"positioning" According to Ries trout

上一篇 / 下一篇 2007-01-12 09:54:55

The word positioning was popularized by two advertising executives,AL Ries and Jack Trout.They see positioning as a creative exercise done with an existing product:
Positioning starts with a product,a piece of merchandise,a service a company,an institution,or even a person...But positioning is not what you do to a product.That is,you position the product in the mind of the prospect.
Ries and Trout argue that well known products generally have a distinctive position in consumers's minds.Thus Hertz is thought of as the world's largest auto rental agency,Coca-Cola as the world's largest soft drink company,Porsche as one of the world's best sprots cars,and so on.These brands own those positions and it would be hard for a competitor to steal them.A competitor has only three strategy options.The first strategy is to strenthen its own current position in the consumer's mind.Thus Avis took its second position in the auto rental business and made a strong point about it:"We're number two.We try harder."And 7-UP capitalizes on the fact that it is not a cola soft drink by advertising itself as the Uncola.
The second strategy is to search for and grab a new unoccupied position that is valued by enough consumers.Thus the Three Nusketeers chocolate bar began advertising itself as having 45% less fat than most of the other chocolate bars on the market.United Jersey Bank was searching for a way to compete against the giant New York Banks such as Citibank and Chase.Its marketers noticed that giant banks were usually slower in arranging loans.They positioned United Jersey as "the fast-moving bank".
The third strategy is to deposit or redistribute the competition.Most U.S. buyers of dinnerware thought that Lenox and Roval Doulton china both come from England.Royal Doulton put out ads showing that Lenox china is made in New Jersey,but that Royal Doulton comes from England.In a similar vein,Stolichnaya vodka attracked Smirnoff and Wolfschidt vodka by pointing out that these brands are made,respectively,in Hartford(Connecticut) and Lawrenceburg(Indiana),but "Stolichnaya is different.It is Russian."Wendy's famous commercial.Where a 70-year-old woman named Clara looks at a competitor's hamburger and says"Where's the beef?" showed how an attack could destabilize the consumer's confidence in the leader.
Ries and Trout outline how similar brand can acquire some distinctiveness in a society in which there is so much advertising that consumers screen out most of the message.A consumer may know only about seven soft drinks even though there are many more on the market.Even then,the mind often knows them in the form of a product ladder,such as Coke/Pepci/RC Cola or Hertz/Avis/National.The top firm is remembered best.The second firm may achieve only half the sales volume of the first firm,and the third firm may achieve half the sales volume of the second firm.
People tend to remember number one.For example,when asked,"Who was the first person to successfully fly alone over the Atlantic Ocen?"We will answer"Charles Lindergh".When asked,"Who was the second person to do it?"We draw a blank.This is why companies fight for the number one position.Ries and Trout point out that the "largest in the total market" position can be held by only one small sprots car,and Dial is the number one deodorant soap.The marketer should identify an important attribute or benefit that a brand can convincingly own.
A fourth strategy,not mentioned by Ries and Trout,is the exclusive-club strategy.It can be developed by a company when a number one position along some meaningful attribute cannot be achieve.For example,a company can promote the idea that it is one of the Big Three idea was invented by the 3rd largest auto firms,Chrysler.(The market leader never invents this concept.)The implication is that those in the club are the "best".
Ries and Trout essentially deal with communication strategies for positioning or repositioning a brand in the consumer's mind.Yet they would add that positioning requires the company to work up every tangible aspect of product,price,place,and promotion to support the chosen positioning strategy.