The Rule of Positioning tells us that advertising is not communication, advertising is positioning. Good advertising tells little about the product or service, it establishes or reinforces a position in the minds of the target audience. However, positioning is not about "where" you want to put or "position" your product.
E.g. "We want to position our brand as the premier product in the category." - Incorrect positioning statement.
Positioning is about finding the possibility or the "Open Hole" that might exist in the minds of the target audience or market.
E.g. "There is an open hole in the mind of the target audience for a premium product in the category. That is the position we want our brand to fill." - Correct positioning statement.
Can you notice the difference now? Yes, the key thing in positioning is "to fill the open hole in the T.A.'s mind".
So what could be the Open Hole in the mind?
Here are some examples:
1. The "Price" hole. e.g. for High-price positioning: Haagen-Daz in ice-cream; Rolex in Watch; Mercedes-Benz in automobiles.
2. The "Country of origin" hole. e.g. Heineken (first Holland beer in beer-drinker' mind).
3. The "First in the mind" hole. e.g. Sony Walkman (first on-the-go Hi-Fi); Gatorade (first sport drink); Red Bull (first energy drink); Apple (first user-friendly PC).
4. The "No.2 brand" hole. But it doesn't mean to fill the hole of "the other best" or "the other leader", because there is only one best, one leader in the market. Then how do you become a strong No.2 brand? Well, you got to become the opposite of the leader.
e.g. Coca-Cola is the old, established leader brand (that your parents drank), so Pepsi-Cola, filling the No.2 brand hole, said, "You don't want to drank the same as your parents did, you are the Pepsi Generation". Window (an OS that you need to buy), so Linux (an open source OS for free). Think about Large/Small; Men/Women; Black/White...
5. The "Specialist" hole. e.g. Starbucks (specialized in coffee); McDonald (specialized in hamburgers); Volvo (safety); BMW (driving).
6. The "Gender brand" hole. e.g. Marlboro (first cigarette for men); virginia Slims (first cigarette for women).
Add your comment to the rule please.
