Basics of brand positioning

Brand Brand PositioningPositioning

A concept so simple,A concept so simple,people have difficulty understandingpeople have difficulty understanding

how powerful it is!how powerful it is!

What…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

ExamplesExamples

• ColgateColgate is ProtectionProtection

• LuxLux is GlamourGlamour

• PondPond’’s DFTs DFT is ConfidenceConfidence

• AxeAxe is Sexual AttractionSexual Attraction

• GilletteGillette is QualityQuality

Why…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

How…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

How…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

‘‘You concentrateYou concentrateon the perceptions of the prospect, on the perceptions of the prospect,

not the reality of the productnot the reality of the product’’- Al Ries & Jack Trout- Al Ries & Jack Trout

‘‘ItIt’’s difficult to change behaviour, s difficult to change behaviour, but easy to work with itbut easy to work with it’’

- Paco Underhill- Paco Underhill

What you need…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

What you need…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

What you need…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

GuidelinesGuidelines

• 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

GuidelinesGuidelines

• Keep the positioning up-do-date– Give as careful consideration to change as you did to

the original statement

• Look for a Key InsightKey Insight!– An ‘‘Accepted Consumer BeliefAccepted Consumer Belief’’

What is key insight?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

Key InsightKey Insight

‘‘I wish to get married I wish to get married to a handsome princeto a handsome prince’’

Key InsightKey Insight‘‘Fragrance of my current talc does not last long Fragrance of my current talc does not last long and I miss opportunities to enjoy lifeand I miss opportunities to enjoy life’’

Key InsightKey Insight‘‘Soap leaves my skin Soap leaves my skin feeling dry and tightfeeling dry and tight’’

More on key insight…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

More on key insight…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

How to find one?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?’

The 3CThe 3C’’s of positionings 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

And then…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 The brand name is a knife that cuts the mind to let the brand message insidemind to let the brand message inside’’

– Ries & TroutRies & Trout

GuidelinesGuidelines

• 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

Checklist: Brand nameChecklist: Brand name

• Should be simple

• Should be acceptable in all key languages

• Should be appropriate when geographically spread

• Should be amenable for easy registration