Jimmy's Guide to... Brand Positioning.

I remember one of the things that most confused me when I first started in Marketing was the concept of Brand Positioning.

“ Is it where your brand is positioned on shelf ? “ I asked my older ( and wiser ) marketing colleagues.

“ No, “ they replied. “ That’s not it at all. “

“ So is it on the label ? “ I asked, trying again.

“ Again, no. “ they replied. “ You silly boy. “

I was mystified. Everybody told me that my brand had to have a positioning, a good positioning, a strong positioning, even – but I couldn’t see what it was.

It wasn’t on the back of pack.

It wasn’t in the ingredients list.

It wasn’t even in the advertising.

So what the hell was it ?

Was this another one of the marketer’s mystical tools ? I asked myself.

Was the concept of ‘ brand positioning ‘ just another way to make people think that marketers are wise beyond the comprehension of other mortals ?

Surely if a product was decent, and sold at a fair price, that was all you needed ?

Well, no. Not really.

It started to make more sense to me at Mars. Mars had a very simple way of writing positioning statements:

“ This is an X product, for Y people to do Z. “

There. That’s it. Not reams and reams of writing, or mood boards, or inspirational videos, but one simple line.

But within that one simple line, are contained three really important questions. And the answer to those three questions can shape the future of your entire brand.

I’ll try and explain.

The first part of the equation is “ This is an X product. “

Sounds simple, doesn’t it ? But it forces you to ask yourself perhaps the most important question of all: What is this product ? What is it that I’m actually selling ? Forget all the marketing fluff, and the advertising strap-lines – what are you actually holding in your hand ( if it’s a product ) or asking people to pay money for ( if it’s a service. )

At Mars ( I was working in Petcare at the time, looking after Cesar ) the answer was ‘ high-quality dog food ‘.

At Premier Inn, it was ‘ Cheap Hotels. ‘

At Quorn, it was ‘ Meat-free products made with mycoprotein ‘.

Doesn’t sound that revealing, does it ? So far, so statements-of-the-bleedin’-obvious. But forcing you to think about what you DO make/sell also forces you to think about what you DON’T make or sell. Would/Should Cesar make cheap dog food ? Would/Should Premier Inn diversify into Expensive Hotels ? Could Quorn make products with meat in them ? What would happen to the brands if we did ?

Asking yourself that question also involves asking yourself ‘ What CAN we make/sell ? ‘ Do we have the ability to do other things ? Is it our core capability ? Is it what our consumers would expect from us ? Is it something they could accept us doing ?

There is probably a whole discussion that can be had around this question alone, but for the sake of brevity, let’s move on to the next part of the equation.

Which is, “ for Y people. “

This is effectively about targeting. Who are your core consumers ? And this unlocks a WHOLE different can of worms.

Firstly, don’t assume that your target audience is your current audience. Sometimes it is, sometimes it isn’t. ( When burberry found that their target audience was upmarket toffs, but their current audience was downscale chavs, they found themselves with a massive repositioning job on their hands. Kudos to them, they managed it. )

Also: How big is your target audience ? Are they growing or in decline ? Are they being targeted by other brands ? or other market segments ? How do they feel about your brand ? How easy is it to reach them via communication channels ?

Getting your target audience right is one of the biggest challenges facing any marketer. Again, worthy of a whole separate blog post, and not one I’m going to tackle now.

Instead, I’m going to move on to the last part of the equation: “ To do Z with. “

Think about what your target audience will DO with the product/service you’re pushing at them. What will they use it for ? What outcome will it have for them ? Is it a positive outcome ? ( eg I’ve just eaten something tasty ) or just removal of a negative outcome ( ie no longer hungry ) Is the benefit for them a physical, tangible benefit, or an emotional one ? Or is it both ?

I know I’ve probably confused just about everyone now ( including myself ) so let’s go back to our three real life examples.

Cesar: “ High-quality dog food, so that wealthy owners of small dogs can ensure their much-loved pets are happy and healthy. “

Premier Inn: “ Cheap hotels, so that people on lower incomes can afford to take holidays/weekend breaks. “

Quorn: “ Meat-free products made with mycoprotein so that vegetarians can enjoy a more varied diet. “

All seems straightforward enough, yes ? Nothing too surprising there, surely ?

And yet. And yet…

Let’s start with the Cesar one first. That positioning was the pan-european version, rooted in the ( very real ) truth that small dogs had more sensitive digestive systems, and therefore required higher-quality dog food.

This is fine, and worked very well across Europe, particularly in the more functionally-oriented markets such as Germany.

But actually, when we researched it in the UK, we found that consumers didn’t really warm to it. It was TOO functional, they told us. It didn’t do anything to reflect the ‘ special bond ‘ between dog and owner.

So we changed it. To: “ High-quality dog food, so that wealthy owners of small dogs can show them just how much they love them. “

And that was it. Suddenly, we had a whole new way of looking at the brand. It wasn’t about digestive systems, or what we ( euphemistically ) called ‘ Back End Performance ‘ – it was about the love that your cherished pet had for you, and your way of rewarding them in return.

Suddenly we had a whole new positioning for the brand. And it not only felt very real, but it felt really emotionally rich – giving us loads of territory for creative work. And it ( crucially ) felt light-years away from Pedigree Chum, which was all about quality nutrition ( “ Top Breeders recommend it. “

We hadn’t changed the product, or the target audience. We’d changed what they used it for.

Ok, on to Quorn. Quorn was an even bigger step.

The change in Quorn came initially from a bit of feedback that we’d heard in consumer groups. The primary benefit of Quorn was ( we thought ) that it tasted like meat but wasn’t meat. Easy peasy lemon squeezy. Except Quorn isn’t made from lemons, it’s a type of mushroom. But I digress.

Anyway, in these research groups we kept hearing that people also loved Quorn because it was very low in fat. We kept hearing about Slimming World, and Weight Watcher points….

… until we* had the somewhat revolutionary idea of changing the positioning completely. It became:

“ Low-fat products made with mycoprotein so that health-conscious consumers can enjoy their favourite meals in a guilt-free way. “

 * I say we, but really it was Mike, our Marketing Controller. One of the smartest guys I have ever worked with.

Again, the product stayed the same, but we changed our target audience and what they used it for.

In practical terms, we started to play DOWN the meat-free aspect on our packs and in our comms, and played UP the low fat / calorie message.

The effect on sales was staggering. Essentially, what Mike had realised was that we’d pretty much reached saturation point with vegetarians in the UK – pretty much every vegetarian in the UK knew about Quorn, and those that were going to buy it, already did. Whereas health-conscious consumers… well, there were a LOT of those we could talk to.

Told you he was clever.

As for me ? Well, I switched to Quorn mince at around this time. I still use it to cook with. I’m not vegetarian, and never will be. I just like the idea that I’m cooking my world-famous spag bol with low fat mince.

The final example was Premier Inn. This one was different.

First, it’s time for a bit of a confession. And this may come as a surprise to all of you who see me as a hard-hearted cynical b*stard who would sell his own grandmother for more market share…

…. Because I do actually have a conscience. And I like to believe in the products I’m marketing. I don’t particularly feel good about myself if I’m making and selling something crap to people who don’t really need it.

( I’d probably be terrible working for a brand like Burberry. I don’t think I’d be comfortable taking a t-shirt that was made in a far east sweatshop for 20p and selling it to snobby idiots for ￡100. )

But Premier Inn… man, I loved that brand. How could I not ? It was cheap hotels ! Each room cost a maximum of ￡39. And the price was the price per ROOM, not ( as was the case in most hotels at the time, the cost per PERSON ) We were making it possible for people to get away, to travel, to take holidays, in a way they couldn’t before.

I remember I had a small stack of thank-you letters in my top drawer. Letters from people saying that Premier Inn had saved their relationship, or enabled them to see unwell friends / family before they died, or take their kids away for a week to somewhere new. That kind of thing.

But then it all changed.

Basically the business looked at the money it was making, and the fact that most of our hotels were usually full, and they realised that they could put the prices up.

And so they did. They employed a very clever guy to bring in a sophisticated revenue management system, and he was able to calculate that some of the rooms we’d previously sold at ￡39 we could just as easily sell at ￡49. Or, if they were in London, ￡69. Or even ￡79.

And so the prices went up. And the uniform ‘ ￡39 per room anywhere in the UK ‘ policy became an ‘ As much as we can reasonably charge ‘ policy.

I felt very disappointed at this. Suddenly some of the locations became priced out of reach of some of the people who had stayed with us in the past.

But, profits went up dramatically. Some of those profits went on improving the quality of the rooms. Some of the profits went on buying more hotels and broadening the network.

Some of the profits went to Lenny Henry. I don’t mind, he’s a lovely bloke.

But the brand positioning had changed. Instead of ‘ Cheap hotels, so that people on lower incomes can afford to take holidays/weekend breaks. ‘, it was ‘ Value hotels, offering budget-conscious consumers a no-frills comfortable hotel experience. ‘

It’s similar, I know. But it’s not quite the same.

As I say though, profits went through the roof. Shows what I know, eh ?

But – regardless of whether I was right or wrong – the point I’m making still stands. A positioning statement can – and should be – very simply expressed. But answering the three critical questions ( What are we making/selling ? Who is it for ? What can they do with it ? ) remains crucial.

And hopefully I’ve also shown that small changes in that statement -  in that equation if you like - can have dramatic effects not only on the bottom line, but on the future of your entire brand, of the entire business even.  

Which makes it worth considering, yes ?