In
the last article we covered Brand Identity, the first strategy in branding
strategy. The next step is Brand Positioning.
"Positioning is not what you do to a product; positioning
is
what you do to the mind of the prospect."
- Al Ries and Jack Trout,
founders of “positioning”
Positioning
is the process of putting the image of a company or a brand into the mind of
the target customer. Positioning mirrors the “place” where the brand stands in
a marketplace. In the simplest term, brand positioning is the act of making the
target customer to think how you want them to think of your product. For
example, Starbucks drinkers’ are hip and urban. BMW reflects luxury while Apple
is positioned as the go-to brand for the computer-savvy.
Brand
positioning is not only limited to advertisements only. It encompasses the
whole brand image and brand culture that are built from within a company.
Having a strong brand position is important and your company must consistently
reflect the image you intend to portray in the market. Your positioning won’t
be successful if you’re trying to aim for the high-end market but selling less
than high-end products.
To
have a successful brand positioning, get the right brand culture that really
defines your company. If your company is fun and exciting, your brand must be
equally fun and exciting. If the company is a serious one, then the brand you
create must accurately reflect the serious culture. Consumers can be made to
believe. Therefore, having a strong, consistent brand positioning will make
your target consumers believe you because your company portrays what have been promised
in the market.
A
successful brand positioning is also both differentiated and important to
consumers. A successful brand must be able to solve the target market’s problem
while portrays itself as a “wanted” brand. So for the examples above, Starbucks
quenches the thirst while making its drinkers look cool and trendy. BMW is an
automobile made for the rich and Apple is a computer brand but its consumers
are seen as up to date and computer-savvy.
One
easy way to position your brand is getting into the target's costumer’s mind
first. The successful brands are always the first in a particular category. For
example, Xerox is the first copier, Kodak invents the first film rolls while
Disney produced the first sound and colour animated films. In brand positioning, it is always better to be the first than to be the best. By
being the first in the category, your brand will be differentiated and unique
to capture the mind of the consumer, therefore enabling you to cut through the
noise level of other brands.
However,
not all brands can be the first in its category. So if a brand is not number
one, the brand must relate itself to the number one brand. For example, when
German beer company Beck’s Beer wanted to sell in America, its rival Lowenbrau
was already the most popular German beer there. So Beck’s Beer creatively positioned
its brand with the following advertisement,
“You’ve
tasted the German beer that’s most popular in America.
Now
taste the German beer that’s the most popular in Germany.”
The
basic idea in brand positioning is not creating something new or unique, but to
manipulate what’s already in the prospect’s mind. By associating itself with
the most popular German beer in America, prospects of Beck’s Beer would think
that Beck’s Beer is as popular or probably even better than Lowenbrau since the
German beer is the most popular in Germany.
"You
concentrate on the perceptions of the prospect, not the reality of the
product."
- Ries
& Trout
BRAND REVIEW: AirAsia
As
an example we’ll be discussing how AirAsia positions its brand as the leading
low-cost carrier in the Asian region and review their positioning strategy as
the No. 1 airline choice for the masses.
As mentioned earlier, brand positioning is based on being the first in a particular category. If another brand already fills the slot as the first in that category, then the company must redefine themselves in another new category to be differentiated. In the airline industry, this new category usually tends to passenger comfort, quality service, or in AirAsia's case, cheap flight fares. The success of the brand positioning depends on the effectiveness of advertising in nailing the perceptions into the minds of prospects.
AirAsia was established in 1993 and began its operations in 1996. In December 2001, the heavily-indebted airline was bought by former Time Warner executive Tony Fernandes' company Tune Air Sdn Bhd for a sum of RM1 with RM40 million worth of debts. During that time, the main rival was the prestigious Malaysian Airlines.
CEO Tony Fernandes turned the company around and quickly positioned AirAsia as the first low-cost carrier in Asia. The company introduced cheap flight fares and economy class for the whole flights. AirAsia began to advertise their promotional rates as low as RM1 and consequently introduced their popular AirAsia Zero Fare Promotion. Through social media, such as Facebook and Twitter, news of free flights spread like fire and AirAsia began to receive attention. Since Malaysian Airlines was already the first in the airline category, AirAsia cheekily associated themselves with its rival with this catchy advertisement in 2006,
"Why pay for frills when you can fly with amazing low fares?
At AirAsia, no one gets treated like a second-class citizen. For a few Ringgit, you'll get a comfy leather seat and a fun and friendly crew who treats you the way you like to be treated. It's so easy to book and you can even choose to sit anywhere you like!
It's no wonder more than 20 million guests have embraced the AirAsia experience."
This advertisement alone silmutaneously touched on AirAsia's fun and friendly brand image, positioned itself as a no frills, low-cost airline and with 20 million guests, it is THE wanted airline of choice. It also poked fun at Malaysia Airlines' first class seating and relatively pricier fares.
The key to AirAsia's successful brand positioning is that AirAsia understands it no longer sells a product, but consumers are the ones who want to buy them. AirAsia's low-cost strategy successfully appeals to the masses. Within one year since the buy-out from Fernandes, AirAsia produced profits in 2002 and has since launched subsidiary companies such as Thai AirAsia, Indonesia AirAsia, AirAsia India, AirAsia Japan, AirAsia Philippines and AirAsia X, which operates AirAsia's international flights.
References
