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PUNE INSTITUTE OF BUSINESS MANAGEMENT
MARKETING RESEARCH
DR. Prantosh Banerjee
GROUP NO: 09
2023-2208-0001-0004 Rajshekhar Singh
2023-0809-0001-0010 Rishiraj Swami
2023-0909-0001-0001 Laveena Rupani
2023-1208-0001-0008 Phijam Bebeto Singh
2023-1208-0001-0010 Yumkhaibam Swami Singh
2023-2208-0001-0011 Sneha Mohis
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Chapter 10: Crafting the Brand Positioning
Creating a compelling, well-differentiated brand position requires a keen understanding of consumer needs and wants,
company capabilities, and competitive actions. In this chapter, we outline a process by which marketers can uncover
the most powerful brand positioning.
How can a firm establish an effective positioing in the market?
All marketing strategy is built on segmentation, targeting, and positioning (STP). A company discovers different
needs and groups of consumers in the marketplace, targets those it can satisfy in a superior way, and then positions its
offerings so the target market recognizes its distinctive offerings and images.
Understanding Positioning and Value Propositions
Positioning is the act of designing a company’s offering and image to occupy a distinctive place in the minds of the
target market. The goal is to locate the brand in the minds of consumers to maximize the potential benefit to the
firm.
One result of positioning is the successful creation of a customer-focused value proposition, a convincing reason why
the target market should buy a product or service. As introduced in Chapter 1, a value proposition captures the way
a product or service’s key benefits provide value to customers by satisfying their needs. Table 10.1 shows an
example of companies with their value proposition.
How do marketers identify and analyze competition?
Defines which other brands a brand competes with and which should thus be the focus of competitive analysis.
Identifying Competitors
A good starting point in brand positioning is category membership—the products or sets of products with
which a brand competes and that function as close substitutes.
The range of a company’s actual and potential competitors, however, can be much broader than the obvious. We
can examine competition from both an industry and a market point of view. An industry is a group of firms offering
a product or class of products that are close substitutes for one another. Using the market approach, we define
competitors as companies that satisfy the same customer need.
Analyzing Competitors
Chapter 2 described how to conduct a SWOT analysis that includes a competitive analysis. A company needs to
gather information about each competitor’s real and perceived strengths and weaknesses. Once a company has
identified its main competitors and their strategies, it must ask: What is each competitor seeking in the
marketplace? What drives each competitor’s behavior? Finally, based on all this analysis, marketers must formally
define the competitive frame of reference to guide positioning.
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How are brands successfully differentiated?
Once marketers have fixed the competitive frame of reference for positioning by defining the customer target
market and the nature of the competition, they can define the appropriate points-of-difference and points of-parity
associations.
Points-of-Difference
Points-of-difference (PODs) are attributes or benefits that consumers strongly associate with a brand, positively
evaluate, and believe they could not find to the same extent with a competitive brand.
Associations that make up points-of-difference can be based on virtually any type of attribute or benefit. Strong
brands often have multiple points-of-difference. Strong brands often have multiple points-of- difference. Some
examples are Nike (performance, innovative technology, and winning).
Three criteria determine whether a brand association can truly function as a point-of-difference:
• Desirable to consumer: Consumers must see the brand association as personally relevant to them.
• Deliverable by the company: The company must have the internal resources and commitment to feasibly and
profitably create and maintain the brand association in the minds of consumers. The product design and
marketing offering must support the desired association.
• Differentiating from competitors: Finally, consumers must see the brand association as distinctive and
superior to relevant competitors.
Points-of-Parity
Points-of-parity (POPs), on the other hand, are attribute or benefit associations that are not necessarily unique to
the brand but may in fact be shared with other brands. These types of associations come in threebasic forms:
• Category points-of-parity: are attributes or benefits that consumers view as essential to a legitimate and
credible offering within a certain product or service category. In other words, they represent necessary—but not
sufficient— conditions for brand choice.
• Correlational points-of-parity: are potentially negative associations that arise from the existence of positive
associations for the brand. such as being inexpensive, consumers can’t see it as also good at like being “of the
highest quality.”
• Competitive points-of-parity: are associations designed to overcome perceived weaknesses of the
brand in light of competitors’ points-of-difference.
Regardless of the source of perceived weaknesses, if, in the eyes of consumers, a brand can “break even” in those
areas where it appears to be at a disadvantage and achieve advantages in other areas, it should be in a strong—and
perhaps unbeatable—competitive position.
Points-of-Parity Versus Points-of-Difference
The brand does not literally need to be seen as equal to competitors, but consumers must feel it does well enough on
that particular attribute or benefit. Often, the key to positioning is not so much achieving a point- of-difference as
achieving points-of-parity!
Multiple Frames of Reference
It is not uncommon for a brand to identify more than one actual or potential competitive frame of reference, if
competition widens or the firm plans to expand into new categories. For example, Starbucks could define very distinct
sets of competitors, suggesting different possible POPs and PODs as a result: some potential POPs and PODs for
Starbucks are shared across competitors; others are unique to a particular competitor.
Straddle Positioning
Occasionally, a company will be able to straddle two frames of reference with one set of points-of- difference and
points-of-parity. In these cases, the points-of-difference for one category become points-of- parity for the other and
vice versa. Straddle positions allow brands to expand their market coverage and potential customer base. Such as
Subway restaurants (POP on taste, POD pon health and quick-serve).
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Choosing Specific POPs and PODs
Michael Porter urged companies to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
Competitive advantage
Is a company’s ability to perform in one or more ways that competitors cannot or will not match. But few
competitive advantages are inherently sustainable. At best, they may be leverageable. A leverageable advantage is
one that a company can use as a springboard to new advantages, much as Microsoft has leveraged its operating
system to Microsoft Office and then to networking applications. In general, a company that hopes to endure must be
in the business of continuously inventing new advantages that canserve as the basis of points-of-difference.
Means of Differentiation
Any product or service benefit that is sufficiently desirable, deliverable, and differentiating can serve as a point-of-
difference for a brand. The obvious, and often the most compelling, means of differentiation for consumers are
benefits related to performance. Example swatch offers colorful, fashionable watches.
To identify possible means of differentiation, marketers have to match consumers’ desire for a benefit with their
company’s ability to deliver it. For example, they can design their distribution channels to make buying the product
easier and more rewarding.
Perceptual Maps
For choosing specific benefits as POPs and PODs to position a brand, perceptual maps may be useful. Perceptual
maps are visual representations of consumer perceptions and preferences. They provide quantitative pictures of
market situations and the way consumers view different products, services, and brands along various dimensions.
By overlaying consumer preferences with brand perceptions, marketers can reveal “holes” or “openings” that suggest
unmet consumer needs and marketing opportunities.
For example, Figure 10.1(a) shows a hypothetical perceptual map for a beverage category. The four brands—A, B,
C, and D—vary in terms of how consumers view their taste profile (light versus strong) and personality and imagery
(contemporary versus modern).
Brand A, on the other hand, is seen as more balanced in terms of both taste and imagery. Unfortunately, no market
segment seems to really desire this balance. Brands B and C are better positioned with respect to Segments 2 and 3,
respectively.
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Emotional Branding
Many marketing experts believe a brand positioning should have both rational and emotional components. In other
words, it should contain points-of-difference and points-of-parity that appeal to both the head and the heart. A
person’s emotional response to a brand and its marketing will depend on many factors. An increasingly important
one is the brand’s authenticity.
Brand Mantras
A brand mantra is a three-to five-word articulation of the heart and soul of the brand and is closely related to other
branding concepts like “brand essence” and “core brand promise.” What makes a good brand mantra? McDonald’s
“Food, Folks, and Fun” captures its brand essence and core brand promise.
Designing a Brand Mantra
Unlike brand slogans meant to engage, brand mantras are designed with internal purposes in mind. Although Nike’s
internal mantra was “authentic athletic performance,” its external slogan was “Just Do It.”Here are the three key
criteria for a brand mantra:
• Communicate: A good brand mantra should clarify what is unique about the brand. It may also needto Define
the category (or categories) 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 vividin
meaning.
• Inspire: Ideally, the brand mantra should also stake out ground that is personally meaningful andrelevant
to as many employees as possible.
How do firms communicate their positioning?
Once they have 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. “Marketing Memo: Constructing a Brand Positioning Bull’s-eye” outlines one way marketers can
formally express brand positioning without skipping any steps. Often a good positioning will have several PODs and
POPs. Of those, often two or three really define the competitive battlefield and should be analyzed and developed
carefully.
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Communicating Category Membership
When a product is new, marketers must inform consumers of the brand’s category membership. Such as Maybelline
is a leading brand of cosmetics. Sometimes consumers may know the category membership but not be convinced
the brand is a valid member of the category. Brands are sometimes affiliated with categories in which they do not
hold membership. There are three main ways to convey a brand’s categorymembership:
1. Announcing category benefits—To reassure consumers that a brand will deliver on the fundamentalreason for
using a category, marketers frequently use benefits to announce category membership.
2. Comparing to exemplars—Well-known, noteworthy brands in a category can also help a brandspecify its
category Membership.
3. Relying on the product descriptor—The product descriptor that follows the brand name is often aconcise
means of conveying category origin.
Communicating POPs and PODs
Negatively correlated attributes/benefits
• Low price vs. high quality
• Taste vs. low calories
• Powerful vs. safe
• Ubiquitous vs. exclusive
• Varied vs. simple
One common challenge in positioning is that many of the benefits that make up points-of-parity and points- of-
difference are negatively correlated. The best approach clearly is to develop a product or service that performs well
on both dimensions.
Monitoring Competition
In assessing potential threats from competitors, three high-level variables are useful:
1. Share of market—The competitor’s share of the target market.
2. Share of mind—The percentage of customers who named the competitor in responding to the
statement “Name the first company that comes to mind in this industry.”
3. Share of heart—The percentage of customers who named the competitor in responding to the
statement “Name the company from which you would prefer to buy the product.”
Firms such as Toyota is reaping the benefits of providing emotional, experiential, social, and financial valueto satisfy
customers and all their constituents.
What are some alternative approaches to positioning?
Brand Narratives and Storytelling
Rather than outlining specific attributes or benefits, some marketing experts describe positioning a brand as telling a
narrative or story. Based on literary convention and brand experience, the following framework is offered for a brand
story:
• Setting: The time, place, and context
• Cast: The brand as a character, including its role in the life of the audience, its relationships and
responsibilities, and its history or creation myth
• Narrative arc: The way the narrative logic unfolds over time, including actions, desiredexperiences,
defining events, and the moment of epiphany
• Language: The authenticating voice, metaphors, symbols, themes, and leitmotifs.
Cultural Branding
Douglas Holt believes that for companies to build iconic, leadership brands, they must assemble cultural
knowledge, strategize according to cultural branding principles, and hire and train cultural experts. Experts who see
consumers actively cocreating brand meaning and positioning even refer to this as “Brand Wikification,” given that
wikis are written by contributors from all walks of life and points of view.
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What are the differences in positioning and branding for a small
business?
Building brands is a challenge for a small business with limited resources and budgets. Nevertheless, numerous
success stories exist of entrepreneurs who have built their brands up essentially from scratch to become powerhouse
brands. When resources are limited, focus and consistency in marketing programs become critically important.
Creativity is also paramount—finding new ways to market new ideas about products to consumers. Here are some
specific branding guidelines for small businesses.
• Find compelling product performance advantage
• Focus on building one or two strong brands based on one or two key associations
• Encourage product trial in any way possible
• Develop cohesive digital strategy to make the brand “bigger and better”
• Create buzz and a loyal brand community
• Employ a well-integrated set of brand elements
• Leverage as many secondary associations as possible
• Creatively conduct low-cost marketing research
Although small businesses should adhere to many of the branding and positioning principles larger companies use,
they must place extra emphasis and carefulness on their brand elements and secondary associations, be more
focused and create buzz for their brand.