Positioning

In the book POSITIONING : The Battle for your Mind by Al Ries and Jack Trout there is a statement which I like most "Positioning is not what you do to a product. Positioning is what you do to the MIND of the prospect"


How true the statement is. In the course of working with clients, many of us who are in the ad industry are often faced with some clients who are myopic in this thinking concept.

More often than ever, clients will generally go all out to to further develop their products, conduct all kinds of market research, develop new packaging designs and to some extend change the product itself with some cosmetic changes. Of course such measures may be good if the product or brand life cycle is on the decline that needed a big boost to hold on to market share but then again, marketers need to take into considerations the other aspects of the marketing spectrum.

Positioning is not just about creating nice words and tagline for the brand alone, it has to deliver the brand core and essence that is succinct, relevant and compelling to the targets. Any clever manufacturing of nice and bombastic words to define the brand will definitely turn to disaster for the brand.

More importantly, the positioning has to carry the brand truth where the manufacturer have to deliver what the brand promises in their communications campaign.