Positioning

4.5

Marketing Applications

Positioning

Fixing company products in the Minds of Consumers

All about “perception”

Relative to competitor products

Positioning:

The fixing your sports or entertainment entity in the minds of consumers in the target market

4.5

Marketing Applications

PositioningPositioning is About Perception

In an effort to position its product as beverage that is as effective as traditional sports drinks in replenishing fluids after a workout, Vita Coco Coconut Water signed Major League Baseball star Josh Hamilton to endorse its brand in 2012 along with an announcement on the eve of the kick-off of the 2012-13 NFL season that they signed four NFL players ( Vernon Davis, Larry Fitzgerald, Eric Decker, and Devin Hester) as ambassadors for the brand

4.5

Marketing Applications

Positioning

Positioning also refers to the place the product occupies in

consumers’ minds relative to competing products

4.5

Marketing Applications

PositioningPositioning is important to all sports and

entertainment products

Sports leagues (NFL vs. Arena Football League)

Sports teams (The Los Angeles Lakers in the 1980’s as “Showtime”)

Sporting goods (Under Armour as comfortable performance apparel)

4.5

Marketing Applications

PositioningPositioning is important to all sports and

entertainment products Sports drinks (Gatorade as a performance beverage)

Movie studios (Pixar as a leader in animated films)

Entertainers (Sylvester Stallone, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Bruce Willis and as iconic action film stars)

4.5

Marketing Applications

PositioningPositioning is important to all sports and

entertainment products

Entertainment products (DVD vs. Blu-Ray)

Facilities and venues (Premium seating vs. general seating)

4.5

Marketing Applications

High (variable one)

Low (variable one)

Low (variable two)

High (variable two)

Product A

Product B

Product C

Product D

http://www.marketingteacher.com/Lessons/lesson_positioning.htm

Positioning Map:

Products or services are grouped together on a positioning map

Products or services are compared and contrasted in relation to one another

Marketers must determine a position that distinguishes their own products and services from competitor products and services

4.5

Marketing Applications

High Price

Client Entertaining

Lower level seats for Disney on Ice

Luxury suite at an NFL game

“Cheap Seats” at a minor league baseball game

Night at the movies

Family Fun

Low Price

Club seats at an NBA game

Ticket Sales PositioningMap

4.5

Marketing Applications

High Price

Top Row Corners

Mid/Upper Level Sidelines

Upper Level Seats

Low Price

Lower Level End Zones

Courtside Seats

Lower Level Seats

4.5

Marketing Applications

Positioning StrategyIdentify all possible competitive advantages

Could include:Products, services, channels, people or image can be sources of differentiation

Organizations often position their products relative to competitor Weaknesses (5-hour energy)

LESSON 4.5

Marketing Applications

Positioning StrategyChoose the right competitive advantage

1) How many differences to promote?

2) Unique selling proposition (5-hour energy)

4.5

Marketing Applications

Positioning5-hour Energy Drink focuses on its small packaging size and claims to provide a long lasting energy boost without the “usual jitters associated with energy drinks.” These purported features are intended to provide the competitive advantage necessary for distinguishing this energy drink from the many competitors on the market.

Click here to view the latest endorsement from legendary pro athlete, Bo Jackson

4.5

Marketing Applications

Positioning StrategyPositioning errors to avoid

1) Which differences to promote?

2) Are the differences legitimate?

4.5

Marketing Applications

Positioning

In 2012, Skechers paid $40 million in deceptive advertising charges to settle a claim made by the Federal Trade Commission that the footwear company’s assertion that its Shape-ups shoes would help people lose weight and strengthen muscles was unfounded

4.5

Marketing Applications

Product Differentiation

Product Differentiation:

Refers to a positioning strategy that some firms use to distinguish their products from those of competitors

Kentwool (a 168-year-old company known for selling upscale niche clothing) recently introduced a $25 pair of golf socks to the marketplace, positioning the product as “performance” apparel for the golf aficionado

4.5

Marketing Applications

In an interview with CNBC’s Darren Rovell, Kentwool CEO Mark Kent explains: "Ninety-five percent of all socks are fashion based. Five percent are performance based. We basically set out to put ourselves in the top one percentile of that five percent to make the highest performing sock in any market segment. So to differentiate yourself you have to become in layman's terms the Ferrari of the market, you have to be the fastest car on the street or the best performing sock in the marketplace."

4.5

Marketing Applications

A private golf course may be suffering slumping membership sales.

Management may choose to open up the course to the public, which will ultimately require a well planned re-positioning strategy

Re-Positioning

Re-Positioning:

A marketer’s plan for changing consumers’ perceptions of a brand in comparison to competing brands

4.5

Marketing Applications

Re-positioning involves identifying who the new target market is and a strategy for creating awareness and demand within that market

Part of the re-positioning effort in this case would require sending a message to the target market that the club is affordable by public standards

Re-Positioning

4.5

Marketing Applications

Slogan might be “Enjoy the benefits of a private club at public course rates!”

Re-Positioning

4.5

Marketing Applications

Chocolate Milk has adopted a re-positioning strategy in its efforts to communicate the product’s benefits as a post-workout recovery drink to fitness-minded consumers via its 2012 “My After ” campaign

Re-Positioning