chapter 7

Question 1

positioning

Answer 1

the act of designing a company’s offering and image to occupy a distinctive place in the minds of the target market. the goal is to locate the brand in the minds of customers to maximise the potential benefit to the firm. it requires that marketers define and communicate similarities and differences between their brand and its competitors. deciding on a positioning involves three steps.

Question 2

value proposition

Answer 2

a clear reason why the target market should buy a product or service.

Question 3

competitive frame of reference

Answer 3

defines which other brands a brand competes with, and which should thus be the focus of competitive analysis. information about competitors’ real and perceived strengths and weaknesses is necessary to formally define this.

Question 4

category membership

Answer 4

refers to the products or sets of products with which a brand competes and that function as close substitutes. this is a good starting point in defining a competitive frame of reference.

Question 5

industry

Answer 5

a group of firms offering a product or class of products that are close substitutes for one another.

Question 6

competitors

Answer 6

companies that satisfy the same customer need.

Question 7

marketing myopia

Answer 7

happens when marketers define competition in traditional category and industry terms, rather than considering customers’ needs.

Question 8

share of market

Answer 8

the competitor’s share of the target market.

Question 9

share of mind

Answer 9

the percentage of customers who named the competitor in responding to the statement ‘name the first company that comes to mind in this industry’.

Question 10

share of heart

Answer 10

the percentage of customers who named the competitor in responding to the statement ‘name the company from which you would prefer to buy the product’.

Question 11

points-of-difference (PODs)

Answer 11

attributes or benefits that consumers strongly associate with a brand, positively evaluate, and believe they could not find to the same extent with a competitive brand. three criteria: desirable to consumer, deliverable by the company, and differentiating from competitors.

Question 12

points-of-parity (POPs)

Answer 12

attribute or benefit associations that are not necessarily unique to the brand but may in fact be shared with other brands. there are three basic forms: category, correlational, and competitive.

Question 13

straddle positioning

Answer 13

when a company is able to straddle two frames of reference with one set of PODs and POPs. the POD for one category will become the POD for the other and vice versa. they allow brands to expand their market coverage and potential customer base. however, if POPs and PODs are not credible, the brand may not be viewed as a legitimate player in either category.

Question 14

competitive advantage

Answer 14

a company’s ability to perform in one or more ways that competitors cannot or will not match.

Question 15

perceptual maps

Answer 15

visual representations of consumer perceptions and preferences. they provide quantitative pictures of market situations and the way consumers view different products, services, and brands along various dimensions. many marketing experts believe that a brand positioning should contain POPs and PODs that appeal to both the head and the heart.

Question 16

brand mantra

Answer 16

3 to 5-word articulation of the heart and soul of the brand, closely related to other branding concepts like “brand essence” and “core brand promise”. brand mantras create a mental filter to screen out brand-inappropriate marketing activities or actions of any type that may have a negative bearing on customers’ perceptions. they must economically communicate what the brand is and what it is not. criteria: communicate, simplify, and inspire.

Question 17

brand positioning

Answer 17

helpful schematic in which marketers communicate the brand positioning strategy to everyone in the organisation.

Question 18

main ways to convey a brand’s category membership

Answer 18

1. announcing category benefits
2. comparing to exemplar
3. relying on the product descriptor

Question 19

addressing attribute or benefit trade-offs

Answer 19

marketers can:
1. launch two different marketing campaigns.
2. link the brand to a person, place, or thing that possesses the right kind of equity to establish an attribute as POP or POD.
3. convince consumers that the negative relationship, if considered differently, is in fact positive.

Question 20

narrative branding

Answer 20

based on deep metaphors that connect to people’s memories, associations, and stories. elements:
1. brand story in terms of words and metaphors.
2. consumer journey or the way consumers engage with the brand and touch points.
3. visual language or expression for the brand.
4. the manner in which the narrative is expressed experientially, or the brand engages the senses.
5. the role the brand plays in the lives of consumers.

Question 21

cultural branding

Answer 21

in order to build a strong position for a brand, the company has to use cultural knowledge strategies according to cultural branding principles and hire and train cultural experts.

Question 22

searching for new customers

Answer 22

companies search for new customers among three groups:
1. market penetration strategy: those who might use it but do not.
2. new market segment theory strategy: those who have never used it.
3. geographical expansion strategy: those who live elsewhere.

Question 23

continuous innovation

Answer 23

the front-runner should lead the industry in developing new products and customer services, distribution effectiveness, and cost cutting.

Question 24

responsive marketing

Answer 24

finds a stated need and fills it.

Question 25

anticipative marketing

Answer 25

looks ahead to needs customers may have in the near future.

Question 26

creative marketing

Answer 26

discovers solutions customers did not ask for but to which they enthusiastically respond. creative marketers are proactive market-driving firms, not just market-driven ones.

Question 27

aim of defensive strategy

Answer 27

reduce the probability of attack, divert attacks to less-threatened areas, and lessen their intensity.

Question 28

position defence

Answer 28

occupying the most desirable position in customers’ minds, making the brand almost impregnable.

Question 29

flank defence

Answer 29

the market leader should erect outposts to protect a weak front or support a possible counterattack.

Question 30

preemptive defence

Answer 30

a more aggressive maneuver is to attack first, perhaps with guerrilla action across the market, and keeping everyone off balance. another preemptive defence is to introduce a stream of new products and announce them in advance.

Question 31

counteroffensive defence

Answer 31

the market leader can meet the attacker frontally and hit its flank or launch a pincer movement, so the attacker will have to pull back to defend itself. another form is the exercise of economic or political clout. the leader may try to crush a competitor by subsidising lower prices for a vulnerable product with revenue from its more profitable products, or it may lobby legislators to take political action to inhibit competition.

Question 32

mobile defence

Answer 32

the leader stretches its domain over new territories through markets broadening and market diversification.

Question 33

market broadening

Answer 33

shifts the company’s focus from the current product to the underlying generic need, the way “petroleum” companies recast themselves as “energy companies”.

Question 34

market diversification

Answer 34

shifts the company’s focus into unrelated industries.

Question 35

contraction defence

Answer 35

no longer defend all territory. companies give up weaker markets and reassign resources to stronger ones (planned contraction).

Question 36

factors to consider before buying higher market share

Answer 36

1. the possibility of provoking antitrust action.
2. economic cost
3. danger of pursuing the wrong marketing activities.
4. the effect of increased market shares on actual and perceived quality.

Question 37

market challengers

Answer 37

companies that try to attack the leader and other competitors in aggressive bid for further market share.

Question 38

market followers

Answer 38

companies who do not try to “rock the boat”.

Question 39

frontal attack

Answer 39

attacker matches its opponent’s product, advertising, price, and distribution.

Question 40

flank attack

Answer 40

identifying shifts that cause gaps to develop in the market, then rushing to fill the gaps.

Question 41

encirclement attack

Answer 41

attempts to capture a wide slice of territory by launching a grand offensive on several fronts.

Question 42

bypass attack

Answer 42

bypassing the enemy altogether to attack easier markets instead. offers three lines of approach: (1) diversifying into unrelated products (2) diversifying into new geographical markets (3) leapfrogging into new technologies.

Question 43

guerrilla attack

Answer 43

consists of small, intermittent attacks, conventional and unconventional including selective price cuts, intense promotional blitzes, and occasional legal action to harass the opponent and eventually secure a permanent foothold.

Question 44

cloner

Answer 44

emulates the leader’s products, name, and packaging with slight variations. it is a market-follower strategy.

Question 45

imitator

Answer 45

copies some things from the leader but differentiates on packaging, advertising, pricing, or location. it is a market-follower strategy.

Question 46

adapter

Answer 46

takes the leader’s products and adapt or improves them. it is a market-follower strategy.

Question 47

multiple niching

Answer 47

can be preferable to single niching because strength in two or more niches increases the chances for survival.