This document discusses crafting an effective brand positioning strategy. It begins by explaining how firms can choose and communicate a positioning by developing a competitive frame of reference looking at points of difference and parity. It then discusses differentiation strategies and how positioning and marketing strategies should change across the product lifecycle stages and with market evolution. The key tasks covered are understanding effective positioning, differentiation, adapting to the product lifecycle, and implications of market changes.

1. Crafting the Brand
Positioning:
A Visual Model
(Chapter 10)
Raymund C. Piñon
Marketing Management V57
VCoach Bong De Ungria

2. Marketing Task #4
BUILDING STRONG BRANDS
Crafting the Brand Positioning

3. Objectives
At the end of this presentation, the participants should be able to
1. Understand how firms can choose and
communicate an effective positioning in the market
3. See how brands are differentiated
5. Appreciate how different marketing strategies are
appropriate at each stage of the product life cycle
7. Understand the implications of market evolution for
marketing strategies

4. Outline
 Developing and Communicating a
Positioning Strategy
 Competitive Frame of Reference
 Points-of-Difference and Points-of-Parity
 Differentiation Strategies
 Product Life-Cycle Strategies

5. The 4th Task of Marketing is…

6. Developing and Communicating
a Positioning Strategy
All marketing strategy is built on STP
 Segmentation – discover different
needs and groups in the marketplace
 Targeting – identify groups it can
satisfy in a superior way
 Positioning – positions its offering
so that the target market recognizes
the firm’s distinctive offering & image

7. What is Positioning?
Act of designing an offer and image to occupy
a distinctive place in the minds of the target market

8. Positioning results in
 The creation of a
 A persuasive REASON WHY the target
market should buy the product

9. Positioning
Examples of Customer-Focused Value Propositions
 Langhap Sarap
 Food offered by Jollibee caters to Filipino taste
 Pera padala
 Makakarating ang padala mo
 We have it all for you
 Convenient shopping experience in SM’s one-stop
shop because it provides all you need under one roof
 World’s safest pain reliever
 Biogesic is safe even for pregnant women

10. Positioning
Starts with…
 A Competitive Frame of Reference
And then looks at
 Points-of-Difference and Points-of-Parity

11. Positioning
So Start with a Competitive Frame of Reference by
1st Identifying the Product’s Category Membership
 Define Customer Target Market
and
 Define Nature of Competition
 Products and services competing
for same target segment
 Substitute products and services

12. Positioning
Then Looking at Points-of Differences
POD – attributes or benefits that consumers…
 Strongly associate with a brand
 Positively evaluate
 Believe are unique to the brand or
could not be found to the same
extent in other brands
 Energizer – longest lasting battery
 Louis Vuitton – most stylish handbag

13. Fun place for family to be together Prompt friendly service
and for children to play
McDo
Clean pleasant modern facilities Food kids love and are affordable
Ned Roberto (Marketing Guru) Manny Paquiao (Pambansang Kamao)

14. Positioning
and also at Points-of-Parity
POP – attribute or benefit
associations not unique to
the brand but may in fact be
shared with other brands
2 Types of POPs are:
 Category POPs
=
 Competitive POPs

15. Positioning
Category POPs are:
 Associations essential to a legitimate
and credible offering within a category
 Necessary, but not sufficient,
condition for brand choice
 Soap must be able to clean
 A doctor must have medical training
and license to practice

16. Positioning
Competitive POPs are
 Associations designed to
negate a competitor’s POD


Brand “breaks even” on areas
where competitors are trying
to create an advantage
Consumers must believe
brand is “good enough” on
an attribute or benefit
x

17. Positioning
To Establish Category Membership
 Marketers must inform consumers
of a brand’s category membership
 Announcing category benefits
 Cherifer – tangkad sagad
 Enervon C - protektodo
 Comparing to exemplars
 The Rolls Royce of the banking industry
 Elvis Presley of the Philippines
 Relying on the product descriptor
 Ford Freestyle “Space Wagon”
 Ateneo Graduate School of Business

18. Positioning
In Choosing POPs and PODs, we need to consider
For PODs
 Desirability
 Relevant and Important
 Distinctive and superior
 Believable, credible, compelling
 Deliverability of promise
 Feasibility
 Design and offer support desired associations
 Communicability
 Compelling reason to believe
 Understandable rationale why brand can deliver desired benefits
 Verifiable evidence or proof points
 Sustainability
 Preemptive
 Defensible
 Difficult to attack

19. Positioning
In Choosing POPs, consider
 Need for category membership
 Create competitive POPs
to negate competitors’ PODs

20. Positioning
Marketers must choose which level of a
Brand’s POD to highlight
Functional Psycho-
Benefits Social Instrumental
Attributes Emotional and
(What a
- Promil Benefits Terminal
brand does)
contains (Self-Image Values
- Promotes
taurine Social Image) - My children
Brain
development - I’m a will love me
good Mom
This?
This? Or this?
This?

21. Positioning
The outcome of the process of creating a value
proposition is a Positioning Statement
To Children who are undernourished due
(Target group and need) to poor appetite
Our Appebon
(Brand)
Is Is a complete vitamin-mineral
(Concept) formulation with an appetite stimulant
That Provides needed nourishment and
(what the POD is or does) stimulates children’s appetite because
it contains 5 mg of buclizine HCl

22. Differentiation
To avoid the commodity trap, we consider
 Competitive advantage
 A company’s ability to perform in one or more ways that
competitors cannot or will not match
 Leverageable advantage
 Advantage a company can use as springboard to new
advantages
 Customer advantage
 Competitive advantage that is seen by customer as an
advantage to themselves

23. Differentiation
To derive fresh insights to differentiate our
brand we can use tools such as
 The Consumption Chain
 Examining customers’ entire experience
with a product or service to uncover
opportunities to position offerings
in ways no one thought possible
 McMillan & McGath Questionnaire
 To derive consumer-based
points of differentiation

24. Differentiation
Some Dimensions we can use to differentiate are
 Product design
 Swatch – colorful, fashionable watches
 Subway – healthy alternative to fast foods
 Personnel Differentiation
 Better-trained employees
 Channel Differentiation
 More effective and efficient design of
distribution channels’ coverage, expertise
and performance
 Image Differentiation
 Craft powerful, compelling images
 Marlboro Man

25. Product Life Cycle
Describes an analogy of the stages of life of a product
that is similar to natural biological stages of living things
 Birth
 Slow sales growth
 Heavy expenditure
 Non-existent profits
 Growth
 Rapid market acceptance
 Substantial profit improvement
 Maturity
 Slowdown in sales growth
 Acceptance by most potential buyers
 Stabilized or decreased profits
 Increased competition
 Decline
 Sales decline
 Profits erode

26. Product Life Cycle Marketing Strategies
Recall that Marketing Strategy is about STP
So examine your brand’s STP at different stages in the PLC
SWOT
SWO
OT T
SW
SWOT
A company’s POSITIONING and DIFFERENTIATION strategy
must change as products, markets and competitors change
over the PRODUCT LIFE CYCLE

27. Product Life Cycle
Introduction Stage Marketing Strategies
SWOT
Key Issues:
• Pioneer 1st to market with new product vs. late entrant with better product
• Heavy investments in product, technology, market, channel development
• Market entry strategy with high risks and uncertainty

28. Product Life Cycle
Growth Stage Marketing Strategies
O T
SW
• New entrants come in with new product features and expanded distribution
• Customer base expands from innovators to early adopters
• Sales increase, prices remain or fall, promo expense and profits increase
• Company improves product quality, adds new features and improves styling
• Adds new models and flankers, enters new segments,
• Increases distribution coverage and enters new channels
• Shifts from product awareness advertising to product preference advertising
• Lowers prices to attract next layer of price-sensitive buyers

29. Product Life Cycle
Maturity Stage Marketing Strategies
SWOT
•Sales growth rate slows, flattens then declines
• No new distribution channels, market is saturated, future growth organic
• Customer starts switching to other products
• New competitive forces – emerge of new categories or blue oceans
• Sales decline cause overcapacity and leads to fierce competition for market shares
• Price wars, increased promo spending, increased R&D spend
• Exit of weaker competitors and dominance of a few large competitors: quality leader,
cost leader, service leader and a few nichers

30. Product Life Cycle
Maturity Stage Marketing Strategies
SWOT
Ways to change the course of a brand during maturity stage
• Market modification - expand market:
Volume = Expand # of brand users x increase usage rate per user
• Product modification: Improve quality, features, style
• Market program modification: pricing, distribution, advertising, trade and consumer
promotions, personal selling, services

31. Product Life Cycle
Decline Stage Marketing Strategies
SW O
T
• Sales decline due to technological advances, changes consumer preferences, increased
domestic and foreign competition
• Industry overcapacity, price cuts, profit erosion
• Companies exit the market, reduce products offered, withdraw smaller segments and
weaker trade channels
• Cut promotional budget and lower prices further
• Sustain product? Modify marketing strategy? Drop product?
• Harvest – maintain sales, cut costs.
• Divest – Sell or liquidate?

32. Market Evolution
Markets also go through life cycle stages
 Latent market
 Diffused preference
 Single-niche strategy
 Multiple-niche strategy
 Mass-market strategy
 Emergence stage
 Growth stage
 Maturity stage
 Market fragmentation
 Market consolidation
 Decline stage

33. Market Evolution
Review Brand’s STP at each stage of the Market’s Evolution
SWOT
SWO
T
OT
SW
SWOT
Firms must visualize a market’s evolutionary path as it is affected
by new needs, technology, competitors, channels and other
developments. A company’s POSITIONING and DIFFERENTIATION
strategy must change to keep pace with market developments

34. In Summary
We discussed…
1. How firms choose and communicate an
effective positioning in the market
3. How brands are differentiated
5. How different marketing strategies are
appropriate at each stage of the product life
cycle
7. Implications of market evolution for
marketing strategies

35. 4th Task of Marketing?
S Product Life Cycle
T
P – Positioning
Building Strong Brands!!!
Crafting the Value Proposition Market Evolution
Positioning changes w/ changing PLC and ME
Competition
Market
+
Differentiation
Positioning
Avoid the commodity trap Statement:
POP To
POD
= + HOW??? Our
Is
That
Points of Parity Points of Difference