The market results show it found a vacant, strong position and sat on it as “good to eat, fast to cook” anytime snack. On the other hand Kelloggs positioned itself as a nutritional breakfast only. Today no one even thinks of taking Kelloggs corn flakes in the evening.
Aaker considers positioning so central and critical that it should be considered at the level of the mission statement representing the essence of the business. Robin liquid also exhibits the criticality of positioning. The brand facing stiff competition from Ujala today made a comeback after detergent powders took Blues for a ride with their arrival. For the manufacturer what make it special are attributes such as “flourescer” and “ultramarine” but for a housewife what matters is that “washing powders take away the dirt but Robin liquid gives clothes that extra coat of white”.
So this is how we get going-
We plot not only consumer perceptions but also preferences of a given consumer segment in a particular category or product market. Consumers express such preferences in terms of the benefits, whether they are getting the benefit, if it is important- to what extent, are they missing something. These are what we call IDEAL POINTS on a perceptual map.
Thus this gives us the idea as to how close we are to where we should be, that is, the position of our brand on the perceptual map vis-à-vis the ideal points. The next implication of the mapping is that it earmarks the vacant spaces on the perceptual map, which are nothing, but opportunities which can be exploited for positioning. Thus identify the gaps which new or repositioned products can fill by offering what current products do not provide. This gives us the skeleton for making the strategy for future.
Thus positioning is both difficult as well as simple because as Al Ries and Jack Trout say” Most positioning programs are nothing more or less than a search for the obvious”.
