As I have said before on this blog, I do always try to be constructive when writing about brands. But as an experienced marketer, I also know that it’s easier to be destructive rather than constructive when one is critiquing events. Which is why I held back from commenting about the recent United/Continental marriage. However, a week has passed by and I still don’t have many good feelings about the brand component of this deal but lest I become obsolete, it’s time to put the finger to the keyboard with a few thoughts.
Posts Tagged ‘positioning’
Brands – From Really Smart to Not So Smart
Friday, April 9th, 2010It’s been a busy, busy week in the brand world. And what has been remarkable about this particular week is that we’ve witnessed inspiring examples of brands at their best as well as embarrassing examples of brands at their worst. Let’s start on an upbeat note with Apple and the iPad.
Value + Versatility = Individuality
Thursday, November 12th, 2009
The hallmarks of fashion brand American Apparel have always been “Fashionable Basics. Sweatshop Free. Made in the USA.” To this I’d like to add: And Super Fun to Buy.
It is a wonderful thing when a brand stands up against the horrible practices of sweatshops around the world, declaring itself as truly American-made so appropriate labor-laws can be maintained whilst the product is manufactured. But You know and I know that it is American Apparel’s position as the number-one go-to source for apparel layering basics that keeps anyone age 35 or under as loyal to and almost dependent on the brand. American Apparel recognizes the increasing desire for consumers to ‘self-brand’ using apparel as the expression of their own brand. (more…)
Zipcar – A Case of Positioning at Its Best
Wednesday, September 16th, 2009The car rental companies have historically attracted a great deal of consumer criticism about charges, insurances, lack of flexibility etc, which makes the current positioning success of Zipcar even more remarkable and well worth a few ‘3rd button’ thoughts.
Just so that we are all on the same page, by positioning, we mean (more…)
If Someone Has to Win.. Then Someone Has to Lose.
Wednesday, August 26th, 2009In our positioning work, we focus our time on designing winning strategies for our clients – strategies that are projective, aspirational and that focus on growth. Nothing surprising here. After all, positioning is all about the future and directing efforts to finding meaningful “white space”. (more…)
Why Positioning? Why Now?
Thursday, August 13th, 2009I am going to start with a prediction, namely – if your brand is positioned in the same way that it was this time last year, you might need to change. Just think about where we’ve come from over the past 12 months or so…
+ despite ‘greenshoot’ talk, the economy is still a complete and utter mess
+ companies are reporting reduced profits…with all of the implications involved
+ consumers are threatening to permanently buy less stuff, including yours
+ competitors are in varying degrees of hurt – some have already given up
+ your own business is likely feeling the pinch – in case you hadn’t noticed!!
Put all of these factors together and what we have is an entirely new and different marketplace. A marketplace where many brands are misaligned and where only the strongest brands will survive…and strength in this context means well positioned with clarity and focus.
It is one thing to try and explain the reasons why many brands have become de-positioned, it is another to understand why so many companies appear to have been so reluctant to act. The strange thing is that the signals are often there for us to see…let me explain using inspiration from Jeff Foxworthy:
- if your category has been seriously disrupted (think insurance, financial services, luxury hotels, smartphones), then you might need to reposition your brand
- if one of your leading competitors goes belly-up (think Circuit City, Linens ‘n Things) or emerges successfully from bankruptcy (think GM, Bally Fitness), then you might need to reposition your brand
- if your category experiences a major merger or acquisition (think search Yahoo!/Microsoft, think system computing Oracle+Sun or media Thompson Reuters), then you might need to reposition your brand
- if your competitors are offering better value in these recessionary times (think Wal Mart, Procter & Gamble, McDonald’s), then you might need to reposition your brand
- if your competitors have recently launched groundbreaking new products (think iPhone Apps, Kindle 2, Zyrtec, Greenworks), then you might need to reposition your brand
- if your customer base is moving on (think Starbucks, Harley Davidson, Newsweek), then you might need to reposition your brand
- if the attitudes and behavior of your consumers is changing (think boomers, think sustainability, think frugal), then you might need to reposition your brand
- if you are a business that has taken a bullish approach to growth (think General Mills, Hasbro, Hyundai), then you might need to reposition your brand
- if your core consumer can no longer afford you (think Mercedes, Nordstrom, Vera Wang), you might need to reposition your brand
There is nothing in this list that is particularly surprising and I, for one, am hoping that the destruction of $13 trillion of consumer wealth, coupled with what looks to be a profound and permanent change in consumer behavior, will be the catalyst over the coming months for a resurgence in positioning. Why? Because it’s arguably the most important strategic work that any marketer does and it would be invigorating to witness more time and money being devoted to this task rather than being poured into the executional pit that many of us seem addicted to.
At the end of the day, there are a large number of brands that are not achieving their true potential – either because they are insufficiently different or because they are just not optimally positioned. We’d like to change this. We sit today at a major inflection point where almost everything in our marketplace over the past 12-18 months has moved on – what a wonderful opportunity to reassess our priorities and to make positioning the number one task for brand success.
Now that would get the “reset economy” restarted.
Simon Williams
