Positioning

Hi read something interesting over the weekend on Positioning which made quite a bit of sense and hence wanted to share the same. The article from the Kellog Business School mandates that any  Positioning statement needs to essentially include the following :

1. The Target Consumer definition

2. The Reference Framework – essentially an understanding on  how the brand is likely to benefit the consumer. In order to establish the Frame of Reference , the Brand needs to either slot itself within an existing category ( e.g. fast food), the benefits of which are clearly understood by the consumer, or, it can also align itself against a major player/competititor in the category ( say Mc Donald’s), whereby again the consumer is aware of how he/she is likely to benefit from the brand usage. Any fuzziness in the Reference Frame often leads to confusion in the consumers’ mind in terms of slottin the brand.

3. Points of Difference – the reason why the Brand is different from other brands within the category

4. Reason to believe – why should the consumer believe the assertions in points 2 and 3 above

The article goes on to talk about how Line or Category extensions are dependant to a large extent on the Brand  Positioning and especially on how closely the Brand is linked to a category as a Frame of Reference. The more strongly it  is linked , the lesser the possibility of a Category extension. For e.g. Coke is linked strongly to the beverages category, so extending to clothes or shoes would not possibly work for it. In contrast, Virgin is not tied to any category. Its reference is to an underdog fighting against the establishment and since this can be true of multiple categories, hence Virgin has been able to extend to Airlines, Radio, Mobiles, Record labels and the works.

Would like to have views on this and any other interesting insights on Positioning.

Good Nite