Positioning Brand positioning has been defined by Phillip Kotler as "the act of designing the company's offering and image to occupy a distinctive place in the mind of the target market". In other words, brand positioning describes how a brand is different from its competitors and where, or how, it sits in customers' minds. A brand positioning strategy therefore involves creating brand associations in customers' minds to make them perceive the brand in a specific way. Brand Product or Service Positioning Statements provide a very useful marketing tool by taking everything you know about your brand, everything that could be said about the consumer and making choices to pick one target that you will focus on and one brand/service promise you will stand behind as unique or superior. It could functional benefits or perceived/image benefits. For example, BMW isn't necessarily isn't a better engineered car than Toyota's Lexus in many people's minds, but it could have a better more prestigious image than Toyota Lexus. If you are positioning BMW this is very important to know. The positioning statement should really set up everything the brand does. Total Marketing Concept.... every part of the marketing plan should be consistent with what the positioning statement says. This applies to products, services, travel destinations and more. POSITIONING: A brand's positioning is the way in which we want the consumer to think about a product or service. It is the most basic of all strategic statements and provides a blueprint for the marketing and development of a brand/service. It comes before the development of all brand strategies. The positioning statement states the reason for the brand's existence and once successfully established, it should rarely be changed. A position is the simple, net impression of a brand/service that you want in the consumer's mind - how you want it" positioned". It is determined by a product's benefits and the perceived image of the brand. A brand/service position is the result not only of advertising but the product or service name, appearance, performance, promotion, pricing, packaging and additionally in the case of services the physical setting, how the service is delivered (the process) and the people facilitating the service Role of Positioning: A brand or service positioning must differentiate the brand from the competition in a meaningful and positive way. The Brand Positioning Statement A positioning statement has four key elements: The most important are the first 3. A) Primary Target Market (the focus) B) Definition of the market you play in C) Unique Brand Promise (emotional or rational benefit) that makes it unique/special D The Reason to Believe (RTB) the brand promise (optional not always used) The more focused your decisions, the more successful you will be deciding on one target, one promise. The classic way to a Brand Positioning Statement is to take the elements above and frame them into the following: For the target market (A) Brand X plays/competes in the market (B) and it gives the main benefit (C). That's because of the following reasons to believe (D). This is what it might look like when you put information into this format for a brand's service product. This statement will not include Part D the reason to believe. In this case I've used the imaginary brand service product - remember the West Jet April Fool's Day TV ad that I showed you last week in class - it's in the lecture notes and link below. If West Jet had written a positioning statement for this 'KidsKargo' service in the ad it might have looked something like this. West Jet KidsKargo Service https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M4SkoJy3D0M For: Young couples under 35, married or in relationships and who have one of more children under 6 years of age flying with them (A) What/Market: West Jet's KIdsKargo is a unique on-board flight service (B) Unique Promise: that provides a stress-free experience for parents who can fly together without having to look after their children during the flight - like babysitting in the sky. Parents are free to relax, sleep, talk with their partners and not worry about babies crying, or their children disrupting other passengers, secure in the knowledge that West Jet KidsKargo trained staff are looking after their children during the flight This is all you need. You could also talk about the Reason Why (D) because the children are in the Cargo Hold for the flight - supervised. But you don't need to because this not a great experience for the children. And not something that would ever be approved by anybody. Usually the only time the Reason Why is talked about is to back up a promise with facts or research like a very strong competitive claim that might not be credible without talking about the facts and why - claims like tastes better, better gas mileage, best mechanics or best wait staff. Assignment (5 % Assessment) Select one of the following Service Brands (below)and a positioning statement for the brand using the format above. This based on what you know now, so select a brand that you are most familiar with. You can use class notes and what's in mind. This exercise is not for you to research the brands positioning online and restate it (positioning statements are difficult to find - usually closely held information, as part of a marketing plan), but best to develop a positioning statement with the information you know and make assumptions. Sometimes you can reengineer the positioning strategy by looking at the brand ads - TV, magazines, social media - this is what you should research and interpret. Service Brands: Select one from Starbucks, Tim Hortons, Amazon, Uber Eats, Spotify, LinkedIn, Facebook, Visa Due Date - Sunday, June 14th at 10 PM EST throug