Positioning
Dr. B.N.F. Warnakulasooriya
University of Sri Jayewardenepura
Dr.B.N.F. Warnakulasooriya
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Positioning (P)
• The act of designing the company’s
offering and image to occupy a
distinctive place in the mind of the Tgt
Mkt. P requires every tangible aspect of
4 P s to support the chosen P strategy
• The way the product is defined by
consumers on important attributes.
• The end result of P is the successful
creation of a Customer Focused Value
Proposition ( the cogent reason why the
Tgt mkt should buy the product).
Dr.B.N.F. Warnakulasooriya
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• Michael Treacy (MT) and Fred Wiersema
(FW) proposed a framework –” Value
Discipline” . Within its industry, a firm
could aspire to be :
– The product leader (PL)
– The operationally excellent firm (OE)
and
– The customer intimate (CI) firm
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• This is based on the notion that in
every market there is a mix of three
types of customers:
• Some customers favour the firm
that is advancing on the
technological Frontier (PL)
• Other customers want highly
reliable performance (OE)
• Others want high responsiveness
in meeting their individual needs
(CI)
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• MT and FW observed that a firm
cannot normally be best in all three
ways or even in two ways. It lacks
sufficient resources, and each value
discipline requires different managerial
mind - sets and investment that often
conflict.
• MT and FW propose that a business
should follow four rules for success:
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• Become best at one of the three value
disciplines
• Achieve an adequate performance level
in the other two disciplines
• Keep improving one’s superior position
in the chosen discipline so as not to
loose out to a competitor
• Keep becoming more adequate in the
other two disciplines because
competitors keep raising customer’s
expectations
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Positioning requires that similarities and
differences between brands be defined
and communicated.
It requires determining the frame of
reference by identifying the TMkt and the
competition and identifying the ideal
points of parity (POP) and points of
difference (POD) brand association.
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Competitive Frame of Reference
• Determine Category Membership – the
products or sets of products with which
a brand competes and which function as
close substitutes.
• Pay attention on Tgt mkt decisions -
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Points of Parity (POP) and Points of
Difference (POD)
• PODs are attributes/ benefits consumers
strongly associate with a brand,
positively evaluate, and believe that they
could not find to the same extent with a
competitive brands.
• The brand must demonstrate clear
superiority.
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• POP : Attributes or benefits that are not
unique to the brand but may be shard
with other brands. POP is of two basic
forms:
– Category : associations consumers
view as essential to be a legitimate
and credible offering within a certain
product/service category. They are
necessary but not necessarily
sufficient conditions for brand choice
– Category POP may change over time
due to technological advances, legal
developments,
or consumer trends. 10
Dr.B.N.F. Warnakulasooriya
• Competitive POPs : Associations
designed to negate competitors’ PODs.
If, in the eyes of consumers, the brand
association designed to be the
competitors’ POD is as strong for the
brand as for competitors and the brand
is able to establish another association
as strong, favorable, and unique as part
of its POD, the brand should be in a
superior competitive position.
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• To achieve a POP on a particular
attribute/brand, a sufficient number of
consumers must believe that the brand
is good enough on that dimension.
There is a zone or range of tolerance or
acceptance with POP.
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Establishing Category Membership
(CM)
• Inform consumers of a brand’s CM:
– When the CM is not apparent – e,g,
introduction of new product, high tech
products
– Where consumers know a brand’s CM but
may not be convinced that the brand is a
valid member of the category. straddle
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• Brand are sometimes affiliated with
categories in which they do not hold
membership. This approach is one way to
highlight a brand’s POD, providing that
consumers know the brand’s actual
membership. With this approach it is
important that consumers understand what
the brand stand for and not just what it is
not. It is important to not be trapped
between categories.
• The preferred approach to positioning is to
inform consumers of a brand’s membership
before staring its POD . Consumers need to
know what a product is and what functions
it serves before deciding whether it
dominates the competing
brands
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Ways to convey a brand’s CM
• Announcing Category benefits – To
reassure consumers that a brand will
deliver on the fundamental reason for
using category, benefits are frequently
used to announce CM.
• Relying on the product descriptor.
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Choosing POPs and PODs
• POPs are driven by the needs of CM ( to
create category POPs) and necessity of
negating competitor’s PODs (to create
competitive POPs).
• In choosing PODs, two important
considerations are :
– Consumer desirability of POD
– Firm’s capability to deliver on the POD
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Possible POPs and PODs
Product
Differentiation
Services
Differentiation
i.e. Features,
Performance, Style &
Design, Attributes
E.g. LG Door Cooling
E.g. ODEL
Channel
Differentiation
E.g. Dell
People
computers &
Differentiation
Teleseen
i.e. Hiring, Training
Characters
Marketing
Image
Differentiation
i.e. Symbols,
i.e. Delivery, Installation,
Repair Services, Customer
Training Services
E.g. Singer
Better People Than
Competitors Do
E.g. HSBC
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Desirability Criteria for PODs
• Relevance – TM must find the POD
personally relevant and important.
• Distinctiveness – TM must find the POD
distinctive and superior.
• Believability - TM must find the POD
believable and credible. A brand must
offer a compelling reason for choosing
it over the other options.
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Deliverability Criteria for PODs
• Feasibility – The must be actually create the
POD. The product design and marketing
offering must support the desired association.
• Communicability – It is very difficult to create
an association that is not consistent with
existing consumer knowledge or that
consumers, for whatever reason, have trouble
believing. Consumers must be given a
compelling reason and understandable
rationale as to why the brand can deliver the
desired benefits.Dr.B.N.F. Warnakulasooriya
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• Sustainability- Positioning should be
preemptive, defensible, and difficult to
attack. And, it should consider whether
the favourability of a brand association
can be reinforced and strengthened over
time. Sustainability will depend on
internal commitment and use of
resources as well as external market
forces.
Marketers must decide at which level /s to
anchor the brand’s PODs. Different
possibilities are:
 Brand attributes – Ex. Dove soap – one
Dr.B.N.F. cream
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quarter cleansing
Important
Profitable
Affordable
Criteria
For Determining
Which Differences
To Promote
Distinctive
Superior
PreemptiveDr.B.N.F. WarnakulasooriyaCommunicable
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Attributes are the least desirable level to
position because:
• the buyer is more interested in benefits
• competition can easily copy attributes
• the current attributes may become less
desirable
 Brand Benefits – Dove Soap – Softer
skin
 Brand Value – Dove Soap – Being more
attractive
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Creating POPs and PODs
• One common difficulty in creating a strong
competitive brand positioning is that many of
the attributes or benefits that make up the POPs
and PODs are negatively correlated. Ex. Low
price vs. High quality, Taste vs Low calories,
Powerful vs safe. Efficacious vs Mild.
• And even , individual attributes and benefits
have positive and negative aspects. Ex, A brand
that is seen as having a great deal of heritage.
Heritage could suggest experience, wisdom,
and expertise. On the other hand, it might
imply being old – fashioned and not up to date.
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• However, consumers typically want to
maximize both attributes and benefits.
 Ways to address the problem of negatively
correlated POPs and PODs
Develop a product or service that performs well
on both dimension.
Launch two different marketing campaigns,
each one devoted to a different brand
attribute or benefits. These campaigns may
run together at one point in time or
sequentially over time. The hope is that
consumers will be less critical when judging
the POP and POD benefits isolation.
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– Leverage Equity of another entity: Link
themselves to any kind of entity that
possesses the right kind of equity as a
means to establish an attribute or benefit
as a POP or POD. Branded ingredients may
also lend some credibility to a questionable
attribute in consumers’ mind.
– Redefine the Relationship: Convince
consumers that in fact the relationship is
positive. Provide consumers with a
different perspective and suggest tht they
may be overlooking or ignoring certain
considerations,
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• Company must take strong steps to deliver
and communicate the desired position to
target consumers.
• All the company’s marketing mix must support
the positioning strategy.
• Positioning strategy must be monitored and
adapted over time to match changes in consumer
needs and competitors’ strategies.
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