Tools available to build a positioning, the main characteristics and how the different dimensions work in each of them. Cite examples.
Defining a brand positioning takes time and a series of analyzes and influencing factors in different situations; For the brand positioning construction process we will divide the tools into two groups. One group in external conditions and another in consumer perspectives.
External Conditions
Analyzing these factors we find:
Roots of the Brand: Every brand has an origin and as such when constructing positioning we must analyze its origin, how the brand is created offering a series of benefits and characteristics for consumers and how these constitute a series of assimilation factors for consumers. Consumers, we see how the original strengths of the brand are intrinsic and how credibility is created in what to do and their close relationship with the brand product. At the roots of the brand we find that which originally reflects the starting point, such as:
| Two real men
The best of Vermont Counter culture Surprise combinations with large chunks of ingredients · Everything natural |
Competitive Environment: Brands not only compete with their category, at the time of occupying a place in the consumer's mind they are in continuous battle, to generate a good positioning it is necessary to analyze the competitive environment and see the various possibilities of choice that that consumer You can see and that definitely at any time he responds to us and makes known who loses while we win, reviewing and detailing the role played by other brands that become my direct and indirect competition and giving an overview of opportunities and threats of my competitive and business framework.
Target: The target or Target Group is important to analyze from the positioning objective to know who we really direct our efforts to, with this we know who is the person who chooses my brand, being able to use or Buy it.
Insight: we determine it as those latent needs that the target gives us that reason for our orientation to generate something for consumers, those consumer sensations when it comes to satisfying their need, desire or whim, the insigth reflects that senrorial emotion that we can take a high impact positioning to work. These external conditions are analyzed and complemented with factors closely linked to the consumer, known as the consumer perspective.
Benefits: they are described as the areas in which the brand solves problems or offers improvements in relation to consumer needs, the benefits can be functional, emotional or sensory.
Personality: The brand personality should allow us a description of how it behaves and what its values and beliefs are, the best way to do this is by turning the brand into a natural person.
Reason to Believe: The main reason that supports the product and its functionality is shown as a way to give weight to the brand, either with an external endorsement, a tradition, a quality culture or the use of a famous person or icon, validating its benefit and showing why the brand is better than other alternatives.
Discriminator: This tool allows showing the reason why the target chooses the brand, this is shown in the words of the consumer, thus showing the characteristic for which the consumer must definitely choose one or another brand.
Essence: the essence is fundamentally formed as the thought that expresses the brand in every sense, that final touch that gives an idealization and contextualization of everything that is to be expressed "the soul of the brand."
The Power of the Three Products.
As a general description, the Physical product is constituted by that main function of creating the object, companies are dedicated to producing objects, they really become products at the moment in which a symbolic value is generated, as such intrinsic to the use of this expressed as finally He who makes that product as an imaginary product to my conception of it, the human being in his consumption seeks hedonism and eudaimonia, having a need, desire or whim, we must clearly seek a complete link with that object added to the image and sensory benefit that me provides and how that value chain creates in each consumer a reaction to the price they pay for the one they choose.
The sum of the three products brings us closer to the brand, by being intrinsically linked, a connection is created that with the generation of value turns the consumer into that conscious decision-maker of the acquired symbolic value, marketing as social mediation constantly plays a game with power Of the three products, when talking about the function and how you buy a wallet to store some things, it shows us the physical product, but definitely something else is missing to make that generate a total transcendence, that is where the semiotic frolic generating sensations are hooked and perceptions through an imaginary product, communicating that it is not the same to have X wallet to store your cell phone and makeup, but rather that it is definitely a wallet, with style, glamor, authenticity and that makes you look different,that gives you a specific place in your group of belonging that being a "Louis Vuitton" handbag differentiates you from other women and becomes the imaginary product, but this set of values linked to the brand cannot be ignored of the price, by linking the physical and the imaginary, there is a price to pay for this game and it is the economic product that characterizes this role that is not only a recognized brand but also a brand with a high price, the price to pay for it " thing ”with a lot of meaning is high.there is a price to pay for this game and it is the economic product that characterizes this role that is not only a recognized brand but also a brand with a high price, the price to pay for this "thing" with a lot of meaning is high.there is a price to pay for this game and it is the economic product that characterizes this role that is not only a recognized brand but also a brand with a high price, the price to pay for this "thing" with a lot of meaning is high.
In Colombia there is an interesting case that links the power of the three products, there are many restaurants, but Andrés Carne de Res is established as a prestigious restaurant and a social meeting point at high levels and not only that it is an alternative restaurant, with a decoration particular but that definitely combines its physical product very well, not going out of offering food in a certain space and widening the gap of symbolic value with the taste for dining near television celebrities and even ministers, and current personalities, almost reaching have the pleasure of appearing in the main social pages because for one reason or another you were in that place; Having the opportunity to go makes and generates a different sensation in each consumer. The imaginary product does something for those who dine there.It is not easy to go, much less enter, to do so you must be willing to pay a good sum of money this set of added values that one day the owner builds, today they make it different from its competitors, people are willing to pay whatever sum, its target is captivated by the handling of the power of its three products.
Example:
| PHYSICAL PRODUCT | IMAGINARY PRODUCT | ECONOMIC PRODUCT |
| Perfume for Men | Definitely a perfume of U $ 600 is not very accessible "but YSL is worth it" | |
| Colombian Air Company National and International Travel | Avianca takes you with style, confidence, technology and with excellent service. | Currently Avianca has the highest prices on travel tickets in Colombia. |
The roles played by the power of the three products are very marked in today's markets, a particular case in Colombia with Bavaria.
Bavaria is the Colombian Brewery recently acquired by SabMiller Group, Bavaria offers a wide line of beers that definitely breaks down and handles the physical, imaginary and economic product at will, and that in the power of the three products, the barriers to entry are handles like this:
- The technological barrier (physical product): this is the clear case of Club Colombia Beer, which is characterized by its extra dry flavor and its elaboration that uses a different process and makes it possess a special know-how. imaginary): Bavaria has Costeña beer, which is aimed at a more youthful target and its positioning is a dynamic young beer and stylish university The financial barrier (economic product): It is also the case of club Colombia which is close at the price of beers like Corona, but it definitely unfolds showing itself as beer
Regarding the organizational structure, Bavaria focuses the management of its products on its brand managers and comprises a total institutional framework, always aimed at selling a family organizational culture, and having its institutional policies very marked.
In the aspect of cultural expression, talking about Bavaria is talking about Colombia and its particular stamp, the organization is consistent with the reflection of what each of its brands seeks, there is a close relationship when talking about any of its products and the company as a business unit, they are 120 years making beer, which already shows an organized management model and with a strong base to support its management model, turning it into an organizational model in Colombia, with all its policies very well defined.
The concept of Strategic Balance and each of its elements
It refers to the balance that develops in the mind of the client. A "balanced" balance is one in which both buyers and sellers obtain from the sum of the Physical Product + Imaginary Product a profit equal to or greater than the Economic Product and, as a consequence, the business "closes".
The explanation of each element is contemplated in the previous point and in the example of Bavaria, describing how the Power of the three products works and exemplifying the relationship between the physical product and the imaginary product and the closure of the strategic balance thought that a consumer makes. seeing the benefits and values that make the product economical.
Development and exemplification of the functions of the brand.
The brand constitutes that element that stamps a product, according to this the brand fulfills a series of functions that has to do with the experiences of the consumer, these functions are:
Identification: the brand fulfills an identifying function, allows to denote a product with a set of attributes and specific functions of the same, carries within itself an informative condensation of what is offered. For example, the Juan Valdez brand awakens feelings of a high-quality product at an international level, with its own nationality, youth, innovation, quality and evokes a specific group of people who are part of the “coffee culture”.
Structuring: The brand makes it easier to find a type of product, specifies and helps to categorize products guiding the consumer to their purchase, a clear example of this can be the function of the purine brand that leads directly to pet food and there is You can find different types of prices, type of pet, type of food, diet orientation and type of prices.
Guarantee: The brand helps and supports the product by generating confidence for the commercialization and consumption of this, the security that the consumer finds in a brand is given by the level of quality, trust and support that it has generated over time, not We could buy a sony digital camera without detaching the brand from the support and guarantee that we may have from it, if we are talking about buying a Jean Levi's, we are talking about a garment that guarantees us a longer duration.
Personalization: The consumer identifies himself in the brand, this generates a link that makes the consumer discover a world from the hand of the brand, identifying it in their environment and defining it in a segment helping to define themselves, a consumer changes a lot if they were wearing A suit versa, that personification leads you to seek to study at the best HBS university or to have a Mac, ipod, iphone and the entire “i” community.
Playful: the consumer likes to be entertained and within the functions of the brand is its orientation to offer entertainment characters and spaces for the consumer to believe in the game of choosing the brand, Danonino, Alpinito, Pets Sociality, offer playful elements in your brands.
Practicality: The consumer must remember the brand as easily as possible, we could not put aside the brand at the time of choice and that it better be easy to remember, think about, and recommend, the more practical the higher the level. word of mouth that I can achieve.
Positioning: The brand positioning function allows the product to show basic and differential elements that help it occupy a space in the consumer's mind.
Differentiation: Nowadays, more and more products appear than this, what it does is that the brand plays a differentiating role, separating it from others or from the perceptions that consumers may have of other similar products.
Capitalization: if there is any doubt, the brand constitutes a fundamental asset in the organization and is part of its “asset”, even if it is not accepted for accounting purposes, a clear example is Coca-Cola, the most expensive brand in the world, or the great players in the world. world like Cristiano Ronaldo, a mark of 84 million euros.
The Link Segmentation Model, explain:
- The contributions it makes to traditional segmentation methods.
Link segmentation makes the grouping criterion firmer at the time of dividing and identifying a segment, not only by hard variables but by variables that take more into account the decision process and consumer behavior, as well as mentioning the relationship Symbol object is grouped into characteristics of symbiosis and discriminant of a consumer in relation to a product.
- The characteristics of the bond and the psychological mechanisms on which the model is configured.
Within the linking segmentation process, there is a link in an axis that approaches or moves away from two variables, symbiosis and discrimination, which can be explained as a relationship of opposition and correspondence that characterizes them.
In the symbiotic pole, the subject joins the products, merges with them and there places an affective charge, keeps a passion determined by the product, an example is the garment that is cared for with suspicion and that could be said to be the Favorite, in this example there is a marked relationship between the subject and the object so much to say that it is part of it.
The other pole is what it expresses is a situation where the subject is detached from a close relationship and with a strong affective load, there the article becomes almost something functional and of less importance, in relation to this as human beings we place ourselves more at one or other end on this axis.
- The general structure of the model, its elements and its main characteristics.
The model starts at an empirical level that shows a consumer-product relationship or link
| Consumer |
| Other |
| Image |
| Subject |
| Product |
Then it goes to an explanatory level where a link is created between the subject and another that is mediated by the product and this relationship becomes tangible with the image of the product and the brand.
| Product |
Finally, it has an applicative level that generates the link segmentation model in the four links: a community link, example Quilmes, a maternal-affiliate link, example traditional Colgate, a symbolist link, example Lacoste and a rational link, example the new Clear shampoo.
"If something defines desire, it is that it is impossible to satisfy"
| discrimination
Subject and object separate |
| Symbologist link |
| mythical |
| transitional |
| Rationalist Bond |
| Community link |
| Mother-child bond |
| Significant
Social |
| Individual
Meaning |
| Symbiosis
Subject and object |
The main characteristics of each of the elements of the Mark Symbology.
Brands are fed by elements that interact and form very strong icons in the semiotic expression of objects seen as products, when acquiring a certain symbolic value, in the case of brand symbology, three elements work that have a consistency for an optimal significance.
| Symbol |
| Logo |
| Chromatism |
For this case I will take the example of a company in the city of La Plata that offers education services and that I am advising called ACE® Central Academy of Education, I will show the previous situation of their trademark symbols and what I develop for them.
Logo: the logo of this institution was left the same, it is constituted as an acronym that is ACE, which are the first letters of the name of the institution, coincidentally these acronyms are easy to pronounce and seem like an anagram still having the property of being an acronym and It is accompanied by the full name as it is Central Academy of Education, this graphically is coined with Arial typeface to make it fully mark. It is a fully legible element and due to its short nature it is easy to memorize.
Symbol: In the case of ACE, the symbol is a "protected symbol" that is a key differentiating element because it facilitates communication and reflects a series of elements intrinsic to the origin of the company and its geographical location, with the symbol being simulates the map of the city of La Plata, which is a perfect square and there you can see the entrances of the main avenues in the case of 7 and 51, the letter C which is the center of the acronym ACE, is located precisely in the center of the scale map and even more so the location of the headquarters of the Academy is on Calle 54 between 7 and 8, that is, in the center of the city. The ACE symbol is an element in the form of a geometric figure that directly represents the geographical location and gives solidity to the concept of education that is the good offered.
| Product | Educational services |
| Attribute to transmit | Quality |
| Name | Central Academy of Education ACE |
| Color | Blue 100 -70 |
| Symbol | Square (La Plata map) |
Color: initially the color of ACE was not in accordance with the values to offer or its attribute to be transmitted, what was done was to put Royal Blue in 100/70 that evokes a thought of Quality and is a pure color, accompanied by white spaces of the letters and internal lines of the geometric figure.
In brand development, the slogan has not yet been created since we are in the final process of developing this work.
But being consistent with my experience developed as a marketing director, in Colombia in my last position I carried out a brand development and we went from:
Before
The slogan was: We are art and technology
Now
The slogan that I defined from the marketing direction was: We are Art, Science and Technology integrating the three concepts towards what is offered, which is education.
Starting from the concept of Brand Identity, explanation:
- The dimensions of the genesis of identity and its main characteristics.
The genesis shows the characteristics that the product originally had and the brand and product relationship play a role in the dimensions of:
Category seen as the fundamental purpose of the example product Good Year as tires or Rexona as deodorants.
Product services are the physical or symbolic attributes that characterize the example product. American Express has the fastest replacement service in just 24 hours in the country where it is located.
Quality, it is difficult to talk about quality without separating what the product does by exceeding customer expectations, which would be Sony without its quality brand identity or the case of Nokia and its quality technology in cell phones such as the 5125 or the 1100.
Consumption is seen as a specific situation that shows a brand construction, example case of Scott's emulsion, recommended product for healthy use.
Customer is molded by the brand identity that changes many times according to the type of customer being addressed, as is the case with Winnie with her diapers, specifically showing young parents.
Origin, origin seen as the point of departure and creation of that product, if it is a Juan Valdez coffee, it definitely has the stamp of being Colombian.
The organization shows the support that this imprint can give to the brand and the brand constitutes a personality that finally mixes and reflects to people what that brand would be if it were a person in a certain way.
- The elements of the anatomy of identity and its main characteristics.
The elements are:
Essence: the essence is fundamentally formed as the thought that expresses the brand in every sense, that final touch that gives an idealization and contextualization of everything that is to be expressed "the soul of the brand."
Attractive: attractiveness is seen as giving those benefits that help to solve the needs and desires that the market has, seen in the development of the first point as the Insigth
Benefits: they are described as the areas in which the brand solves problems or offers improvements in relation to consumer needs, the benefits can be functional, emotional or sensory and economic, an expensive brand is not the same as an expensive brand. Price has a correlation with the benefits and values it offers.
Distinctive: they are elements that allow to show the reason why the target chooses the brand, it is the characteristic by which the consumer must definitely with elements that give them strength, distinguish a brand.
Private Labels, explanation:
- The origin and causes of its evolution in the markets.
Private brands started with a phenomenon marked in the 90's but they really originated much earlier with brands like Saint Michel that did not get suppliers as they wanted in the 60's, supermarkets and businesses offered multiple brands to their customers and after the oil crisis in the 70's, free brands or white brands appear that are aimed at segments of people with fewer resources and intellectuals in opposition to the excesses of marketing, and in the middle of the 80's Carrefour appears with its own brands With different modalities they mark what were fundamental causes such as:
Evolution of the Channel: in the evolution of the channels, the greater contact with the client is marked notably and the entire communication industry develops, that is when the channels develop their own brands that provide services at lower prices, protect profitability since They manage the margin much easier, this also serves to position themselves before clients with differential brands and consolidate the negotiating power against large brands.
Evolution of the Offer: the large number of products put on the market definitely cause a war to be generated in the gondolas, since supermarkets have the power of the exhibition, they make producers and distributors make merchandising agreements.
Consumer evolution: consumers start to have a more rational price behavior in the consumption of wish satisfiers such as cosmetics, food, food and household appliances.
Customer evolution: as distributors had a series of much more loyal customers, they took the opportunity to strengthen their private brands with the same work of positioning their channel.
- The different types of "own" brands and their main characteristics. Cite examples.
Brands First Series
The first series brands are brands created by the channels with highly prestigious and superior quality characteristics, they are products with low levels of R&D costs, the example of this in Colombia is the Aritek brand of Almacenes ÉXITO SA that sells garments of dress first line and great design and innovation.
Brand Flag
The flagship brand reflects the positioning insignia that the channel has and offers that support is identifiable and is developed under a concept of quality and low price, always being below the price of the big brands, the example is the Carrefour flag brand (brand 1) as it is called in Colombia.
Brand Me-Too
The Me-Too brands emerge as a “copy” of a great brand, which saves the channel advertising and R&D costs.
White marks
They are products that are based on a generic article which lacks any trademark symbolism, in this case the consumer is aware of the quality of the product.
Imitation Brands
They are products that imitate the big brands but through a symbology allow them to have a first price, these unlike the Me-Too brands do not seek to confuse if not to imitate the big brands.
Pure Brands
They are brands that the distribution channel creates and behaves like a true manufacturer putting its own brands on the shelves with various names according to each line or product category, what differentiates the pure brand is that it offers many options and makes the customers do not know who owns the brand.
| Quality / Packaging | Copy | Differentiation |
| Good quality | Pure brands | First series brands |
| Similar quality | Brands Me-Too | Flag brands |
| Inferior quality | Imitation brands | White marks |
