Brand Positioning - Definition and Concept

Brand positioning refers to “target consumer’s” reason to buy your brand in preference to others.
It is ensures that all brand activity has a common aim; is guided, directed and delivered by the
brand’s benefits/reasons to buy; and it focusses at all points of contact with the consumer.

Brand positioning must make sure that:

Is it unique/distinctive vs. competitors ?

Is it significant and encouraging to the niche market ?

Is it appropriate to all major geographic markets and businesses ?

Is the proposition validated with unique, appropriate and original products ?

Is it sustainable - can it be delivered constantly across all points of contact with the consumer ?

Is it helpful for organization to achieve its financial goals ?

Is it able to support and boost up the organization ?

In order to create a distinctive place in the market, a niche market has to be carefully chosen and
a differential advantage must be created in their mind. Brand positioning is a medium through
which an organization can portray it’s customers what it wants to achieve for them and what it
wants to mean to them. Brand positioning forms customer’s views and opinions.

Brand Positioning can be defined as an activity of creating a brand offer in such a manner that it
occupies a distinctive place and value in the target customer’s mind. For instance-Kotak
Mahindra positions itself in the customer’s mind as one entity- “Kotak ”- which can provide
customized and one-stop solution for all their financial services needs. It has an unaided top of
mind recall. It intends to stay with the proposition of “Think Investments, Think Kotak”. The
positioning you choose for your brand will be influenced by the competitive stance you want to
adopt.

Brand Positioning involves identifying and determining points of similarity and difference to
ascertain the right brand identity and to create a proper brand image. Brand Positioning is the key
of marketing strategy. A strong brand positioning directs marketing strategy by explaining the
brand details, the uniqueness of brand and it’s similarity with the competitive brands, as well as
the reasons for buying and using that specific brand. Positioning is the base for developing and
increasing the required knowledge and perceptions of the customers. It is the single feature that
sets your service apart from your competitors. For instance- Kingfisher stands for youth and
excitement. It represents brand in full flight.

There are various positioning errors, such as-

Under positioning- This is a scenario in which the customer’s have a blurred and unclear idea of
the brand.

Over positioning- makes the product too special. Like

Confused positioning- This is a scenario in which the customers have a confused opinion of the
brand.

Double Positioning- This is a scenario in which customers do not accept the claims of a brand.

Brand Positioning Strategies

A product can be positioned based on 2 main platforms: The Consumer and The Competitor.
When the positioning is on the basis of CONSUMER, the campaigns and messages are always
targeted to the consumer himself (the user of the product)

Peter England always campaigns their product concentrating on the consumer, the user of its product.

Louis Philip also concentrates on this kind of campaigns.

The other kind of positioning is on basis of COMPETITION. These campaigns are targeted
towards competing with other players in the market.

Dettol television commercials always concentrate on advertisements, which show that this product would give you
more protection, then the others.

A number of positioning strategies might be employed in developing a promotional program. The 7 such
strategies are discussed below:

POSITIONING BY PRODUCT ATTRIBUTES AND BENEFITS

Associating a product with an attribute, a product feature or a consumer feature. Sometimes a product can
be positioned in terms of two or more attributes simultaneously. The price/ quality attribute dimension is
commonly used for positioning the products.

A common approach is setting the brand apart from competitors on the basis of the specific
characteristics or benefits offered. Sometimes a product may be positioned on more than one
product benefit. Marketers attempt to identify salient attributes (those that are important to
consumers and are the basis for making a purchase decision)

• Consider the example of Ariel that offers a specific benefit of cleaning even the dirtiest of clothes
because of the micro cleaning system in the product.
 • Colgate offers benefits of preventing cavity and fresh breath.
• Promise, Balsara’s toothpaste, could break Colgate’s stronghold by being the first to claim that it
contained clove, which differentiated it from the leader.
• Nirma offered the benefit of low price over Hindustan Lever’s Surf to become a success.
• Maruti Suzuki offers benefits of maximum fuel efficiency and safety over its competitors. This
strategy helped it to get 60% of the Indian automobile market.

POSITIONING BY PRICE/ QUALIT(eg. is Tide)

Marketers often use price/ quality characteristics to position their brands. One way they do it is with ads
that reflect the image of a high-quality brand where cost, while not irrelevant, is considered secondary to
the quality benefits derived from using the brand. Premium brands positioned at the high end of the
market use this approach to positioning.
Another way to use price/ quality characteristics for positioning is to focus on the quality or value offered
by the brand at a very competitive price. Although price is an important consideration, the product quality
must be comparable to, or even better than, competing brands for the positioning strategy to be effective.

Parle Bisleri – “Bada Bisleri, same price” ad campaign.

POSITIONING BY USE OR APPLICATION

Another way is to communicate a specific image or position for a brand is to associate it with a
specific use or application.

Surf Excel is positioned as stain remover ‘ Surf Excel hena!’

Also, Clinic All Clear – “Dare to wear Black”.

Tvs Apache –speed

POSITIONING BY PRODUCT CLASS

Often the competition for a particular product comes from outside the product class. For
example, airlines know that while they compete with other airlines, trains and buses are also
viable alternatives. Manufacturers of music CDs must compete with the cassettes industry. The
product is positioned against others that, while not exactly the same, provide the same class of
benefits.

POSITIONING BY PRODUCT USER

Positioning a product by associating it with a particular user or group of users is yet another
approach.

Motography Motorola Mobile Ad.n this ad the persona of the user of the product is been
positioned.
POSITIONING BY COMPETITOR

Competitors may be as important to positioning strategy as a firm’s own product or services. In

today’s market, an effective positioning strategy for a product or brand may focus on specific
competitors. This approach is similar to positioning by product class, although in this case the
competition is within the same product category.

Onida was positioned against the giants in the television industry through this strategy, ONIDA
colour TV was launched with the message that all others were clones and only Onida was the
leader. “neighbour’s Envy, Owners Pride”.

POSITIONING BY CULTURAL SYMBOLS

An additional positioning strategy where in the cultural symbols are used to differentiate the
brands. Examples would be Humara Bajaj, Tata Tea, Ronald McDonald. Each of these symbols
has successfully differentiated the product it represents from competitors.
brand building
Definition:
Enhancing a brand's equity/status (see brand equity) directly through advertising campaigns and
indirectly through promotions such as cause championing or event sponsorship.

Activities that are intended to enhance the public perception of a brand of

merchandise.

What factors are important in building brand value?

Professor David Jobber identifies seven main factors in building successful brands, as illustrated
in the diagram below:

Quality

Quality is a vital ingredient of a good brand. Remember the “core benefits” – the things
consumers expect. These must be delivered well, consistently. The branded washing machine
that leaks, or the training shoe that often falls apart when wet will never develop brand equity.
Research confirms that, statistically, higher quality brands achieve a higher market share and
higher profitability that their inferior competitors.

Positioning

Positioning is about the position a brand occupies in a market in the minds of consumers. Strong
brands have a clear, often unique position in the target market.

Positioning can be achieved through several means, including brand name, image, service
standards, product guarantees, packaging and the way in which it is delivered. In fact, successful
positioning usually requires a combination of these things.

Repositioning

Repositioning occurs when a brand tries to change its market position to reflect a change in
consumer’s tastes. This is often required when a brand has become tired, perhaps because its
original market has matured or has gone into decline.

The repositioning of the Lucozade brand from a sweet drink for children to a leading sports drink
is one example. Another would be the changing styles of entertainers with above-average
longevity such as Kylie Minogue and Cliff Richard.

Communications

Communications also play a key role in building a successful brand. We suggested that brand
positioning is essentially about customer perceptions – with the objective to build a clearly
defined position in the minds of the target audience.

All elements of the promotional mix need to be used to develop and sustain customer
perceptions. Initially, the challenge is to build awareness, then to develop the brand personality
and reinforce the perception.

First-mover advantage

Business strategists often talk about first-mover advantage. In terms of brand development, by
“first-mover” they mean that it is possible for the first successful brand in a market to create a
clear positioning in the minds of target customers before the competition enters the market.
There is plenty of evidence to support this.

Think of some leading consumer product brands like Gillette, Coca Cola and Sellotape that, in
many ways, defined the markets they operate in and continue to lead. However, being first into a
market does not necessarily guarantee long-term success. Competitors – drawn to the high
growth and profit potential demonstrated by the “market-mover” – will enter the market and
copy the best elements of the leader’s brand (a good example is the way that Body Shop
developed the “ethical” personal care market but were soon facing stiff competition from the
major high street cosmetics retailers.
Long-term perspective

This leads onto another important factor in brand-building: the need to invest in the brand over
the long-term. Building customer awareness, communicating the brand’s message and creating
customer loyalty takes time. This means that management must “invest” in a brand, perhaps at
the expense of short-term profitability.

Internal marketing

Finally, management should ensure that the brand is marketed “internally” as well as externally.
By this we mean that the whole business should understand the brand values and positioning.
This is particularly important in service businesses where a critical part of the brand value is the
type and quality of service that a customer receives.

Think of the brands that you value in the restaurant, hotel and retail sectors. It is likely that your
favourite brands invest heavily in staff training so that the face-to-face contact that you have with
the brand helps secure your loyalty.
Brand Management
Brand management begins with having a thorough knowledge of the term “brand”. It
includes developing a promise, making that promise and maintaining it. It means defining the
brand, positioning the brand, and delivering the brand. Brand management is nothing but an art
of creating and sustaining the brand. Branding makes customers committed to your business. A
strong brand differentiates your products from the competitors. It gives a quality image to your
business.

Brand management includes managing the tangible and intangible characteristics of

brand. In case of product brands, the tangibles include the product itself, price, packaging, etc.
While in case of service brands, the tangibles include the customers’ experience. The intangibles
include emotional connections with the product / service.

Branding is assembling of various marketing mix medium into a whole so as to give you an
identity. It is nothing but capturing your customers mind with your brand name. It gives an
image of an experienced, huge and reliable business.
It is all about capturing the niche market for your product / service and about creating a
confidence in the current and prospective customers’ minds that you are the unique solution to
their problem.

The aim of branding is to convey brand message vividly, create customer loyalty, persuade the
buyer for the product, and establish an emotional connectivity with the customers. Branding
forms customer perceptions about the product. It should raise customer expectations about the
product. The primary aim of branding is to create differentiation.

Strong brands reduce customers’ perceived monetary, social and safety risks in buying
goods/services. The customers can better imagine the intangible goods with the help of brand
name. Strong brand organizations have a high market share. The brand should be given good
support so that it can sustain itself in long run. It is essential to manage all brands and build
brand equity over a period of time. Here comes importance and usefulness of brand management.
Brand management helps in building a corporate image. A brand manager has to oversee overall
brand performance. A successful brand can only be created if the brand management system is
competent.

Following are the important concepts of brand management:

 Definition of Brand
 Brand Name
 Brand Attributes
 Brand Positioning
 Brand Identity
 Sources of Brand Identity
 Brand Image
 Brand Identity vs Brand Image
 Brand Personality
 Brand Awareness
 Brand Loyalty
 Brand Association
 Building a Brand
 Brand Equity
 Brand Equity & Customer Equity
 Brand Extension
 Co-branding
 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
“Visual Merchandising is everything the customer sees, both exterior and interior, that
creates a positive image of the business and results in attention, interest, desire and action on part of
the customer”

There is a growing recognition of the need for an effective Visual Merchandising. But even
as it continues to grow, the understanding of Visual Merchandising impact and effectiveness is still
in its infancy.

The project deals with components of Visual Merchandising and its influence on customer
purchasing decision. The study is conducted at Big Bazaar, Bangalore. The study is based on how the
visual merchandising components such as Color and Lighting, Props and Decorative items, Fixtures
and Hardware, Store Design and Display and overall ambience of the store plays a crucial role in
influencing the purchase decision making of the customer.

The methodology followed is questionnaire method with a total sample size of 100 respondents. The
data is tabulated and graphically represented through, Pie-charts, Bar graph. Based on the response
obtained through questionnaire major research findings are presented and suitable recommendations
are made in order to improve the customer shopping experience at Big Bazaar.