Typologies of Brand Positioning
According to Blankson & Kalafatis, there are 8 identifiable categories you should consider when positioning your brand… We’ve added a 9th. For the purpose of this discussion we will site real world examples of these traits based in the automobile industry.
TOP OF RANGE: Prestige, Upper Class
Here’s the tactic > If you have a product or service that you want to make expensive, then don’t hide it’s cost. Instead tell the consumer it’s expensive and tell them that they worked hard for the money, now they deserve something better.
Cadillac is one of many automobile brands that serve this up on a silver platter. An example of Cadillac’s brand message reads,” The moment you take possession of a Cadillac, you become part of an elite group, entitled to extraordinary privileges.”
One of those privileges is a service called OnStar. Truth be told, you needn’t spend $50k on a Caddy to experience the privilege of OnStar. In fact, you can get OnStar in a $18k Saturn Ion.
Non-Automotive: Rolex, Ralph Lauren
SERVICE: Personal, Friendly
Customers are sick and tired of unfriendly, ineffective customer service coupled with insanely long hold times. If you think you can gain an edge on the competition by offering more effective, faster, friendlier customer service than do so; but you better make sure that it is fast and friendly 100% of the time or your positioning will work against you.
Hmmm… speaking of OnStar, why is it that OnStar offers a service that no other company offers yet they chose to focus their marketing efforts on the fast and friendly aspects? The answer is simple. They offer a service that no one else offers. Everyone knows it, why waste money reiterating it? Instead they play the audio from their incoming calls to show you how fast, friendly and effectual they really are and they get twice the bang for the buck. Brilliant.
Non-Automotive: Best Buy, Orkin
VALUE: Affordable, Reasonable
Kia decides to take the opposite approach of Cadillac. “You can get all this stuff for under $16k!!!” Basically, the idea is older than dirt but still works. “We’re the cheapest so buy from us.” This approach is the gut-instinct line of attack for 90% of all new, small business owners.
Let’s face it; if you have no imagination and your product is so-so, the only thing you have left is to make it the least expensive. Interestingly enough, this approach still works. Why? Because consumers are cheap. Always have been – always will be.
Non-Automotive: McDonald’s, NetZero
RELIABILITY: Consistent, Safe, Durable
I can just imagine the meeting at Volvo headquarters > “OK, OK, OK, so all the attractive, expensive, value-packed car brands are taken. What to do? Oh, I know; let’s make our cars the safest. They aren’t cheap, but they aren’t expensive. They certainly aren’t attractive at all. Sooooo… let’s show them crashing into walls and the dummies will still be in one piece. We can launch an ad campaign based on a mother’s instinct to protect her children and she’ll nag the husband into buying our car because it’s the safest. Yeah, that’s the ticket.”
Non-Automotive: Energizer, EarthLink
ATTRACTIVE: Aesthetically elegant or cool
Scion has been the most recent company (along with Mini) to capture its audience by using “cool” as an excuse to buy. You can customize your Scion to be “totally rad, man!”
It doesn’t matter if it has a tremendous amount of road noise, thin tires, and a chincey suspension; as long as it looks cool. On the other hand, Mini’s are made very solid yet they still have chosen the cool or aesthetically pleasing angle. Why? Because young, hip people have money and are easily influenced by “cool”. And quite frankly, our older generation wants to be younger-looking so they buy products that are being marketed to younger audiences. Another two-fer, brilliant.
Non-Automotive: iPod, Wild Turkey
ORIGIN: Patriotic, Known for product
Well, this is the big one right? Or should we say the Big 3 – Ford, Chevy, GM. They all claim to be “Made In America” even though you are more likely to have your Hyundai made by Americans than your Chevy. It doesn’t matter what the truth is; the “Big 3″ will continue to wave American flags throughout their commercials until the end of time. Why? Because it still works.
Also, for a long time American consumers thought that if they wanted luxury, they needed a German car – if they wanted efficiency, they needed a Japanese car. Origin works only after a precedent is set. Then often times your competition will spend loads of time and money, undoing the precedent.
Non-Automotive: Wal-Mart, Smirnoff, Riccola
NAME: Memorable, Interlocked with Product
Mini means small, Jeep means… um, well… Jeep! During the 80’s, there was an explosion of Jeep imitators on the scene. If you owned a Suzuki Sidekick, chances are that you heard the following, “Hey, nice Jeep. Where did you get it?” A Volkswagen Beetle is a Bug or a Slugbug or a Beetle but the name is synonymous with the product.
Admittedly, this is more prevalent in other industries. You don’t ask for a tissue – you ask for a “Kleenex”. You don’t make a photocopy – you “Xerox” it. But as we stated earlier; we’re trying to focus on the automotive industry. Oh! I just thought of one… You don’t have roadside assistance communicator, you have “OnStar”. Whew.
Non-Automotive: Coke, Subway, LazyBoy, Google, eBay
SELECTIVITY: Discriminatory, High Principles
In a way, BMW, Mercedes and of luxury car manufactures have eluded to this subject. I mean, not just anybody can own a Beemer right? Prestige, elitism and selectivity usually go hand in hand.
Non-Automotive: Harvard (or any Ivy League school)
And now for our addition to the list…
Sore Thumb: Different, unusual, opposite
GM makes a vehicle, I’m sure you know of it, it’s called a Hummer. Is the Hummer better in safety, performance, features, or value than any other vehicle in its class? No. But because it’s different, the perceived value of the brand is higher than the actual value. Which in turn, adds more value. Odd, isn’t it. Same goes with the Viper, Corvette, Cadillac Escalade, Jeep Wrangler, the list goes on.
As far as opposites go, in other industries you have:
- Virgin Airlines – Virgin means new, inexperienced. Is this what you want in a pilot? Of course not, but it was so different that it put them in the spotlight and made them the preferred carrier of movie stars and rock idols.
- Caterpillar – A caterpillar is a weak, squishy worm-like insect. Is that what you want in a powerful earth-moving machine? They also eat and destroy crops; a natural enemy of the American farmer.
So you see, sometimes gimmicks like being different or even opposite can not only launch your brand into the stratosphere of the consumer paradigm; it can also affect the overall personality of the company itself.
