Detailed Notes on Positioning, Branding, and Brand Equity

Positioning Strategies

  • Positioning Definition: The place a brand occupies in customers' minds, differentiating it from competitors.
  • Purpose: To influence consumer perception and assist in purchasing decisions.
  • Positioning Process:
    • Understanding the product's marketplace fit.
    • Defining unique selling propositions that align with consumer needs.

Repositioning

  • Repositioning Meaning: Modifying a brand's position based on market feedback.
  • Examples of Successful Repositioning:
    • Yahoo!: Shifted from an online guide to a web portal.
    • Amazon: Transitioned from "world’s largest bookstore" to "Earth’s biggest selection."
  • Repositioning Strategies:
    1. Stealth Positioning
    2. Breakaway Positioning
    3. Reverse Positioning
Stealth Positioning
  • Associating a less accepted product with a more embraced category to overcome resistance.
Breakaway Positioning
  • Recombines features from different product categories to appeal anew.
Reverse Positioning
  • Strips expected attributes from mature products while introducing surprising new aspects.

Understanding Brands

  • Brand Definition: A name, term, sign, symbol, or design identifying goods/services from one seller and differentiating them from competitors.

Commodities vs. Brands

  • Commodity: A basic raw material used to produce consumer goods, standardized and competing on price.
  • Brand Characteristics: Unique, adds emotional connections, and is associated with quality over price.
    • Commodity Types:
    • Agricultural (e.g., wheat, corn)
    • Energy (e.g., oil, natural gas)
    • Metal (e.g., gold, aluminum)
  • Differences:
    • Products offer rational solutions; Brands offer emotional connections.

Brand Culture

  • Definition: The collective values, beliefs, and symbols that define company operations and market positioning.

Brand Extensions

  • Brand Extension Definition: Introducing a new product under an established brand name.
    • Types of Branding:
    • New brand
    • Existing brand
    • Combination of new and existing brands.
  • Parent Brand: The existing brand that drives the extension.
  • Percentage Statistics: 81% of new products used brand extensions in the 1990s; 93% of food/beverage products were brand extensions in 2009.

Brand Value and Brand Equity

  • Brand Value: The monetary worth of a brand if sold or merged.
  • Brand Equity: The influence of brand knowledge on consumer response, measured through:
    • Return to shareholders
    • Brand image evaluation
    • Brand earning potential
    • Increased volume of sales
    • Price premium over non-branded items

Components of Brand Equity

  • Brand Strength: Customer-based measure.
  • Brand Value: Financial measure (cost-based, market-based, royalty relief method, economic use method).

Brand Equity Measurement Models

  • Key Models:
    • Keller's Brand Equity Model (CBBE)
    • Aaker’s Brand Equity Model
    • Milward Brown’s Brand Dynamics
    • Young and Rubicam’s Brand Asset Valuator

Customer-Based Brand Equity Model Components

  • Brand Resonance: Intense and active loyalty.
  • Judgments and Feelings: Consumer rational and emotional responses.
  • Brand Performance and Imagery: Points of parity and difference with deep brand awareness.