Ibahrine 4 Positioning

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The Fundamental Marcom Decisions:Positioning

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Dr. Mohammed IbahrineAL AKHAWAYN UNIVERSITY in IFRANE

SCHOOL OF HUMANITIES AND SOCIAL SCIENCESCOMMUNICATIONS STUDIES PROGRAM

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1. Introduce the concepts and practice of brand positioning

2. Explain that positioning involves the creation of meaning and that meaning is constructive process involving the use of signs and symbols

3. Give details about how brand marketers position their brands by drawing meaning from the culturally constitutive world

Objectives

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4. Describe how brands are positioned in terms of various types of benefits and attributes

5. Explicate how perspectives that characterize how consumers process information and describe the relevance of each perspective for brand positioning

Objectives

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Positioning Theories A Matter of Creative Meaning

• A brand's positioning represents the key feature, benefit, or image that it stands for in the target audience's collective mind

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• Brand communicators and the marketing team in general must identify

• Positioning Statement

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Positioning Statement

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• Positioning statement

is the central idea that encapsulates a brand's meaning and distinctiveness vis-à-vis competitive brands

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• It should be obvious that positioning and targeting go hand in hand:

• Positioning decisions are made with respect to intended targets

• And targeting decisions are based on a clear idea of how brands are to be positioned and distinguished from competitive offerings

Market Segmentation

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• Fundamental to the concept and practice of positioning is the idea of

meaning

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• What is meaning?

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Definition of meaning

meaning can be thought of as the

perceptions (thoughts) and affective reactions (feelings) that are evoked within a person when presented with a sign in a particular context

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• Semiotics, broadly speaking, is the study of signs

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• The important point of emphasis is that the semiotics perspective sees meaning as a constructive process

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• Meaning is not thrust upon consumers rather, consumers are actively involved in constructing meaning from marcom messages

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• The fundamental concept in semiotics is the sign, the noun counterpart to the verb signify

• Marketing communications in all its various forms uses signs in the creation of messages

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• Formally, a sign is something physical and perceivable that signifies something (the referent) to somebody (the interpreter) in some context

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($)

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• The dollar sign is understood by many people throughout the world as signifying the currency of the United States

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The Meaning of Meaning 1/1

• Signs are simply stimuli that are used to evoke an intended meaning in another person

• Words and nonverbal signs do not have meanings per se; instead, people have meanings for signs

• Many times people have different meanings for the same words or gestures

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• It follows from these points that meanings are not contained in a marcom message per se but rather are perceived by the message receiver

• Thus, the challenge when positioning a brand is to make sure that the signs used by the marketing communicator are interpreted as intended by consumers

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• It should be clear at this point that meaning is internal, rather than external, to an individual

• Meaning, in other words, is subjective and highly context dependent

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Meaning TransferFrom Culture to object to Consumer

• The culture and social systems in which marketing communications take place are loaded with meaning

• Through socialization, people learn cultural values; beliefs, and become familiar with the physical manifestations, or artifacts, of these values and beliefs

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• Marketing communicators, when in the process of positioning their brands, draw meaning from the culturally constituted world

• Advertising is especially an important instrument of meaning transfer and positioning

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• When exposed to an advertising, the consumer is not merely drawing information from the ad but is actively involved in assigning meaning to the advertised brand

• The consumer approaches advertisements as texts to be interpreted

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Positioning in Practice:The Nuts and Bolts

• Brand positioning is an essential and fundamental decision to developing a successful marcom program

• By having a clear positioning statement, the brand management team is committed to conveying a clear and consistent message in all forms of marcom messages

• Positioning is both a useful conceptual notion and an invaluable strategic tool

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• First, the marketing communicator wishes to create a specific meaning for the brand and have that meaning clearly lodged in the consumer's memory

(think of this as "positioned in" the consumer’s mind)

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• Second, the brand‘s meaning in consumers'-memories stands in comparison to what they know and think about competitive brands in the product or service category

(think of this as "positioned against" the competition)

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• This statement tells how your brand differs from and is superior to competitive brands

• It gives a reason why consumers should buy your brand rather than a competitor's and promises a solution to the customer's needs or wants

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• A brand's positioning statement represents how

we want customers think and feel about the brand

• A good positioning statement should satisfy two requirements:

(1) it should reflect a brand's competitive advantage (vis-à-vis competitive offerings in the same product category)

(2) it should motivate consumers to action

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Benefit Positioning

Functional Needs

Symbolic Needs

Experiential Needs

Appealing to Consumer Needs

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Benefit Positioning 1/1

• Brand benefits consist of ways by which a brand satisfies customers' needs and wants

• It can be classified as FunctionalSymbolicExperiential

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Benefit Positioning 1/2

• Positioning with respect to brand benefits can be accomplished by appealing to any of three categories of basic consumer needs:

Functional

Symbolic

Experiential

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Categories of Consumer Needs

Functional Functional NeedsNeeds

Positioning communicates that the brand’s benefits are capable of solving consumers’ consumption-related problems

Symbolic Symbolic NeedsNeeds

Positioning attempts to associate brand ownership with a desired group, role, or self-image

Experiential Experiential NeedsNeeds

Positioning promotes brand’s extraordinary sensory value or rich potential for cognitive stimulation

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Positioning Based on Functional Needs

• A brand positioned in terms of functional needs attempts to provide solutions to consumers' current consumption related problems or potential problems by communicating that the brand possesses specific benefits capable of solving those problems

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Positioning Based on Functional Needs

• Consumer goods marketers also regularly appeal to consumers' needs for convenience, safety, good health, cleanliness, and so on

• All of which are functional needs that can be satisfied by brand benefits

• In general, appeals to functional needs are the most prevalent form of brand benefit positioning

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Positioning Based on Symbolic Needs 1/1

• Other brands are positioned in terms of their ability to satisfy non-functional, or Symbolic, needs

• Positioning in terms of symbolic needs attempts to associate brand ownership with a desired group, role, or self-image

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Positioning Based on Symbolic Needs 1/2

• Appeals to symbolic needs include those directed at consumers‘ desire for

Self-enhancementGroup membershipAffiliationOther abstract need states that

involve aspects of consumption not solved by practical product benefits

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Positioning Based on Experiential Needs.

• Consumers' Experiential Needs represent their desires for products that provide sensory pleasure, variety, and, in a few product circumstances, cognitive stimulation

• Brands positioned toward experiential needs are promoted as being out of the ordinary and high in sensory value (looking elegant, feeling wonderful, tasting or smelling great, sounding divine, and so on)

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Croc AdvertisementIllustrating Appeal toFunctional Needs

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Dove AdvertisementIllustrating Appeal toExperiential Needs

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A Mixture or a Single Type 1/1

• It is important to recognize that brands often offer a mixture of functional, symbolic, and experiential benefits

• It has been argued that successful positioning requires a communication strategy that entices a single type of consumer need (functional, symbolic or experiential) rather-than attempting to be something for everyone

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A Mixture or a Single Type 1/2

• The only viable conclusion is that whether a single or multi-type positioning is more effective depends on the competitive circumstances and consumer dynamics that are involved in a particular situation

• What works best for a brand in one product category does not necessarily work as well for another brand in a different category

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Product Positioning Strategies

• Professor Ernest Martin at Virginia Commonwealth University proposes seven distinct approaches to developing a positioning strategy:

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• Effective positioning can be achieved in seven different ways:

1) Attributes2) Competitors3) Use or application4) Price-quality relationship5) Product user6) Product Class7) Cultural Symbols

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CulturalSymbol

ProductClass

ProductUser

Price-QualityRelationship

ApplicationUse

Competitors

Attribute

POSITIONING

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1) Attributes: Setting the brand apart by stressing a particular product feature important to consumers

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2). Competitors: positioning aganist competitors (e.g. AVIS/HERTZ), using the strenth of the competitiors position to help define the subject brand

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3.) Use or application: positioning on the basis of how a product is used

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• 4.) Price-quality relationship: positioning on the basis of price or quality

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5.) Product user: positioing aganist the particular group who uses the product

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6.) Product Class: positioing the brand aganist other products that, while not the same, offer the same class of benefits

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7.) Cultural Symbols: positioning apart from competitors through the creation or use of some recognized symbol or icon

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Repositioning a Brand 1/1

• As competitive and customer dynamics change, managers must evaluate whether their brands remain appropriately positioned

• Revising a brand's positioning is termed repositioning

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Repositioning a Brand

Increase competitiveness

Refresh brand image

Extend productlife cycle

Enter new market segments

Why Reposition a Brand?

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Three Possible Positioning Mistakes

Under-positioning - fail to make a clear differentiation with competitors

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Over-positioning - extreme positioning on one benefit will reduce the number of interested consumer

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Confusing positioning - inconsistent communications or choice of distribution channels would give a confused image

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Implementing Positioning:Know Thy Consumer

• The discussion is based on different perspectives about how consumers process marcom information and ultimately use this information to choose from among the alternatives available in the marketplace

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• Consumer Processing Model (CPM)– Information and choice are a rational,

cognitive, systematic and reasoned process

• Hedonic, Experiential Model (HEM)– Consumers’ processing of marcom

messages and behavior are driven by emotions in pursuit of fun, fantasies, and feeling

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Comparison of the CPM and HEM Models

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• We will label these

The consumer processing model (CPM)

The hedonic, experiential model (HEM).

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The consumer processing model (CPM)

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• 1. The consumer processing model (CPM)

From a consumer-processing perspective (CPM), information processing and choice are seen as rational, cognitive, systematic, and reasoned

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The hedonic, experiential model (HEM).

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• 2. The hedonic, experiential model (HEM).

The hedonic, experiential perspective, on the other hand, views consumer processing of marcom messages and behavior as driven by emotions in pursuit of fun, fantasies, and feelings

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Corporate Name

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Dr. Mohammed IbahrineAmerican University of Sharjah

College of Arts and SciencesDepartment of Mass Communication

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OVERT NAMES

• Reveal what the company

does

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IMPLIED NAMES

• Contain recognizable words or word parts that imply what the company is about

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CONCEPTUAL NAMES

• Try to capture the essence of the idea behind the brand

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ICONOCLASTIC NAMES

Does not reflect the company’s goods and services, but instead something that is unique different and memorable

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CONCEPTUAL

IMPLIED

ICONOCLASTIC

OVERT

CORPORATE NAMES

Ibahrine 4 Positioning

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