Positioning Guide #18

If the number one brand in a category already owns the motivating benefit for the category, don’t challenge it by claiming the same benefit.

The number one brand in a category is the number one brand because it already owns the motivating benefit for a majority of the category’s customers.  Look for a target segment that wants something else, another benefit.  Yes, that segment will be smaller than the majority segment.  Content yourself with a smaller market share; you’ve already lost the battle for the majority segment.

An example of challenging the established number one in a product category:  Why has Coke, with all their marketing expertise and money, been unsuccessful in knocking off Gatorade as the number one brand of sports drink with their PowerAde brand? 

 Because Gatorade owns the motivating benefit in the sports drink category – winning.  Gatorade owns the motivating benefit of winning through years of marketing investment in sports properties.  They have invested to the extent that the brand has become part of American culture with its association with winners.  What happens to the football coach of the winning team?  He gets an ice cooler full of Gatorade dumped over his head at the end of the game.

So if you drink Gatorade, you’re a winner.  Then who drinks PowerAde?  That’s right, losers.  Gatorade not only owns the motivating benefit in the category, its ownership blocks competitors for successfully competing in the category.

Positioning Guide #17

Two keys to successful brand positioning are simplicity and consistency.

If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, Al Ries should be feeling very flattered right now as this guide has been lifted from his contributions to marketing.

Simplicity:  Most marketers are too deeply involved in their product category to view it as naively and simplistically as does their target consumer.  When thinking about the promise that is the unique brand benefit, we want to write something exceedingly clever … something no one else has ever thought of.  We often want to be “creative.”  We want to write an advertising theme line or slogan.  Advertising theme lines are a task that should be left to your advertising agency.  Marketers should concentrate on (a) perfecting their marketing strategy – segmentation, targeting, and positioning; (b) on developing marketing mix tactics that are consistent with their marketing strategy; (c) and on executing those marketing mix tactics well.

The result of marketers playing advertising agency creative is usually a theme line that sounds good but fails to communication their brand’s unique brand benefit.  Find the unique brand benefit in the following list of theme lines:

Inspire the next.  Hitachi

The Right Technology. Right Away. CDW

Instruments for Professionals.  Breitling watches

Advance.  Acura

An American Revolution.  Chevrolet

Get There.  Goodyear

Passion for excellence.  Bridgestone

While all of these theme lines contain nice words, none of them directly convey the brand’s unique brand benefit.

Now consider the simplicity of these theme lines, all of which are built around the brand’s unique brand benefit:

      Change.  Barack Obama 2008 Presidential Campaign

The Ultimate Driving Machine.  BMW

The Best a Man Can Get.  Gillette

Save Money. Live Better.  Wal-Mart

Live richly.  Citibank

Consistency:  How long has BMW been The Ultimate Driving Machine?  Since 1975.  How long has Maytag used the Maytag repairman to communicate durability?  Since 1967.  These are examples of consistency in brand positioning and in marketing communications. 

Contrast the examples of BMW and Maytag with efforts of Chevrolet.  Chevrolet, prior to the restructuring of General Motors, evidently believed in long last advertising agency relationships, which is a good thing, as Campbell Ewald  was their agency for over 80 years.  Unfortunately, it appears that neither Chevrolet nor Campbell Ewald believed in long last brand positioning, advertising slogans, nor brand positioning.  Since Diana Shore first sang See the USA in Your Chevrolet on network television in the 1950’s, Chevy has bounced from one advertising slogan to another:

See the USA in Your Chevrolet (1954)

1 USA (1957)

The road isn't built that can make it breathe hard! (1957)

Baseball, Hot Dogs, Apple Pie and Chevrolet (1975)

The Heartbeat of America (1986)

Like a Rock (1991)

Genuine Chevrolet (1994)

An American Revolution (2003)

Another example of lack of consistency is Pepsi-Cola.  Since 1975, the brand has visited and revisited the concept that Pepsi is a brand for youthful consumers.  Unfortunately, they’ve confused their target consumers with tangential visits to with vague consumer benefits:

For Those Who Think Young (1975)

Have a Pepsi Day (1978)

Catch the Pepsi Spirit (1980)

Pepsi’s Got Your Taste for Life (1982)

Pepsi Now (1983)

The Choice of a New Generation (1984)

A Generation Ahead (1989)

Gotta Have It (1992)

Be Young. Have Fun. Drink Pepsi (1993)

Nothing Else is a Pepsi (1995)

The Joy of Cola (1999)

For Those Who Think Young (2002)

Generation Next (2002)

Think Young. Drink Young (2003)

It’s the Cola (2007)

Changing unique brand benefits and advertising campaigns frequently leads to “confused positioning.”  Consumers learn through repetition.  When the same message is repeated over and over again, consumer learn to associate the brand with its claimed unique brand benefit.  When the message changes frequently, consumers end up confused.  We think of Pepsi as being the number two cola beverage after Coca-Cola; but recently, it slipped to the number three position with Diet Coke taking the number two spot.  Could this be the result of confused positioning?

Positioning Guide #16

Innovation and technology are not customer benefits.

Many companies want to be the technology leader, the innovator in the category.  This is part of tech companies’ DNA and is probably confirmed by corporate vision or mission statement or a graphic like the one to the left.  Note the logic of this graphic – if the firm innovates and then communications, it will be successful in the market place.  I think that there are a few things missing in this graphic such as definition of a target market segment, brand positioning, distribution, pricing, etc.  Don’t get me wrong, there’s nothing wrong with wanting to be an innovator if one recognizes that there are challenges associated with being an innovator:

1.    Innovation Cost Money.  A firm’s devotion to innovation usually causes it to spend proportionally more on research and development than competitors.  This is one of the factors that usually causes such companies to be the high cost competitor in their product category.  If the product category is mature, the company may be headed for trouble as one of the keys to competiting in mature product categories is to be a low-cost producer.

2.    Innovators bear most the cost of innovation but share the rewards of innovation with fast followers:  Recall the concept of the product life cycle which is shown to the right.  In the development and introduction stages, there is only one competitor – the innovator.  Unfortunately for the innovator, these are the two stages where investments are heavy and there are little or no revenues.  A product category's profits tend to peak between the growth and maturity stages so that fast followers share the rewards of innovation without the cost penalty of the innovator.

3.    Innovators believe that innovation is a guarantee of long term business success.  I don't share this belief.  If one studies business history, one is likely to conclude that it is the fast follower rather than the innovator who is going to be the winner in the marketplace.  Whether one is an innovator or a fast follower, academic studies have concluded that it takes adequate marketing to insure long term business success.

Innovation is not a customer benefit.  While it is true that customer benefits may stem from innovation; innovation itself is not a customer benefit.  Thus, at best, innovation may be a benefit support.
If you work for a company that prides itself on innovation and you disagree with the statement that innovaton is not a customer benefit, leave me a comment.  All comments are welcome!

Positioning Guides #14 & #15

Positioning Guide #14:  Low price is not a brand benefit.

Positioning Guide #15:  There should never be a reference to price in a brand position statement.

Too often marketers will include a reference to low price in a brand positioning statement.  The brand position defines the unique brand benefit that your brand is going to deliver to your target customers.  You’ve validated through research that your unique brand benefit motivates your target customers to consider your brand.  Don’t confuse yourself and others who read your brand positioning template by including a reference to price.

Sometimes a brand position which includes a reference to price is referred to as a “value” position.  All brand positions that have a unique brand benefit that motivates target customers to consider the brand are “value” positions.  The value that you deliver to your target customers is your unique brand benefit.

Price is not part of brand positioning.  It is part of the marketing mix.  After your target customers believe that your brand delivers your unique brand benefit, the marketing mix question becomes what are they willing to pay to get the benefit that your brand delivers?

The danger in including a reference to price in the brand position is that it will become the primary focus of tactical execution.  Give an advertising agency a summary brand positioning statement that contains a reference to low price, and that’s what they’ll emphasize in the creative product.  The unique brand benefit will be relegated to a secondary role and the creative will be full of star bursts emphasizing low price.

Wal-Mart’s old themeline was “Lowest prices … always.”  If you had asked Wal-Mart executives what their unique brand benefit was, they’d probably would have said “lowest prices.”  However, the Wal-Mart brand is much richer than just offering low prices.  Wal-Mart delivers of number of retail attributes for which mid-America is looking … friendliness through the greeter, known and trusted brand names, wide selection in many product categories, liberal return policy, etc.  Wrap all of these retail attributes into a single brand attribute and you have trust.  Mid-America trusts Wal-Mart.  Moreover, they can do business with their trusted retailer and get a good deal.

 

Wal-Mart’s change of themelines to “Pay less. Live Better.” comes closer to following marketing ground rules.  Yes, they still have the reference to price in the themeline, but they have the reason that their target customers are willing to sacrifice service and tolerate long lines to get Wal-Mart’s low prices in the “Live Better.”  In the upcoming pricing section of this blog you’ll learn that all consumers want the most for their money.  Why?  So that they can live better on the income that they have.  “Live Better” is a unique brand benefit that motivates the Wal-Mart target customer.  Reflecting back to this blog’s discussion of consumer wants/needs and my belief that Maslow’s hierarchy is a pretty good model for those wants/needs, I don’t know where “Live Better” fits into Maslow’s hierarchy; but I’m sure that it’s in there somewhere.

Target is argued by some to be the best marketer of all three of the discount retailers.  Target gives its target customers fashion and style at a low price.  The product benefits are fashion and style which satisfy some social and/or ego needs.  Since all consumers want the most for their money, Target gives them the fashion and style that they are seeking for a low price.  Again to referring to Maslow’s hierarchy, fashion and style are probably social motivators or possibly ego motivators.  See how all of this stuff fits together?

That’s it for this week.  I’ve been blogging now for about eight months and have yet to receive a single comment.  The stats say that people are reading this blog.  Whoever you are, leave me a comment so I’ll know that this stuff isn’t disappearing into cyberspace.