Positioning the Brand

An Inside-Out Approach

Rik Riezebos, Jaap van der Grinten

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2012
• ISBN:
  9781136627095
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Business General
• Index: Business

Positioning is hot. Not only in the realm of consumer goods manufacturers, but also for other companies, institutions, governments and even individual persons. An explosion of good quality products on the market and targeted media and advertising campaigns has led to an increasing interest from organizations as to how to strategically position their brand.

Up to now, only a few books on positioning were published. Positioning the Brand picks up the gauntlet with an approach based on two fundamental choices: Firstly, the book was written from the perspective of the brand manager, and has therefore been shaped as a practical roadmap. Secondly, this book advocates a new stance on positioning, teaching the reader to look from the inside-out, instead of adopting the usual outside-in methodology. This inside-out approach departs from an analysis of the corporate identity, enabling better fulfilment of external positioning, and ensuring internal support.

This book is intended for (future) managers, marketing professionals and communication professionals responsible for the commercial success and reputation of a brand. The contents have a practical set-up, reinforced by engaging examples, and enable the reader to individually complete a positioning process.

1Introduction

DOI: 10.4324/9780203802489-1

Positioning is a marketing tool that has been attracting increasing levels of interest in recent years. In this book we will present a roadmap for a brand positioning process following an inside-out approach.¹ This first chapter will focus on a number of basic questions about positioning, such as why positioning is relevant for companies and institutions (Section 1.1). The rapid rise of positioning is partly due to the development of numerous ideas on brands and brand policy. Section 1.2 therefore goes on to outline the shift from the product-driven to the brand-driven approach in marketing. Section 1.3 subsequently defines positioning, focusing on some important aspects. Section 1.4 concludes the chapter and opens up the structure of the rest of the book through the ‘positioning roadmap’.

1.1 Why Position a Brand?

In this first section we will look into why positioning is important. After a brief introduction, we will outline three developments that have increased the importance of positioning to companies:

1. The increase in the number of available products and services (the so-called product explosion).²
2. The visibility of the organizations behind products and services has increased in importance (in this book we have labelled this the organization explosion);
3. The huge growth of media and advertising outlets (the so-called media explosion).

A good Product Sells Itself . . .?

‘A good product sells itself.’ That used to be a much-heard phrase in marketing circles. In the second half of the 20th century, product quality (of both goods and services) largely levelled out. Sure, there are still differences in quality between products, but the major differences of 20 or 30 years ago have all but disappeared.³ The above adage therefore now implies that virtually every single product will sell itself these days, meaning that consumers now face the task of choosing from an overwhelming offering of quality goods and services. In turn, this means that every single provider has to put some serious thought into the question of how to make his product stand out in comparison to those of his competitors. In marketing terms this is referred to as brand positioning. This requires that a manager must answer two key questions:

1. What are the associations that the brand must evoke in the target group?
2. How can the brand be differentiated from its competitors?

Effective positioning ensures that a brand attracts the attention of customers, and that the associations evoked by the communication are sufficiently relevant to get people to buy the brand product. We have therefore opted to replace the old adage of ‘a good product sells itself’ by the principle that ‘a good product deserves a good positioning’.

In practice, positioning often fails to take into account whether actual choices were made. This is one of the major dilemmas: when making a clear choice for one positioning, the danger seems to be that you are excluding certain target groups or limiting the scope of consumption. A great number of managers will therefore choose a positioning that presents the brand as a jack-of-all-trades offering something for everyone – despite the ample proof provided by various success stories that clear targeting in positioning does indeed yield good results.⁴ Marlboro, for example, was at one point positioned as a cigarette brand for men, but also turned out to be quite popular with women. The leading mint chocolate brand After Eight is successfully positioned as an after-dinner mint. Of course this positioning will not prevent consumers enjoying After Eight at other times of the day. Another good example of ‘targeted’ positioning is the American town of Clute, Texas. This town is known for its annual mosquito plague. In 2011, Clute celebrated the 31st annual Mosquito Festival, a three-day event attracting over 15,000 tourists! This example shows that even positioning on the basis of negative aspects can work, as long as it is targeted.⁵

We have provided a number of general reasons behind the importance of adequately positioning a product in the market. Three key changes have led to the present situation where a product is doomed to fail in the market without a sophisticated positioning strategy. We will go further into these changes in the following sections on the product, organization and media explosions.

Product Explosion

The number of products and services on offer has seen a huge rise in recent years. Just take a look at the breakfast cereal aisle at any large supermarket, where you will find an extensive offering of cereal options. New combinations (Special K Chocolatey Delight), new box sizes (single-serve box), new shapes (especially those targeting children) and new categories (cereal bars and low-fat cereals), to name but a few. Even buying a loaf of bread nowadays requires us to choose from a wide range of different products. The old-fashioned white loaf has been joined by brown, wholemeal, multigrain, organic, thick-sliced, thin-sliced, weekender and malted brown loafs on local bakers’ shelves or in supermarkets’ bread aisles, not to mention the ciabattas, naans, daktylas, focaccias, French sticks, etc. that cater to shoppers looking for an international bread sensation. Virtually every conceivable market has seen a product explosion. And these product explosions have led not only to the availability of more product versions, but also to the linking of certain services to physical products – such as car manufacturers setting up their own banks for financing and leasing (for example BMW group financial and Groupe RCI Banque, which offers financial services to Renault, Nissan and Dacia). All these cases show that the enormous offering of similar quality products has made it increasingly difficult for a provider of branded products to stand out and curry favour with consumers. Positioning is a mode of thought and a method to cope with this issue.

Where the product explosion is concerned, it should be borne in mind that many markets have seen an enormous growth in the number of products on offer coupled with strong reductions in the differences in quality between them. Services in particular are proving easy to copy by competitors; an insurance policy, for example, can literally be copied by a competitor – by simply photocopying it. But unique and relevant positioning is a lot harder to copy.

Organization Explosion

In discussing the product explosion above we referred to the goods and services offered by companies or organizations. Up to the early 1990s, many of these organizations were hardly, or not at all, visible to the public. Consumers were aware of the name of the organization behind the product only if the product brand name was the same as the name of the organization, such as in the case of many Asian brands, such as Samsung and Sony. Company names like Procter & Gamble, Benckiser and Sara Lee were rarely, if ever, used in the external communication of those companies. In most European countries it was not even possible to register a company name as a brand name until the 1980s.

From the early 1990s, increasing numbers of organizations started developing an awareness that they should present themselves more to the outside world as ‘the company behind the brand’.⁶ This movement was partly down to the fact that other stakeholder groups (i.e. not customers) and other subjects were becoming more important for the continuity of the organization. For example:

• The war for talent on the labour market meant that companies had to put greater effort into building their reputation on the labour market than before.
• There was increasing pressure to be accountable in terms of the company’s corporate social responsibility.
• Shareholder power became greater.

The increasing interest in corporate brands has also been fuelled by the publication of all kinds of company rankings. The American Fortune 500 list, for example, is based on companies’ gross revenue, whereas the Financial Times’ EMRC (Europe’s Most Respected Companies) ranks companies on reputation, and the ‘Great Place to Work’ ranking looks at factors such as working environment and the extent to which companies are good employers. All these phenomena have contributed to what in this book we refer to as the ‘organization explosion’. That does not point at a growing number of organizations, but rather at the greater presence and visibility of existing organizations. This greater degree of visibility is mainly a result of companies feeling a stronger need to stand out than they used to.

Media Explosion

Alongside a product explosion and an organization explosion, the last two decades have also seen a ‘media explosion’. Over the past decade commercial TV has found its way throughout Europe and dramatically changed the media landscape by multiplying the number of available channels. We have so many more TV channels, radio stations and magazines to choose from than we did 20 years ago. And that also means a corresponding surge in advertising. Even public life is littered with advertising on billboards, bus shelters, sandwich boards, megaboards, cars, lorries, buses, trams, trains, taxis, bikes, boats, and even pedal boats. And digitalization has brought all this advertising to the Internet and our mobile phones as well. The amount of information available directly on the Internet is dazzling, and only getting more immense. The media explosion has made it harder for providers to get through to consumers. This has, in turn, heralded the downfall of several second- and third-rate brands. Companies that want to continue to get their message across to consumers through the media are feeling the pinch of a considerable hike in expenses. One astute manager at Procter & Gamble calculated that in 1970, 70 per cent of the target group in the market could be reached by airing 13 TV ads, whereas that range would now require 135 (!) ads. That makes positioning and/or communication blunders very costly.

Therefore: Positioning

Positioning is the prime method to counter the effects of the product, organization and media explosions. By choosing a differentiating positioning that is relevant to the target group, a product brand or corporate brand can stand out amidst the huge offering of other brands and the overkill of media and advertising campaigns. Formulating a well-founded positioning creates a framework that makes the right choices in terms of product offering and message apparent. The chance of success is hence increased to a considerable extent. To further substantiate this, Box 1.1 describes the case of a product brand, Bonne Maman. Bonne Maman is a company that has managed to claim a unique position in the jam market by marketing its products in a way that is different, but very relevant to consumers.

Box 1.1 THE HOMEMADE FEEL OF BONNE MAMAN JAM

Today almost everyone recognizes Bonne Maman jam through the instant appeal of its packaging. The chunky ribbed glass jar, with red and white gingham print lid and ‘handwritten’ name on the label, give it an unmistakably authentic look and feel. Made from pure ingredients and seemingly using the same recipes as our mothers and grandmothers used for their homemade jams, it brings back warm memories of our childhood (notwithstanding the fact that Bonne Maman products are in fact produced industrially). This strong association with authenticity has led Bonne Maman to successfully extend its product range to yoghurts, desserts, tarts and biscuits.

In our opinion, the unique thing about Bonne Maman is the way it positions its products in the market. The naming and presentation of the product in a container that looks like the improvised containers people use when making jam at home stress the ‘authenticity’ and ‘purity’ of the product. Bonne Maman has chosen a positioning that is carried through in all aspects of the brand product. This success came from within the company. The company was good at making conserves using traditional methods. That core competency was extended to biscuits and tarts in a recognizable way. There is nothing wrong with positioning a brand along very sharp lines, whic...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Half Title Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• About the authors
• Positioning Roadmap
• Preface
• Acknowledgements
• Credits
• 1 Introduction
• 2 Corporate Identity (Step 1)
• 3 Brand Architecture (Step 2)
• Checklist 1: Summary of the internal analysis
• 4 Target Group Analysis (Step 3)
• 5 Competitor Analysis (Step 4)
• Checklist 2: Summary of the external analysis
• 6 Choosing a Market Position (Step 5)
• Appendix A: Brand Key Model
• Appendix B: Comprehensive list of values
• Bibliography
• Index
• Brand name index