Learning From Political Marketing and Vice Versa – Rebranding (Prositioning versus Repositioning)

This article is the third in a series identifying direct observation and analysis from political marketing and its application to customer marketing and vice versa.

Please note that neither this nor any other article in this series attempts to make a political statement. I'm neither advancing nor supporting any candidate or political party in these articles. It's about marketing—pure and simple—and what we can learn from each other.

Kamala Harris is the presumptive Democratic Party nominee for President. The party and media are now reportedly working to rebrand her.

Rebranding is about repositioning. When something isn't working or, more specifically, failing or expected to fail, the reaction is to reposition it. In this case, it's perceptions about a political candidate; ours is about brands.

When sales persistently decline, a common refrain among marketers is “It's time to reposition the brand.” In most cases, it is too late!

Repositioning typically indicates a brand that is no longer healthy and is in severe business decline. It's typically "reactive” behavior to (alarming or consistent) sales, market share and/or profit declines.

By the time most companies decide to reposition a brand, it's too late. The brand's strategic health has deteriorated to the point that it is difficult to restore, no less resuscitate.

Attempts at repositioning generally fail. The brand declines below the profit line and support for it dries up.

Sure, there are plenty of examples of successes, which we remember because the business press touts them. But repositioning tends to be too late and too little for the many.

Failure to successfully reposition can be traced to several factors, among which are management's weak commitment—evidenced by limited support, extremely short time horizons demanded for recovery, reluctance to change the product offering, and the stubborn hold on the very practices that led to undermining the brand's health.

As such, marketers should consider and engage in “prositioning,” a word I coined that means “proactive positioning.” Prositioning begins while the brand is healthy, and well before its business declines. It evolves the brand rather than making revolutionary changes.

The time to engage in prositioning is when the brand is still growing, but its growth rate has slowed. This will ensure needed proactive management before the brand's current positioning goes stale (i.e., no longer as impactful as previously) in the marketplace.

Among the many dynamics to trigger consideration of prositioning are changes in customer demographics and/or psychographics; development and availability of new technologies; product improvements; sustainable competitive actions that threaten your brand; new products in the marketplace (especially those that re-segment the category); and new strategic customer insights that could benefit the brand if exploited.

Prositioning affords a brand many advantages. One is that it extends the brand's lifecycle. Another is that prositioning ensures the brand's strategic health and customer relationships continue. Also, successful prositioning can protect the brand against competitive inroads. Finally, it can help avoid the anguish and likely failure of repositioning.

There are numerous examples of companies that have been successfully prositioned.

Johnson & Johnson has transformed itself from a consumer to a pharmaceutical giant.

General Electric moved into financial services.

Charles Schwab has gone beyond being a discount broker.

And Pepsi prositioned with its acquisitions to become a total beverage company.

Among successful brand prositionings, we see the same examples repeatedly. Starbucks, Nike, Gatorade, Neutrogena, and Tide are examples that spring to mind.

Consider the Tide Detergent brand, which dominates the laundry detergent category in North America. Sales of Tide are larger than the next nine brands combined. Moreover, the brand has extended its lifecycle and leadership for more than 75 years with product improvements and the development of line extensions.

These companies and brands share some common traits. They have a vision for the company and/or brand that goes beyond conventional category boundaries. Moreover, they are willing to repeatedly question the perception of what business they are engaged in.

The vision can come from how they view what they do (e.g., for Nike, it might be making athletic apparel that makes a statement) or what is in it for their customers (e.g., empowerment to "just do it" regardless of athletic proclivities or talent) or what company capabilities enable them to provide (e.g., inspiration).

There is also sensitivity to future developments related to customer attitudes and behaviors, marketplace dynamics, regulatory issues, technologies - whatever. Add to this list of traits openness to new strategies and a willingness to try them out in the marketplace. I also believe insightful and strong "leadership" is another critical trait.

Yet for all its advantages, prositioning is an alien concept in today’s corporate environment. Certainly, prositioning takes a back seat in practice to repositioning. This traces to several factors, among which are:

• An absence of lead indicators to provide an early warning regarding the brand's strategic health, so the focus is on business results that lag brand health.
• Smug satisfaction with results (i.e., we're making our numbers) and a reluctance to challenge the status quo.
• Limited vision of the future and/or understanding of marketplace dynamics and their potential impact on the brand.
• Resource constraints (i.e., people, time, and/or money) and/or the lack of desire to seek out and test new strategies.
• Fear of failure.
• Organizational issues, particularly office politics, among others.

Prositioning is a concept that has yet to be readily understood or welcomed. It requires a change in mindset from being satisfied and/or reactive to being proactive. But its advantages far outweigh its disadvantages. Consider prositioning before you are forced to engage in repositioning to resuscitate your brand’s squandered health.

Think About It

• How do you react to the notion that a political candidate is being rebranded (or repositioned)?
• What do you believe are the factors leading to the perceived need for rebranding?
• What actions might the party take to rebrand its candidate?
• What will it take for a candidate to live up to the repositioning?

Making Your Marketing Matter (Even) More

1. Find a way, beyond financials, to assess the brand’s strategic health.
2. Formally revisit your brand positioning statement annually to explore new strategic opportunities.
3. During the review, question, question, question the conventional wisdom of the organization – the business the brand is engaged in, assumptions regarding the marketplace, and the advantages of current brand practices.
4. Envision and plan for alternate future market and competitive scenarios that are favorable and unfavorable to your brand.
5. Create a plan designed to achieve the new positioning over time through the thoughtful launch of meaningful initiatives that communicate, through action, the intended positioning.
6. Create a dialogue with customers, test alternate strategic directions through specific initiatives, and adapt accordingly.

?Interested in reading my follow-up articles on this subject and all matters marketing? Please follow me on LinkedIn https://www.dhirubhai.net/in/richarddczerniawski/ , where I share my perspectives from more than 50-years of successful worldwide “brand” marketing experience across many business sectors.

To learn more about prositioning and repositioning, read COMPETITIVE POSITIONING - Best Practices for Creating Brand Loyalty by yours truly and Mike Maloney, and my latest book, AVOIDING CRITICAL MARKETING ERRORS – How to Go from Dumb to Smart Marketing, where I discuss the topic in greater detail. Both are available on AMAZON.

Peace and best wishes in making your marketing matter (even) more,

Richard D. Czerniawski