainable
- 23. And then… • The brand name! • The name is the first point of contact between the message and the mind • ‘The brand name is a knife that cuts the mind to let the brand message inside’ – Ries & Trout
- 24. Guidelines • It’s not the goodness or badness of the name in an aesthetic sense that determines effectiveness – It’s the appropriateness of the same • Name begins the positioning process, tells the prospect what the product’s major benefit is – Fair & Lovely – Close Up – Krack – Head & Shoulders – Vaseline Intensive Care Body Lotion
- 25. Checklist: Brand name • Should be simple • Should be acceptable in all key languages • Should be appropriate when geographically spread • Should be amenable for easy registration