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MODULE IV Brand positioning 1. To Make Entire Organisation Market-
Concept, advantages, process. Brand Equity-
Meaning& Definition, advantages, factors
contributing to brand equity, measurement of brand
equity.
Brand positioning
A company discovers different needs of
consumers, manufacture products which can satisfy
consumer needs and then positions its offerings so
the target market recognizes its distinctive
offerings. Brand positioning is the art of creating a
distinct image in the minds and hearts of
customers. For example, whenever somebody
thinks of antiseptic liquid, the first thing that comes
to his/her mind is Dettol. The goal of brand
positioning is to locate the brand in the minds of
consumers so that the potential benefits to the firm
are maximized.
Brand positioning has been defined by Philip
Kotler as “the act of designing the company’s
offering and image to occupy a distinctive place in
the mind of the target market”.
Bovee et al. define positioning as “the process of
prompting buyers to form a particular mental
impression of our product relative to our
competitors.”
Brand positioning describes how a brand is
different from its competitors and where, or how, it
sits in customers’ minds. i.e. ensuring customers
instantly associate a brand with a particular
functional benefit. For example, BMW as
performance and Volvo as safety.
Positioning is therefore the process of designing an
image and value so that consumers understand
what the brand stands for inrelation to its
competitors.
Benefits of Brand Positioning
Following benefits of Brand positioning imply its
importance or utility in marketing:
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oriented:
Brand positioning is a part of the broader
marketing philosophy. It concerns with identifying
superior aspects of Brand and matching them with
consumers more effectively than competitions.
This philosophy makes the entire organisation
market oriented.
2. To Cope with Market Changes:
Once the Brand is positioned successfully,
the marketing manager has to constantly watch the
market. When new developments in the market
take place, new competitive advantages should be
identified, discovered or developed to suit the
changing expectations of the consumers.
3. To Meet Expectation of Buyers:
Generally, the advantages to be
communicated are decided on the basis of
expectations of the target buyers. So, Brand
positioning can help realize consumers’
expectations.
4. To Promote Consumer Goodwill and Loyalty:
Systematic Brand positioning reinforces
the company’s name, its product and brand. It
popularizes the brand. The company can create
goodwill and can win customer loyalty.
5. To Design Promotional Strategy:
With the help of brand promotion
strategies, more meaningful promotional
programme can be designed. Based on what
advantages are to be communicated, appropriate
methods and techniques are selected to promote
the product.
6. To Win Attention and Interest of Consumers:
Brand positioning signifies those
advantages that are significant to consumers. When
such benefits are promoted through suitable means
of advertising, it definitely catches the interest and
attention of consumers.

7. To Attract Different Types of Consumers:
Consumers differ in terms of their
expectations from the product. Some want unique
features; some want low price; and so on. A
company, by promoting different types of
competitive advantages of its Brand, can attract
different types of buyers.
8. To Face Competition:
This is the fundamental use of Brand
positioning. With the help of brand positioning, a
company can respond strongly to the competitors.
If a company can establish its products as uniquely
valuable, competitors will find it difficult to offer
a similar product. It can improve its competitive
strength.
9. To Introduce New Product Successfully:
Brand positioning can assist a company in
introducing a new product in the market. It can
position new and superior advantages of the
product and can penetrate the market easily.
10. To Communicate New and Varied Feature
Added Later on:
When a company changes qualities and/or
features of the existing Brands, such improvements
can be positioned against products offered by the
competitors. Brand positioning improves
competitive strength of a company. Normally,
consumers consider product advantages before they
buy it. So, Brand positioning proves superiority of
company’s offers over competitors. It may also
help consumers in choosing the right product.
Brand Positioning Process
Brand positioning is the process of setting the
brand apart from competitors in a way that builds
preference among the target consumers. To reach
that goal, marketers typically follow a positioning
process comprised of the following steps.
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1. Identify the Target customers –
Customer analysis. The first step in brand
positioning is to identify the target market or
market segment. Target market is the group of
consumers at which a product or service is aimed.
Each market segment have different set of
preferences for the same types of products. Once a
target group of consumers are selected, they should
be studied closely to find out their attitude,
motivation and behaviours, which force them to
buy a product.
Great brands are built on insights about a target
audience that are gained after a deep and close
study. There are various approaches to
segmentation but out of all benefit segmentation is
relevant here, which focuses upon the benefits or
attributes that a segment believes to be important.
For example Nirma washing powder address a
group of target consumers who want a low priced
detergent powder.
2, Identification of key benefits / Competitive
Advantage. A key benefit or competitive
advantage is some trait, quality, or capability that
allows a brand to outperform the competition.
Actually these are influential factors which help a
brand perform better in the marketplace and cause
customers to choose your brand over other options.
It gives your brand an advantage over others in
purchasing decisions. This may include Price,
Benefits, Features etc.
3. Identifying the Competitors – Next step is to
identify the competitors. Basically every brand
faces two types of competitors. They are - -
Primary competitors i.e., competitors belonging to
the same product class and Secondary competitors,
those belonging to other product category. For
example, ‘Pepsi ‘ might define its competitors as
follows:
(1) Other cola drinks, (2) Non-diet soft drinks,
(3)All soft drinks, (4) All beverages except water.
In the above example other cola drinks are primary
competitors and all other drinks and beverages are
secondary competitors.

4. Determine how the Competitors brands are
Perceived and Evaluated – This basically covers
an understanding of two things. What are the
features of the competitors products and Which
attributes or features are actually important to a
customer. For example major attributes of a Maruti
car are low price, good mileage, low maintenance
cost, high resale value and wide service network.
But out of these low price and good mileage can
the two most important attraction for an Indian
customer.
In order to wisely position a brand, an appropriate
set of product attributes should be selected for the
product. This can be identified with the help of
marketing research.
5. Determining the competitor’s positions.
Our next focus should be to determine how
different brands are positioned with respect to the
relevant attributes selected under the previous step.
This shows the image that the customer has about
the various product brands. In addition it also
shows which competitors are perceived as similar
and which as different. For example positioning
map of few cars shown below shows important
attributes and similar brands offering same
features.
6. Select the position / Making the positioning
Decision
After identifying the competitive advantages of the
brand and collecting information about how key
competitors are positioned, a brand can select its
position. Once effective brand positioning strategy
is developed, customers can easily identify features
of your product, direction for future products or
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services, separation from competitors and the value
you provide. Strong positioning focuses on a
single or few features that is important to the
customer. For example brands like Patanjali or
Himalaya position their products as an Ayurvedic
product.
7. Monitoring the position
A product positioning strategy is never-ending. It is
necessary to monitor the position overtime, for that
you have variety of techniques that can be
employed it can be on the basis of some test and
interviews which will help to monitor any kind of
change in the image.
Thus, the first five steps in the positioning process
provides a useful background. The sixth one only
is taken to make the position decision. The final
step is to evaluate and measure and follow up.
Brand Equity
Brand equity represents ‘the total accumulated
value or worth of a brand’. It is the sum total of all
the different values people attach to the brand. A
high equity brand has high value in the
marketplace. That value is determined by
consumer perception of and experiences with the
brand. Customer based brand equity can be
positive or negative. If people think highly of a
brand, it has positive brand equity. When a brand
consistently under-delivers and disappoints to the
point where people recommend that others avoid it,
it has negative brand equity.
Konapp considers brand equity as “totality of
brand’s perception. He includes the feelings of
consumers, employees and all stakeholders while
measuring the brand equity”.
David Aaker defined brand equity as “a set of
assets associated with a brand, and which add to
the value provided by the product/service to its
customers”.

Strong brand equity simply means more business,
more value and longevity. Here are some of the
advantages of having strong brand equity.
Advantages to Marketers ( Company)
1. Increased effectiveness and efficiency of
marketing programmes - The brand equity
increase the effectiveness and efficiency of
marketing programmes. The expenditure for a
reputed brand to achieve a goal is less than an
unbranded product aiming to achieve the same
goal. For instance, retaining a customer is much
costlier for an unbranded product. This may
partially happen due to lack of brand loyalty and
preference. Similarly, launching of a new product
with extensions may be much simpler, easy and
less costly.
2. Customer loyalty. The brand equity allow
a firm to have greater customer loyalty. Customer
loyalty is an integral part of the brand equity. If
you have a strong and trusted brand, you will
always have a loyal customer base buying your
products. The customers can exhibit preference and
commitment to a brand only. A greater number of
loyal customers automatically reduce the
expenditures that need to be incurred in
maintaining a customer base.
3. Premium Pricing. Brand equity allows a
firm to change premium. Positive brand equity
allows you to charge more for your product or
service, because people will be willing to pay a
premium for the reputed brand name. For
example Some of the world’s leading luxury watch
brands such as Rolex or Cartier always charges a
high price because of their brand equity. In fact,
brands, which enjoy strong equity in the market,
command a premium price.
4. Opportunity for growth. Brand equity
provides great opportunities for growth. A positive
brand equity allows a business to add more
products without incurring significant promotional
expenditure, trying to get your brand recognized.
Brand equity makes growth easier for the firms.
For instance, manufacturer of Dettol antiseptic
lotion introduces Dettol soap by relying on the
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brand equity of antiseptic brand Dettol. Dettol soap
is a very strong player in a highly competitive
bathing soap market.
5. Easy Distribution. Brand equity is a good
source of achieving good distribution network. It
is easier to get access in the distribution chain
when the brand has equity. The dealer’s exhibit
disbelief in dealing with a brand without equity
because of the uncertainties it brings along with it.
Therefore, channels welcome brands with equity
and give access to point of purchase displays, shelf
space, etc.
6. Competitive Advantage . Finally, brand
equity is a provider of competitive advantage. It
imposes barriers on the entry of competitors. It can
provide strong competitive advantages in product
categories where most alternatives provide the
same benefits.. For instance Johnson & Johnson’s
‘Savlon’ is hardly able to compete in the market
with ‘Dettol’ due to its strong brand equity.
Advantages to Customers
A brand’s equity is valuable to customers because:
1. Helps customers in information
processing. A brand is useful in aiding customers
in interpreting, processing, and storing information
about the products and the brands. Brands are taken
by customers as a bundle of information which are
easily decoded (drawn meaning thereof) and stored
in a proper order (classification). Brands allow
customers to store great quantities of information
about brands without getting confused.
2. Customer confidence. A Brand’s positive
equity enhance customer confidence in the
purchase decision. One feels more confident in
purchasing a reputed brand (imagine buying an
unbranded product e.g., like tooth paste). It
happens because of familiarity with a brand.
Familiarity creates confidence.
3. Customer satisfaction. Another area of
importance of positive brand equity is high degree
of usage satisfaction. Brand equity also help
consumers to express their psychological needs
like personality, social status, aspiration, etc. For
example, owners of ‘an IBM-Thinkpad’ express
pride in owning a technically advanced laptop.

Factors Determining the Brand Equity
In his Brand Equity model, David A. Aaker
identifies five brand equity components: (1) brand
loyalty, (2) brand awareness, (3) perceived quality,
(4) brand associations and (5) other proprietary
assets.
1. Brand Awareness. Awareness of the brand
name among target customers is the first step in the
equity building process. People will often buy a
familiar brand because they are comfortable with
the brand. Or there may be an assumption that a
brand that is familiar is probably reliable, and of
reasonable quality. Awareness essentially means
that customers know about the existence of the
brand and can also recall what category the brand
is in. A recognized brand will thus often be
selected over an unknown brand. Building brand
awareness can help marketers to increase brand
equity to the target audience through different
brand promotion methods.
2. Brand loyalty. Brand loyalty is the
tendency of consumers to continuously purchase
one brand's products over another competing
brand's. It shows how likely a customer will switch
to another brand, especially when that brand makes
a change, either in price or in product features.
Brand loyalty is usually rated as the most important
indicator of brand equity because loyalty develops
repeated purchases over a long period of time. If a
company has a higher brand loyalty, it can help to
reduce marketing cost. The company can also
introduce new products targeting the same
customer base.
3. Perceived Quality. Perceived quality is the
customer's understanding of the overall quality or
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superiority of a product relative to other brands.
Perceived quality is, first, a perception by
customers. Quality is one of the main reasons for
consumer preference for a brand in any product
category. Thus, superior perceived quality can also
influence brand equity. For example in Indian
detergent market Surf enjoys high brand equity
even though the product is much costlier than other
detergent powders.
4. Brand Association. Anything that is
connected to the customer’s memory about the
brand is an association. Brand Associations are not
benefits, but are images and symbols associated
with a brand or a brand benefit. They are the
attributes of brand which come into consumers
mind when the brand is talked about. Customers
form associations on the basis of quality,
advertisements of the brand, price, product displays
in retail stores, publicity in various media,
celebrity associations etc. For example- The Nike
Swoosh, Sachin Tendulkar as with “MRF” aare
association. Associations contribute to brand
equity, as strong, positive associations leads to
brand purchases and also blocks the entry for new
competitors.
5. Other proprietary brand assets. These
assets can take several forms like patents,
trademarks and channel relationships. For example,
a trademark will protect brand equity from
competitors who might want to confuse customers
by using a similar name, symbol, or package.