Juan Chen

Brand marketing

Bob Mullenbach

4 November 2008

Brand Positioning

There are three questions me must answer before we do brand positioning: 1) Who is the target of this brand or who we trying to get to buy our product? 2) What goals do we have for the brand’s size and position in the market? and 3) How will our brand dominate other brands or how is our brand different from other brands? I would like to talk about point of difference between brands.

After I read the paper, I discovered difference is so important to every brand. If a brand wants be known by people, there must be something different from the competing brands, it can help people to reorganize the brand from all the similar ones.

Here are some way to make brand position different:

1) The function of positioning. Most customs care about the function of a brand. If a brand can have a special function ,people can buy it when they need this function, or the target people know to buy it. For example: there are many kind of shampoo. Some can make hair healthy, some can make hair looks shiny, while some have anti-dandruff ingredients. When people choose the shampoo, they get the function of the shampoo they need;

2) Emotional positioning. People have so many emotions, If a brand a evokes these emotion or touchs people's hearts, it will make customs agree with the brand, recognize the brand and, finally, become a loyal customer. For example, I still remember an advertisement of NICE brand(纳爱斯A Chinese laundry detergent manufacturer). The ads were about a boy who saw that his mom was helping grandma wash their clothes. Then he tried to help his mom. He said, "Mom, I can help you!” It is so touching for Chinese, because people know parents are the best teachers for children, and many people were glad to see children show filial respect to their parents. NICE touched people's hearts and became very successful in the Chinese marketplace; and

3) Consumer group positioning. This positioning is focused on a special group of people, and attempts to satisfy these people. It is important to make sure that customer has the feeling of belonging. For example: American Girl Place focuses on making products for girls, specifically historical dolls and dolls that look like their owners. A little girl can have historical dolls as diverse as Kaya, a Native American Doll with black eyes, brown skin and braids or the blond-haired, blue-eyed Kit who survived the depression. There are also more than 20 dolls with eye colors and hair colors that match their own. A little girl can feel like no matter what her race or ethnicity, that she is an American Girl.

There are many more way to position a product; quality, price and service. If a brand wants to be known, it must create differences when positioning.