Professors on the Go!

Chapter 10 Crafting the Brand Positioning

Key Concepts: 1) Competitive Frame of Reference Most campus communities have their own radio and/or television broadcasting stations. If one is present on your campus, students are to define the college or universitys station(s) in terms of positioning and differentiation strategy. What stage in the products life cycle are the station(s)? What can be done to reposition the station(s) to attract more viewership? What is the competitive advantage present in their operations? 2) Positioning Strategy: Points-of-Parity and Points-of-Difference Relevant to the opening vignette of the chapter concerning The Public Broadcasting Services positioning and differentiation, students are to devise a positioning and differentiation strategy for their own local PBS system (radio or television). Students should arrange to meet with local PBS management to elicit information on what challenges their local station(s) is/are having in increasing their viewership/listeners. What stage in the products life cycle (PBS is the product) does your local station fall? What level of competitive advantage, if any, commensurate with the position in the life cycle, does your local PBS station(s) command? What can be done to reverse or continue these trends? 3) Points-of-Difference Southwest Airlines has differentiated itself by emphasizing low prices, reliable service, and a healthy sense of humor. Recently, a number of other low fare airlines have started with their objectives being to capitalize upon the niche created by Southwest. If you were in the position to create a new differentiation and positioning strategy for Southwest, what aspects of the company would you emphasize? How would your differentiation strategy position Southwest from these other airlinesby product, personnel, channel, or some combination of all of the above? 4) Choosing Pops and Pods Points-of-differences and points-of-parity are two important concepts of brand development and are driven by two differing strategiesinclusion and differentiation. Students should devise a list of at least five other products/ services that they believe demonstrate points-of-differences and points-of-parity in their brand positioning. Student must include their reasoning behind the inclusion of these products/services into a category. Good students will present proof of their correct selection by including advertising copy supporting the product or services POD or POP.

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Professors on the Go!

5) Creating Pops and Pods Consultants Michael Treacy and Fred Wiersema, in their book, The Disciplines of Market Leaders (Reading, MA: AddisonWesley, 1994) proposed a positioning framework called value disciplines. Within its industry, a firm could aspire to be the product leader, operationally excellent firm, or customer intimate firm. Choosing an industry, each student is to identify one or more firms operating within that industry that fits each of these three value disciplines. Students should define their reasoning for selecting each firm and its placement as either the product leader, operationally excellent, or customer intimate. 6) Product Life Cycle Often, after a brand begins to slip in the marketplace or disappears altogether, commentators observe, all brands have their day. Their rationale is that all brands, in some sense, have a finite life and cannot be expected to be leaders forever. Other experts contend, however, that brands can live forever, and their long-term success depends on the skill and insight of the marketers involved. Take a position: Brands cannot be expected to last forever versus there is no reason for a brand to ever become obsolete. 7) Product Modification Determining the proper competitive frame of reference requires understanding consumer behavior and the consideration sets consumers use in making brand choices. For a set of three products or services (selected by the students) students should research these companies and provide the companies (and its products) value proposition in a matrix similar to Table 10.1.

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