Positioning & Branding

Presented by

Pankaj Jain & Brajesh Mishra

08/21/09 1
 Summary and Learnings
Positioning got its attention when in 1972 Jack Trout
and Al Ries wrote a series of articles entitled “The
Positioning Era” for the trade paper Advertising Age.
Today positioning has become the buzzword of
advertising and marketing, all over the world.
Positioning starts with a product .A piece of
merchandise ,a service ,a company ,an institution or
a person. Perhaps yourself.
But it is not what you do to a product. Positioning is
what you do to the mind of the prospect.
that is ,you position the product in the mind of the
prospect.

08/21/09 2
 LEARNINGS – Even as an individual you
need to manage perceptions of others, about
yourself –how they feel and believe about
you…so it does not matter in which stream
you will be into (Marketing,HR,Finance etc.)
you just have to do positioning…

Shahrukh Khan –Romantic,talented,monogamus

08/21/09 3
 Vocabulary
 Brand
 Perception
 Positioning
 Brand value
 Mind share

08/21/09 4
Brand.
A name, sign or symbol used to identify
items or services of the seller(s) and to
differentiate them from goods or services of
competitors.

08/21/09 5
 GOOGLE. BMW. INDIA.
SEARCH. DRIVING. DIVERCITY.

08/21/09 6
 Positioning
 When you listen ward “Mercedes-Benz”
The first ward that comes to your mind is
“prestige”
Here “Mercedes-Benz” is a brand which has been
positioned in our minds in such a way that
whenever we listen to it, we start thinking of
prestige (Naam,Rutva and status) it is called
Positioning.
08/21/09 7
 Definition.
“Positioning is not what you do to a product.
Positioning is what you do to the mind of the
prospect.”
“Positioning is ,how you differentiate yourself
in the mind of your prospect”.
e.g.
Mysore Sandal -Purity and natural fragrance.
Margo- Herbal(neem).
Lifebuoy-Hygiene.
08/21/09 8
 How these companies positioned
themselves

 Mercedes-Benz ………………… prestige.

 BMW …………………………… driving.
 Volvo…………………………….. Safety.
 Starbucks………………………… high-end coffee..
 Rolex………………………………high-end watches.
 Google ……….……………………Search.
 Red bull ………………………… energy drink.
 FedEx…………………………… overnight (delivery)
08/21/09 9
 FedEx

See how FedEx , the American courier has

positioned itself as a fastest and most
accurate (overnight) courier giant ,which is
impossible to be stopped!

08/21/09 10
08/21/09 11
 Why positioning?
 There are two kinds of products – commodities and brands. A
commodity is a product that is same as those made by every
other company. As a result the only way to sell a commodity
is by selling it cheaper than your competitor.

A brand on the other hand, is (at least perceived in that way!) a

product that is unique and different. A customer can buy Tata
Indica for a lot less money than a Mercedes Benz, but most
Mercedes customer won’t buying tata or any other vehicle
simply because “it’s not a Mercedes-Benz.”

so, you need unique brands to make money.

08/21/09 12
 Why positioning?
The mind rejects much of the information offered to it
due to over-communication (Per capita consumption
of advertising in America today is about $200 a year)
from each side. In general , the mind accepts only that
which matches with it’s prior knowledge or
experience.
In today’s communication jungle out there, the only
hope to score big is to be selective, to concentrate on
narrow targets, to practice segmentation. In a word
“positioning”
08/21/09 13
 Why positioning?
You narrow the focus
Starbucks narrowed its focus to high-end coffee and
became the world's largest coffee chain.
Dell Computer narrowed its focus to personal
computers "sold direct" and became the world's
largest PC manufacturer.
BMW narrowed its focus to "driving" and became the
largest-selling European luxury car
in the U.S.
Focus is the key to successful brand building in
today's ultra-competitive marketplace
08/21/09 14
 The Oversimplified Message
 Today the best approach to take, in our over
communicated society is to simplified
message.
you simplified the message, then simplified it
some more if you want to make a long last
impression.
-Al Ries and Trout

08/21/09 15
 Volvo owns a single word in the minds.

Volvo.
Safety.

Volvo has successfully simplified and

Communicated this message.

08/21/09 16
 You differentiate or die
 Advertising has entered a new era where
creativity is no longer the key to success
,today a company must create a position in the
prospect’s mind. A position which is unique
and based on company’s strengths and on
realities.You don’t lie you only exaggerate.

Camlin (marker)-Permanent.

08/21/09 17
08/21/09 18
 Heidelberg - the working man’s beer.
 Bud - the athletic beer
 Bud Lite - the party beer
 Millers Lite - the fun and great test
 Coors - the environment beer
 Coors light - the fastest beer

08/21/09 19
 Marlboro - the rugged male
 Virginia slims - the independent female
 Camel - cool and sophisticated
 Benson & hedges - “intellectual”

08/21/09 20
 So is positioning always beneficial?
 Xerox first made photo copy machine & sold them
world wide, as the time passed Xerox become
synonymous to photocopy.
Xerox.
When it launched it’s Photocopy.
“Xerox data system", fax machine,
and PC all were disastrous and
Xerox lost billions of dollar
since it could not change or
reconstructed minds of prospects.
08/21/09
Same happened with IBM & Dalda 21
 Repositioning :Reconstruction of
perceptions.
 Companies like IBM, Bajaj and Xerox did it.

Company Traditional image Repositioned image

IBM Computer hardware Services & hardware
Xerox copier Hardware & software
Bajaj Scooters motorcycles

08/21/09 22
“Positioning makes brands and
brands give value to companies”

BRAND VALUE BRAND VALUE

$bil $bil
1 Coca-Cola 65.3 6 Toyota 32
2 Microsoft 55.8 7 Intel 30.9
3 IBM 57 8 McDonald’s 29.3
4 GE 51.5 9 Disney 29.2
5 Nokia 33.6 10 Mercedes-Benz 23.5
08/21/09 23
Top brands of the world

08/21/09 24
In the end, have a…..

HUMAN TOUCH
 In the automobile market where technology
and innovations are key to success see how a
company trying to differentiate itself from it’s
competitors.

08/21/09 25
08/21/09 26
 References
BOOKS- “Positioning: the battle for your
mind”
by Al Ries & Jack Trout
“ Marketing Management”
by Philip Kotler and Kevin Keller
And of course Google.com!
You may get this presentation on my blog i.e.
brajeshsudarshan.blogspot.com
08/21/09 27
 Recommended readings
Author Books

Al ries “22 immutable laws of branding”

Jack trout “The new positioning”

Michael porter “Good to great”

C.k.prahalad “The fortune at the bottom of the

pyramid”
08/21/09 28
 Feedbacks are welcome.
 pankaj_jain47631@yahoo.com
 mishrabraj@rediffmail.com

08/21/09 29
 THANK You.
Question please….

08/21/09 30