 2007 Thomson South-Western Marcom Positioning Chapter Five

2 Chapter Five Objectives Introduce the concept and practice of brand positioning Explain that positioning involves the creation of meaning and that meaning is a constructive process involving the use of signs and symbols Give details about how brand marketers position their brands by drawing meaning from the culturally constructed world.

3 Chapter Five Objectives Describe how brands are positioned in terms of various types of benefits and attributes. Explicate two perspectives that characterize how consumers process information and describe the relevance of each perspective for brand positioning.

4 Positioning In Theory: Creating Meaning A brand’s positioning represents the key feature, benefit, or image that it stands for in the target audience’s collective mind.

5 Positioning Statement A positioning statement for a brand is the central idea that encapsulates a brand’s meaning and distinctiveness compared to other brands.

6 Semiotics “The study of signs and the analysis of meaning-producing events.” Meaning is a constructive process that is determined as much by the communicators as by the receivers of the message.

7 Sign Something physical and perceivable that signifies something to somebody in some context. An example of a sign is the “thumbs-up” gesture, which has vastly different cultural connotations. The Use of Signs and Symbols in Marketing

8 The Meaning of Meaning Meaning The perceptions (thoughts) and affective reactions (feelings) to stimuli evoked within a person when presented with a sign in a particular context

9 The Meaning of Meaning Perceptual Field The sum total of a person’s experiences during his or her lifetime.

10 The Meaning of Meaning Communication is effective when signs are common to both the sender’s and the receiver’s fields of experience The larger the overlap in their perceptual fields, the greater the likelihood that signs will be decoded by the receiver in the manner intended by the sender

11 Meaning Transfer: From Culture to Object to Consumer Through socialization, people learn cultural values, form beliefs, and become familiar with the physical manifestations, or artifacts, of these values and beliefs.

12 Meaning Transfer: From Culture to Object to Consumer The consumer approaches all advertisements as texts to be interpreted.

13 Advertisements Illustrating Contextual Meaning

14 The consumer infers that this product will help him or her get in shape and maintain a healthy regimen.

15 Positioning in Practice: The Nuts and Bolts Brand positioning is essential to a successful Marcom program. A good positioning statement should: –Reflect a brand’s competitive advantage –Motivate customers to action

16 Outcomes of Proposed Positioning

17 Loser Characterizes a proposed positioning where the brand possesses no competitive advantage and the basis for the positioning is not enough to motivate consumers to want the brand.

18 Swimming Up the River (SUTR) A proposed positioning represents a competitive advantage for a trivial product feature or benefit, and does not give the consumer compelling reasons to want the brand. Any effort will be hard work with little progress

19 Promote Competitors Does not reflect a competitive advantage but does represent an important reason for making brand selection decisions in the product category. Any effort would basically serve other brand selection decisions in the same category.

20 Winner Brand is positioned on a product feature or benefit for which the product has an advantage over competitors and which gives consumers a persuasive reason for trying the brand.

21 Consumer-Based Brand Equity Framework

22 Advertisement Illustrating Both Product and Non-Product Features

23 Benefit Positioning Positioning with respect to brand benefits can be accomplished by appealing to any of three categories of needs. Experiential NeedsSymbolic NeedsFunctional Needs

24 An Appeal to Functional Needs Products that attempt to fulfill the consumer’s consumption- related problems

25 An Appeal to Symbolic Needs Products that potentially fulfill a consumer’s desire for self-enhancement, group membership, affiliation, altruism, and belongingness

26 Positioning Based on Symbolic Needs

27 Attribute Positioning A brand can be positioned in terms of a particular attribute or feature, provided that the attribute represents a competitive advantage and can motivate customers to purchase that brand rather than a competitive offering.

28 An Example of Product- Related Positioning

29 Non-Product Related: Usage and User Imagery Brands can also be positioned in terms of their unique usage symbolism or with respect to the people who use them.

30 Positioning Via Attributes: Non- Product- Related Usage Imagery

31 Examples of Repositioning a Brand “ Flame-Broiled” Vs. “Fire-Grilled” “Oil of Olay” to Olay

32 Implementing Positioning Consumer Processing Model (CPM): information and choice are seen as a rational, cognitive, systematic and reasoned process. Hedonic, Experiential Model (HEM): views consumers’ processing of marcom messages and behavior as driven by emotions in pursuit of fun, fantasies and feeling.

33 Comparison of the CPM and HEM Models

34 The Consumer Processing Model (CPM)CPMCPM