Brand Building

Lecture 2:
Brand Image & Positioning

Vladimir Melnyk
 Conclusion on Brand Equity and Business
Performance
• Brand equity is a company-based and customer-based concept.

• Brand equity has a strong influence on business performance.

Strong brands are exciting, motivate employees, and receive the
consumers’s attention. Strong brands produce competitive
advantage.

• Marketing/brand managers must build brand image and

maintain brand image; the result is an “asset” called brand
equity.
1. Brand image
 CBBE Framework

Non-Product-Related
Brand
(e.g., Price, Packaging,
Recognition User and Usage Imagery)
Brand
Awareness
Brand Attributes
Recall Product-Related
(e.g., color, size,
design features)
Brand
Knowledge
Types of
Brand Associations Benefits Functional
Brand
Image Symbolic
Favorability,
Overall
Strength, and
Evaluation Experiential
Uniqueness of
(Attitude)
Brand Association
 Brand Equity is Based on
Brand Knowledge and Associations in
Consumers’ Minds:
Brand Image
 Discussion Question

➢ What is brand image?

 The Brand is in the Mind of the Customer

▪ What do I know about it?

▪ What do I feel towards it?

▪ What was it like to use?

And it does not always match with your intentions as a marketer

How consumers see brands
 Strong Brand Images

• Strong brand images come from product

characteristics, company image, brand personalities,
symbols, etc…

• Everything a company does (production, finance,

human resources, marketing) can be and often is
reflected in a brand image.
Keller (2013). Criteria for Choosing Brand Elements
 Brand Identity Prism
• Brand Identity was mentioned for the first time in Europe by Kapferer in 1986.
• It is the outward expression of the brand including its name, trademark,
communications and visual appearance.
• The brand’s identity is its fundamental means of consumer recognition and
symbolizes the brand’s differentiation from competitors.
 Brand Identity Prism
Professor Jean-Noël Kapferer represents brand identity diagrammatically as a six
sided prism:
Brand identity vs. Brand image
 Economics
Marketing drives the brand

Marketing
Company Consumer
Mix

Source: Heding, Knudtzen and Bjerre 2016, p.31

 Identity
Companies like people, could have identities

Brand
Company Stakeholder
Identity

Source: Heding, Knudtzen and Bjerre 2016, p.52

 LEGO Stakeholder Alignment

Shareholders
Best in industry
Society&env Customers
sustainable value
Responsible, Deliver
creator
trustworthy, and differentiation,
adhering to the high velocity,
principles of and good margin
Global Compact

Employees Business Partners

An exciting, Access to brand
challenging, in a mutually
and value-creating way
Consumers
Rewarding Joy of building and
place to work pride of creation

Source: Hatch and Schultz, 2008, p.152

 Consumer (CBBE) or Mindshare
Uncover consumers’ and communicate back

Step 1
Company Consumer

Step 2
Company Consumer

Source: Heding, Knudtzen and Bjerre 2016, p.105

Levis vs. Diesel
How to build a strong brand
Brand: Identity, Image, Position (Aaker 1996)

Brand Position:
Brand Identity: Brand Image: The part of brand
How the company
How the brand is identity and value
wants the brand to
known by the proposition that is
be known by the
customer communicated to a
customer
target audience
 Discussion Question

➢ How can we build a strong brand image?

 How to Build Strong Brand Images?

1. At the birth of a new brand, state the brand’s core

values or core identity.

2. Choose brand elements wisely.

• Name
• Logo and symbol
• Character
• Slogan
• Jingle
• Package
 How to Build Strong Brand Images?
3. Plan and execute a strong marketing strategy for the
brand.

4. Use consistent brand elements and value positions and

marketing strategy over time.

5. Monitor results and understand the brand’s position

on a value map relative to competitors.
 How to Build Strong Brand Images?
6. Conduct an audit of all your brands, new and old.
– Why have new brands succeeded? Failed?
– What changes need to be made as the brand goes through its life
cycle?
7. Make sure all brands in the company are consistent and
synergistic.
8. Leverage strong brands with brand extensions if core
brand values are reinforced.
9. Monitor brand strength over time. Measure awareness,
value position, brand loyalty, and brand associations.
 Building Strong Brand Images is Difficult

• Pressure to compete on price

• Pressures for short-term results
▪ Buyer learning takes time
 Discussion Question

➢ What can signal a brand image?

 Discussion Question

➢ How can you signal brand?

 How to Signal Brand Images?

• The company is the brand

• A character is the brand
• The product is the brand
• A person is the brand (next lecture)
 Creating Company/Brand Associations

• Must pair the brand and company names.

• Develop a company image position from

– Society and community orientation
– Concern for customers
– Perceived quality of products and services
– Local vs. global orientation
 The Company is the Brand

A brand has image based on its company’s attributes.

Consider service quality:

Singapore Airlines vs. Ryanair

Company is the brand: Ben & Jerry’s
 The Company is the Brand
Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream:
– Donates 7.5% profits to social causes.
– Markets products like “Rain Forest Crunch” using
Brazilian nuts to promote environmental awareness
and fund causes.
– Establishes a few franchises in low income areas
and employs some homeless workers.
– Registers voters at local stores with free ice cream
as inducement.
 How to Signal Brand Images?

• The company is the brand

• A character is the brand
• The product is the brand
• A person is the brand (next lecture)
 Discussion Question

➢ Give examples of characters (mascot) as

brands? And what does it communicate?
 A character
Brand as is aa brand
Character
• Characters can be associated with a brand to give
image and meaning. Examples:
 How to Signal Brand Images?

• The product is the brand

• The company is the brand
• A character is the brand
• A person is the brand
 Value Positioning from Product’s
Price, Quality or Performance
Product or service’s value to buyers depends on relative
“quality”, relative “performance” or relative “price”.

Relative Premium
Price Value
Standard
Value
Economy
Value
Relative Quality or Performance
 Value Proposition Strategy

Value proposition is
the full mix of
benefits upon which a
brand is positioned
 Value Proposition Strategy
More for More
• More for More - providing the most upscale product or service
and charging a higher price to cover the higher costs and also
gives prestige to the buyer.
– Four Seasons hotels, Rolex watches, Mercedes automobiles,
– When Apple premiered its iPhone, it offered higher-quality features
than a traditional high priced mobile phone.
• Although more-for-more can be profitable, this strategy can also
be vulnerable. It often invites imitators who claim the same
quality but at a lower price.
• For example, more-for-more brand Starbucks now faces
“gourmet” coffee competitors ranging from Dunkin’ Donuts to
McDonald’s.
Demand for counterfeit products
…even counterfeit stores
 Value Proposition Strategy
More for the Same
• More for the Same. Companies can attack a competitor’s more-
for-more positioning by introducing a brand offering
comparable quality at a lower price.
– Toyota introduced its Lexus line with a more-for-the-same value
proposition versus Mercedes and BMW. Its first headline read:
“Perhaps the first time in history that trading a $72,000 car for a
$36,000 car could be considered trading up.”
– It communicated the high quality of its new Lexus through rave reviews
in car magazines and a widely distributed video showing side-by-side
comparisons of Lexus and Mercedes automobiles. It published surveys
showing that Lexus dealers were providing customers with better sales
and service experiences than were Mercedes dealerships.
– Many Mercedes owners switched to Lexus, and the Lexus repurchase
rate has been 60 percent, twice the industry average.
 Positioning Strategy
The Same for Less
• The Same for Less. Offering the same for less can be a powerful
value proposition—everyone likes a good deal.
– Discount stores such as Walmart and “category killers” such as Best
Buy, PetSmart, David’s Bridal, and DSW Shoes use this positioning.
– They don’t claim to offer different or better products. Instead, they
offer many of the same brands as department stores and specialty
stores but at deep discounts based on superior purchasing power and
lower-cost operations.
– Other companies develop imitative but lower-priced brands in an effort
to lure customers away from the market leader.
– For example, Amazon.com offers the Kindle Fire tablet computer, which
sells for less than 40 percent of the price of the Apple iPad or Samsung
Galaxy
 Positioning Strategy
Less for Much Less
• Less for Much Less. A market almost always exists for products
that offer less and therefore cost less.
– Few people need, want, or can afford “the very best” in everything
they buy. In many cases, consumers will gladly settle for less than
optimal performance or give up some of the bells and whistles in
exchange for a lower price.
– For example, many travelers seeking lodgings prefer not to pay for
what they consider unnecessary extras, such as a pool, an attached
restaurant, or mints on the pillow. Hotel chains such as Ramada
Limited, Holiday Inn Express, and Motel 6 suspend some of these
amenities and charge less accordingly.
• Less-for-much-less positioning involves meeting consumers’
lower performance or quality requirements at a much lower
price.
 Positioning Strategy
More for Less
• More for Less - the winning value proposition. In short run
some companies can do this.
– Home Depot, when it first opened for business, had arguably the best
product selection, the best service, and the lowest prices compared to
local hardware stores and other home improvement chains.
• Yet in the long run, companies will find it very difficult to sustain
such best-of-both positioning. And usually have to decide
whether it wants to compete primarily on superior service or on
lower prices.
 The Product is the Brand
• Consumers buy the “Promise of Value,” not products
or services.

• Value Proposition: A company statement that

describes benefits received by the brand user.
– It’s the full mix of benefits received by the user on which a
product/brand is positioned
 Value Proposition Example:

“Offer a very large selection of merchandise

at very low prices. Save shopping time.
Provide convenience by selling products 24/7
and by shipping to office or home addresses.”
Value Proposition Example:
 The Product is the Brand

• Products can also produce brand image based on a

country where they are produces.
Segmentation & Targeting
Customer-Driven Branding Strategy:
Creating Value for Target Customers
Customer profiles: Different ways to identify profiles

Non-segmented
market

Segmentation I Segmentation II Segmentation III

 Market Segmentation
Segmenting Consumer Markets
 Discussion Question

➢ How can we evaluate segments? Which criteria?

➢What are the requirements for choosing targeting?
 Requirements for Effective Segmentation
To be useful, market segments must be:
• Measurable: The size, purchasing power, and profiles of the
segments can be measured.
• Accessible: The market segments can be effectively reached
and served.
• Substantial: The market segments are large or profitable
enough to serve.
• Actionable: Effective programs can be designed for attracting
and serving the segments.
• Differentiable: The segments are conceptually distinguishable
and respond differently to different marketing mix elements
and programs.
If men and women respond similarly to marketing efforts for soft drinks,
they do not constitute separate segments.
 Description of segments

Demographics Geography

Behavior Psychographics
 Women like preparation as a theme while
Men engage more when the food is ready to eat and the anticipation of it

Private and Confidental

 Discussion Question

➢Think about Diet Coke? Why there Coke Zero?

 Brand personality – Think about these

Diet coke Coke Zero

Diet coke Coke Zero

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PwYCvTpYMCA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FJud4cv-0vI
 Discussion Question

➢Are there any products that are oriented on

one gender, but could be bought/ used by
other gender?
Pointlessly gendered products
 Bic for Women

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eCyw3prIWhc
 Discussion Question

Segmentation
➢ How would you define segments for Pokemon Go and for Star
Wars?
 SAME
SEGMENT?

▪ Male ▪ Very wealthy

▪ Born in 1948 ▪ Successful in business ▪ Spends Winter vacations
▪ Grew up in England ▪ Married for the second in the Alps
▪ 2 Children time ▪ Likes Dogs
▪ Real estate owner
 Targeting

Segment A
Segment B
Segment C

who to serve and who not to serve

 Identifying market segments and target

• Companies cannot connect with all customer in large, broad, or

diverse market.
• They can divide such markets into groups of consumers and segments
with distinctive needs and wants.
• A company then needs to identify which market segments it can serve
effectively. This decision requires a keen understanding of consumer
behavior and careful strategic thinking about what makes each
segment unique and different.
• Identifying and satifying the right market segments is often key to
marketing success.

Source: Kotler & Keller, chapter 8

 Discussion Question

➢How would describe ESCP MDM target persona?

 Targeting strategies
The number of targets a company serves and the way it serves it/them identify
the specific marketing strategy of the company.
P1 P1 P1
P2 P2 P2

P3 P3 P3

M1 M2 M3 M1 M2 M3 M1 M2 M3

Single-segment Product specialization Market specialization

concentration

P1 P1
P2 P2

P3 P3
P: Product
M1 M2 M3 M1 M2 M3
M: Market Full market coverage
Selective Specialization
• undifferentiated marketing
• different marketing
 Types of targeting strategies
Ladurée – niche targeting strategy

This company is focused on one business and for high-end

pastry consumers. Well-known world-wide for its macarons.
https://www.laduree.com/en_int/
 Types of targeting strategies
Fiat - selective specialization

Fiat produces different types (but not all types) of cars for
different types (but not all types) of customers (from end-
consumers to industrial buyers). .
http://www.fiat.com/com/cars
 Types of targeting strategies
Coca Cola - product specialization

The Coca Cola Company is a specialist in the beverage

market but serves different types of consumers.

http://www.coca-colacompany.com/brands/the-coca-cola-company
 Types of targeting strategies
Bulgari - market specialization

Bulgari targets high-spenders (one market) in the luxury

industry but diversifies its businesses in jewels,
fragrances, hotels, etc.
http://www.bulgari.com/en-us/
 Types of targeting strategies
Amazon and Alibaba - full market coverage

www.amazon.com www.alibaba.com

These companies sell virtually an endless list of

different products to an endless list of different
customers.
Differentiation & Positioning
 Choosing the Right Competitive
Advantage
Difference to promote should be:
• Important: The difference delivers a highly valued benefit to target
buyers.
• Distinctive: Competitors do not offer the difference, or the
company can offer it in a more distinctive way.
• Superior: The difference is superior to other ways that customers
might obtain the same benefit.
• Communicable: The difference is communicable and visible to
buyers.
• Preemptive: Competitors cannot easily copy the difference.
• Affordable: Buyers can afford to pay for the difference.
• Profitable: The company can introduce the difference profitably.
 Choosing a Differentiation and
Positioning Strategy
• To find points of differentiation, marketers must
think through the customer’s entire experience
with the company’s product or service.
• Identifying a set of possible competitive
advantages to build a position by providing
superior value from:

Product differentiation
Service differentiation
Channel differentiation
People differentiation
Image differentiation
 Choosing a Differentiation and
Positioning Strategy
• Product differentiation - brands can be differentiated on
features, performance, or style and design.
– Subway differentiates itself as the healthy fast-food choice.
– Seventh Generation products are “Protecting Planet Home.”

• Services differentiation through speedy, convenient, or careful

delivery.
– First Convenience Bank of Texas offers “Real Hours for Real People”; it is
open seven days a week, including evenings.
– Singapore Airlines sets itself apart through extraordinary customer care
and the grace of its flight attendants. “Everyone expects excellence from
us,” says the international airline. “[So even] in the smallest details of
flight, we rise to each occasion and deliver the Singapore Airlines
experience.”
 Choosing a Differentiation and
Positioning Strategy
• Channel differentiation gain competitive advantage through
the way they design their channel’s coverage, expertise, and
performance.
– Amazon.com set itself apart with its smooth-functioning direct channels.

• People differentiation—hiring and training better people than

their competitors do. People differentiation requires that a
company select its customer-contact people carefully and train
them well.
– Disney World people are known to be friendly and joyful. Each employee
is carefully trained to understand customers and to “make people
happy.”
 Choosing a Differentiation and
Positioning Strategy
• Image differentiation. Brand image should convey a product’s
distinctive benefits and positioning.
– Symbols, such as the McDonald’s golden arches, the colorful Google
logo, the Nike swoosh, or Apple’s “bite mark” logo, can provide strong
company or brand recognition and image differentiation.
– The company might build a brand around a famous person.
– Some companies even become associated with colors, such as Coca-Cola
(red), IBM (blue), or UPS (brown). The chosen symbols, characters, and
other image elements must be communicated through advertising that
conveys the company’s or brand’s personality.
Creativity & Big ideas
!! Execution
START WITH THE
INSIGHT Executional Idea
Building on a strong and
singular foundation helps
consumers and permits agility. Creative platform

Brand purpose/ ideal

Insight
 Discussion Question

➢ There are many definitions for creativity.

➢ What is it for you?
Creativity – “Connecting things”
Creativity – Unexpected
 Febreze® NOTICEables

…it alternates between two complementary scents all day.

10 WIN SUPERPASS
 Discussion Question

➢ What should be THE Big Idea?

➢ What makes an idea Big?
 Generating the major selling idea
• Generating the major selling idea that will resonate, engage, and endear a
brand to the customer

• This is the central underlying, unique creative idea;

• the thinking behind the communication campaign that distinguishes and
differentiates a brand,
• communicates a message about a brand,
• brands it in the mind to the customer, and
• motivates the customer to purchase the product, try the service, talk about it
(like, share) and recommend to others
 Generating the major selling idea

“The major selling idea should emerge as the strongest singular

thing you can say about your product or service. This should be
the claim with the broadest and most meaningful appeal to your
target audience. Once you determine this message, be certain
you can live with it; be sure it stands strong enough to remain the
central issue in every ad and commercial in the campaign.”
Jerome Jeweler, Creative Strategy in Advertising
 Discussion Question

➢ Give some examples of strong “singular thing” about

any brand?
 Generating the major selling idea
Here’s what we are about:
❖We symbolize something (stability, good health, luxury,
prosperity, etc.)
❖We embody something (coolness, family values, energy,
novelty, etc.)
❖This is how much fun we are
❖This is how exciting life can be with our help
❖We have the lifestyle you want
❖You can identity with us
❖We make you laugh
❖We help
❖We work toward solving a social problem
❖We can find a cure for a disease
 Some examples of Big Ideas
• Insight:
Moms can be control freaks and not like or allow their kids to get dirty
• Message:
Let your kids play and get dirty… it’s good for their development… and Omo will
look after the cleaning
• Big Idea: “Dirt is good”

• Insight:
There is a ritual involved in pouring an enjoying a perfect Guinness draught beer
• Message:
A timeless ritual with a rich reward
• Big Idea: “Good things come to those who wait”

• Insight:
When you are a teenager, approaching girls is intimidating
• Message:
Passive seduction… with Axe you will seduce
• Big Idea: “Women will be unable to control their passion”
 Discussion Question

➢ Give examples of real-time marketing?

Real-time marketing
Real-time marketing
Shakira & Watches
 Finally, the goal is to quantify the idea
with the greatest potential for in market success
ENGAGEMENT ASSOCIATIONS MOTIVATION

Did the idea resonate Did the idea create Did the idea make the
with the consumer to positive brand brand more desirable
form deeper associations and and compelling at key
connections? provide richer brand decision moments?
meaning?
Customer-Driven Marketing Strategy:
Creating Value for Target Customers
 Discussion Question

➢How would you sell a shower sponge to

men?
 Setting a frame of reference: Shower sponge
Detailer shower tool
◼ Problem: How to sell a shower sponge to men
◼ Solution: Don’t sell a shower sponge

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HaWc0d7p3aM
 Product Positioning

Positioning is the act of designing a company’s product and

product image to occupy a distinctive place in the target
market’s mind.
 Main focus: Creating customer value
• Targeting aims to identify customers for whom the
company will tailor its offering.
• An offering’s value proposition reflects all benefits
and costs of the offering to target customers.
• Positioning reflects the primary reason for choosing
the offering.
Costs Primary
Benefits
reason

Targeting Value proposition Positioning

 Value proposition and positioning

Value Proposition Positioning

Performance Price
Comfort Fuel efficiency BMW = performance
Safety Maintenance
Reliability

Benefits Costs
 Value proposition and positioning

Value Proposition Positioning

Performance Price
Comfort Fuel efficiency Volvo = safe
Safety Maintenance
Reliability

Benefits Costs
 Establishing a frame of reference

Customer need Competitive offering

(noncomparative frame) (comparative frame)
 Establishing a frame of reference

Frame of Vitamin Water

reference:
Customer
Hydration Nutrients Energy Quench thirst
needs
Competitive
offerings Water Vitamins Red Bull Gatorade
 The perceptual map -

Perceptual map of the Burberry brand, relative to competitors

The perceptual map
Measuring Perceptions of Brand Luxury
Establishing a frame of reference:
Positioning map
Nutrients

Energy
 Establishing a frame of reference:
Positioning map
Price

Portability

◼ Identifying the relevant attributes is key to developing

a meaningful positioning map
 Product Positioning Statement
• A product positioning statement is a strategic driver - a
core item - not just a list of advantages.

• Can be stated as one or more features (what the new

product is).

• Can be stated as a function (how it works).

• Can be stated as one or more benefits (how the user

gains) = Value proposition
 Unique Selling Proposition

Choosing one attribute and aggressively promoting

the product or service as being the best on that
benefit
 Developing a Positioning Statement
• Company and brand positioning should be summed up in a
positioning statement (PS).
• The statement should follow the form: To (target segment and
need) our (brand) is (concept) that (point of difference).
– Evernote: “To busy multitaskers who need help remembering things,
Evernote is digital content management application that makes it easy to
capture and remember moments and ideas from your everyday life using
your computer, phone, tablet, and the Web.”
• PS first states the product’s membership in a category (digital
content management application) and then shows its point of
difference from other members of the category (easily capture
moments and ideas and remember them later).
 Writing a positioning statement
• Goal
– Summarizes marketing strategy to guide tactical decisions
• Example
– Mountain Dew is the soft drink that gives young, active consumers more
energy than any other brand because
it has the highest level of caffeine
• Structure
– Target customers
Targeting
– Reference point
• Customer needs (non-comparative positioning)
• Another offering (comparative positioning)
Positioning
– Primary reason for choosing the offering
 Positioning statement (noncomparative)

…………………………….. is the best ……………………………

(offering) (product category)

for …………………………………………………………………..…
(target customers)

because …………………………………….………………………
(primary reason)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vbewoLyuOMQ
Noncomparative positioning statement:
Aquafina

Aquafina is the best hydration

(offering) (product category)

for thirsty, health-conscious consumers

(target customers)

because it is pure
(primary reason)
 Positioning statement (comparative)

…………………………….. is a better ……………………………

(offering) (product category)

than …………………………………………………………………..
(competitive offering)

for ……………………………………………………………………..
(target customers)

because …………………………………………………………….
(primary reason)
Comparative positioning statement: PŪR

PŪR is a better source of drinking water

(offering) (product category)

than bottled water

(competitive offering)

for thirsty, money-conscious consumers

(target customers)

because it is cheaper
(primary reason)
 Positioning McDonald’s
McGriddle Breakfast Sandwich

Fluffy folded egg, two strips of

crispy bacon, slice of cheese,
on two soft, warm griddle
cakes, with a touch of maple
syrup.
• 420 calories
• 19 grams fat
• 240 mgrams cholesterol
• $2.19
 Positioning McDonald’s
McGriddle Breakfast Sandwich
 Discussion Question

➢ Write a positioning statement for the

McGriddle. Support your statement with a
short discussion explaining your choice.
 Case Question
Mountain Man Brewing Company
Bringing the Brand to Light
1. What is Chris’ goal and strategy to reach that goal?
2. What makes MMBC unique in terms of product,
customers and promotion strategy?
3. Why is MMBC such a strong brand?
4. What has caused MMBC’s decline in spite of its strong
brand?
5. What are the pros and cons for introducing a light beer?
6. Conclusion: Should or shouldn´t MMBC launch the
Mountain Man Light? Explain.