Chapter Fourteen Market Positioning and Branding

© 2008 Pearson Education, Upper Saddle River, NJ All Rights Reserved. 2 Marketing Essentials in Hospitality and Tourism: Foundations and Practices by Shoemaker & Shaw Positioning Creating a distinct image in the mind of the consumer Who the firm is How the firm is different from the competition How the firm can satisfy their wants and needs Positioning is the perception the customer has of the product offering

© 2008 Pearson Education, Upper Saddle River, NJ All Rights Reserved. 3 Marketing Essentials in Hospitality and Tourism: Foundations and Practices by Shoemaker & Shaw Positioning Pitfalls Forced into a position by a strong competitor Firm’s position is unclear to the customer The firm has no position

© 2008 Pearson Education, Upper Saddle River, NJ All Rights Reserved. 4 Marketing Essentials in Hospitality and Tourism: Foundations and Practices by Shoemaker & Shaw Salience, Determinance, and Importance In order to position, need to how customers perceive and place each Salience Attributes that are “top of mind” Determinance Attributes that actually determine the decision to purchase a product Importance Attributes that are important to the customer after the choice

© 2008 Pearson Education, Upper Saddle River, NJ All Rights Reserved. 5 Marketing Essentials in Hospitality and Tourism: Foundations and Practices by Shoemaker & Shaw Objective Positioning Creating an image of the product that reflects physical characteristics and functional features “The car is red” Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse Very important and often used in hospitality Can create a unique image and differentiate Not effective when the feature is not unique

© 2008 Pearson Education, Upper Saddle River, NJ All Rights Reserved. 6 Marketing Essentials in Hospitality and Tourism: Foundations and Practices by Shoemaker & Shaw Subjective Positioning Creating a unique product image in the mind of the customer based on subjective attributes Attributes are not physical attributes of the product, but the customer’s mental perception of the product Can occur automatically in the consumer Marketer hopes to control the positioning Marketer hope to create an image that will be shared by consumers

© 2008 Pearson Education, Upper Saddle River, NJ All Rights Reserved. 7 Marketing Essentials in Hospitality and Tourism: Foundations and Practices by Shoemaker & Shaw

© 2008 Pearson Education, Upper Saddle River, NJ All Rights Reserved. 8 Marketing Essentials in Hospitality and Tourism: Foundations and Practices by Shoemaker & Shaw Tangible Positioning Creating an intangible, subjective image of a product based on a tangible feature of the product Used in the hospitality industry as products reach commodity status Morton’s positioning statement “When it rains, it pours”

© 2008 Pearson Education, Upper Saddle River, NJ All Rights Reserved. 9 Marketing Essentials in Hospitality and Tourism: Foundations and Practices by Shoemaker & Shaw Intangible Positioning Creating a tangible, objective image based on an intangible aspect of the product Consumers purchase tangibles (meals, hotel rooms) but we market intangibles A hotel atrium The steak’s sizzle Positioning is not brand perception alone, but how the image stands in relation to competing images

© 2008 Pearson Education, Upper Saddle River, NJ All Rights Reserved. 10 Marketing Essentials in Hospitality and Tourism: Foundations and Practices by Shoemaker & Shaw

© 2008 Pearson Education, Upper Saddle River, NJ All Rights Reserved. 11 Marketing Essentials in Hospitality and Tourism: Foundations and Practices by Shoemaker & Shaw Effective Positioning The need to make the brand different from other similar brands Positioning must promise the benefit that the customer will receive Good positioning creates an image, differentiates itself and promotes a benefit Motel 6: “We’ll leave the light on for ya” Should clearly distinguishes from the competition on factors important to the target market

© 2008 Pearson Education, Upper Saddle River, NJ All Rights Reserved. 12 Marketing Essentials in Hospitality and Tourism: Foundations and Practices by Shoemaker & Shaw Effective Positioning U.S. Army: An Army of One U.S. Army: Be all that you can be Marines: The Few, The Proud, The Marines Toyota Today: Moving Forward Toyota Old: Get the feeling McDonald’s Today: I’m Loving It. McDonald’s Old: You Deserve a Break Today. Burger King: Have it your way. General Electric Today: Imagination at Work. General Electric Old: We bring good things to life. Microsoft Today: Your passion, our commitment. Microsoft Old: Where do you want to go today? Holiday Inn Express: Stay Smart. Motel 6: We’ll leave the light on for ya. Nike: Just do it.

© 2008 Pearson Education, Upper Saddle River, NJ All Rights Reserved. 13 Marketing Essentials in Hospitality and Tourism: Foundations and Practices by Shoemaker & Shaw Positioning’s Vital Role Positioning goes beyond advertising Is a single-minded concept from which everything flows Positioning is about creating a marketing niche

© 2008 Pearson Education, Upper Saddle River, NJ All Rights Reserved. 14 Marketing Essentials in Hospitality and Tourism: Foundations and Practices by Shoemaker & Shaw Repositioning Changing the position or image in the marketplace Reasons to reposition Unsuccessful position Tried and failed to achieve a desired position Competitors have overcrowded the position Appeal to a new segment Add a new segment Increase the size of a segment Merging of properties

© 2008 Pearson Education, Upper Saddle River, NJ All Rights Reserved. 15 Marketing Essentials in Hospitality and Tourism: Foundations and Practices by Shoemaker & Shaw Branding and Positioning A brand is a well known product or service of consistent quality available to consumers in multiple locations Strong brands attract more franchises and higher revenues Technology has had a significant impact on branding Product consistency and the integrity of branded properties affects positioning of the entire brand

© 2008 Pearson Education, Upper Saddle River, NJ All Rights Reserved. 16 Marketing Essentials in Hospitality and Tourism: Foundations and Practices by Shoemaker & Shaw Hotel Restaurant Branding Outsourcing hotel F&B outlets is in some cases more profitable Put brand names in house to avoid patrons eating out at brands How it works Hotel leases space for a flat fee or percentage of sales Acquire and become a franchise Undertake a joint venture where the hotel and restaurant share the costs and profits Hospitality and non-hospitality firms take on joint ventures

© 2008 Pearson Education, Upper Saddle River, NJ All Rights Reserved. 17 Marketing Essentials in Hospitality and Tourism: Foundations and Practices by Shoemaker & Shaw Multiple Brands and Product Positioning Developed for growth purposes and for market segments Also provides protection from the competition against the single brand Different market segments may include many of the same people, but for different purposes, different contexts or different times Manage to avoid cannibalization Keep separate and distinct images

© 2008 Pearson Education, Upper Saddle River, NJ All Rights Reserved. 18 Marketing Essentials in Hospitality and Tourism: Foundations and Practices by Shoemaker & Shaw Discussion Give an example of a hospitality firm whose advertising demonstrates tangible or intangible positioning.