lululemon®, a positioning 10+ years in the making

Take a walk along the streets of any major metropolis and ask a passer-by, “what is lululemon?”  Odds are that their answer will include “yoga.” Does this mean the brand’s position revolves around its overpriced yoga pants?  Absolutely not.

A core philosophy we employ and instill upon each of our clients is that positioning does not happen overnight, nor is it exclusive to the launch period.  Every position we develop is aspirational and provides the brand team a roadmap for elevating a product into a brand with a purpose. The lululemon brand represents empowerment and self-improvement, which is even teased through the manifesto printed on each bag, “Do one thing a day that scares you.” This powerful mantra can be interpreted in many ways, yoga being just one. Launching with its roots in yoga allowed the company to gain success with customers who most closely mimicked its values; however, today, over a decade later, and after careful consideration, the brand is expanding its product-line to include running, hiking, and meditation.

Rather than launching with a position to make the best yoga pants on the market, lululemon did what many teams struggle to do: think aspirationally.  By clearly articulating where they wanted the brand to go internally, lululemon’s management team was able to make the right decisions to move the brand closer and closer to what they set out to create. That journey has been filled with extreme success both on and off Wall Street and we anticipate more from them for years to come.

Positioning that Shoots for the Stars

A key factor we judge all positionings by is their level of aspiration.  It is important for brands to aim for the positioning they ultimately wish to achieve and focusing on it over the course of time, rather than to settle for what we refer to as the much more conservative and short-range “launch positioning”.  Fab is one such brand that has a focus on being more tomorrow than what they are today in every way.  Their slogan, “Fab is everyday design,” summarizes the core of their brand.  The way in which Fab has evolved, from a failed social media site, to a successful flash sale site, and now to a combination of sales and inventoried items shows true focus and growth.  Where they’re going next is even more impressive, as Fab looks to continue to add to their inventory and has their eyes set on brick and mortar store fronts, something not many web-based companies can even dream of.  We look to see Fab continue to grow in to their positioning and to continue the growth of their market.

What is a brand?

To start a brand is not a name or a trademark. It is not even a logo or a product. Brands live in the minds of consumers, they live in your mind and they live in mine-a brand is nothing more than the thoughts and feelings associated with it, whether intentional or not.

An internal BMW mantra says it best, “what you make people feel is just as important as what you make.” 

Super Bowl XLVII - Winning Brands

We’ve come to know that the perfect Super Bowl commercial hovers on the fine line between being too entertaining and being descriptive and compelling.  A Super Bowl spot must not only grab and hold your attention, but it ultimately needs to be entertaining to the point that it is memorable.   Surprisingly, many of the brands showcased this year did a great job of entertaining the audience, but what separates a brand from earning its 15 minutes of fame versus long-term ROI is how compelling the ad is.

Positioning is king, always.  It is at the root of creating something that is compelling and the Super Bowl is not an excuse to ignore it.  Any communication must tie back to the big picture that the brand is painting.   It is clear who, as well as who did not, understand this component Sunday night.

Here are our team’s picks for the Best Super Bowl XLVII Commercials (from a positioning perspective).  Each of these spots caught our attention amongst the chaos of Super Bowl parties, each is entertaining to the point of becoming memorable, and most importantly each does all this while still simply conveying what the respective brand is promising.

Tide - Miracle Stain

Mercedes-Benz - CLA

Go Daddy - Perfect Match (When Smart Meets Small Business)

Esurance and "Cheep" Insurance

The latest commercial from Esurance does an excellent job of capturing the state of the auto insurance market while continuing to hit upon the spirit of their positioning.  We’ve noticed that over the past year or so that the creative execution of Esurance’s positioning has taken a slightly different approach.  Faced with a different type of auto insurance market, with companies like Progressive and Geico dominating up the online, cost-conscious customer base, Esurance had to change.  Or did they? 

The market was inundated with companies whose focus was on saving customers money—the same thing Esurance stood for. And yet, Esurance is still here, and still focused on the fact that they “were born online and built to save people money from the beginning.”  By shifting the platform of their positioning from Value based to Competitive based, Esurance was able to focus on the state of the market and show their competitive edge—the fact that they were built to save customers money, while it was just a message to everyone else.  While it is sometimes necessary to reposition your brand, it’s also important to consider whether or not the executional strategy you’re employing can be changed to continue the strength of your current positioning.

12 DAYS OF POSITIONING

In spirit of the holidays we thought that it would be nice to give something back to all of our readers-Continuing for twelve consecutive days through December 25th we will be sharing a new post around the philosophy we employ in building each component of a differentiating & motivating positioning for our clients' brands.

Check back here daily for the latest post and as another gift: click here for a free download of our Winter 2012 PositioningTip eBook. (right click + 'save link as' to download file)

Scroll Down for the latest posts.

Update on Friday, December 14, 2012 at 8:00AM by Brand Engineers

Day 1: The Definition of Positioning

Positioning is often defined as the space you want to own in your customers’ minds.  Positioning is also the internal compass for your brand that guides all strategic and creative initiatives.  While it’s easy to define positioning through these broad definitions, getting down to what positioning actually entails requires specificity.  At its core, positioning is composed of a deep understanding of your target customer and an unmet need they hold, the promise of your product to fulfill that need, the reason(s) to believe the promise can be fulfilled by your product, and the emotional benefit customers experience by having the need fulfilled.  These may seem just as broad for now, but stick with us for all 12 days to see what positioning really means.

Update on Saturday, December 15, 2012 at 8:00AM by Brand Engineers

Day 2: Target Customers

Knowing your target customer is crucial to the development of any positioning.  There are often multiple potential customer targets available to a product that can be defined in a variety of ways—men over 40, mothers of 2 or more children, college students—it’s not always easy to “limit” your target, but it’s crucial to great positioning.  The true importance of defining the target customer is to ensure that the promise of the product truly resonates with the target you have selected.  The more clearly the target recognizes a product is speaking to them, the deeper the potential connection that can occur through the promise of the product.  Poorly, or more precisely, generalized targets wind up with generalized needs; broad, more non-descript definitions that can only be resolved with broader, more non-descript promises.  All of this spells disaster for the goal of great positioning.  So take the time to clearly identify your customers, your positioning will be grateful you did.  Stay tuned for the full twelve days and we’ll get to the needs and promises.

Update on Sunday, December 16, 2012 at 8:00AM by Brand Engineers

Day 3: Understanding Your Target's Needs

OK, so you have begun to define your customer, but it probably doesn’t feel quite right yet.  That’s because a critical part of the target definition is need identification.  There are a lot of men over 40 and probably more college students.  Are they all the same?  Do they all want the same things?  The answer to both questions is definitely not.  So how do you refine this target customer set to one that hones a very diverse population into one that can be spoken to as a more homogenized group?  This is where defining the target need comes in.  What is it about this collection of individuals that makes them similar?  What is it that our product does that these potential customers may find appealing that other products do not or cannot do for them?  This is the essence of customer need and it works hand-in-hand with the target definition to help shape exactly who your target customer is and why your product should be relevant to them.  Stay tuned; tomorrow’s post will focus on what you deliver to your target customers.

Update on Monday, December 17, 2012 at 8:00AM by Brand Engineers

Day 4: Delivering on Your Target's Needs

Hopefully, your target customers are listening by now.  You told them you can help, so now they’re paying a bit of attention.  Communicating a promise that resonates with your customers, answers their need, and aids your strategic goals can be a challenging endeavor.  It’s important to start by thinking through what you can actually deliver to your target customer.  For example, your teenage nephew may have on his list “video games.”  The need has been identified, so it’s simple enough—or is it?  First, you need to understand what consoles (Xbox, PS3, Wii?) he has.  Then you need to know what games he already owns, or what games other people may be buying him.  Only then can you start to think about which games are really available to you.  But then you have other considerations—do you want to be the cool gift giving aunt or uncle, or do you want to please the parents, or a game that encourages multiplayer?  (Helpful Hint:  If you’re going for the cool factor, try Assassin’s Creed III or Call of Duty: Black Ops II this holiday season.)  The promise you articulate to your customers has to resonate with them on all levels while directing the way they feel about your brand.  How you communicate that promise determines if they see it as fulfilling their need in a way they want it fulfilled.  Determining the best way to express it isn’t easy, but if you have done the last two steps well, at least you’re on the right track.

Update on Tuesday, December 18, 2012 at 7:25AM by Brand Engineers

Day 5: Keeping Your Promises Singular

As a general rule, it’s best to stand for one thing.  To continue yesterday’s theme, let’s think about that same teenage nephew.  Let’s also assume you took the hint and went for the cool factor but, you also want his parents to be happy with you, so you buy him some sweaters.  What do the sweaters do for your cool factor?  Not much, in fact they degrade it and cause some confusion about it.  Gravitating towards products that have a defined use or purpose is what we do best.  It’s easy for us as humans to categorize them; “I have this and it does that”.  Whenever I need to do ‘that’, I know exactly what to use.  It’s why screwdrivers have a lock on tightening screws and Swiss Army knives don’t.  The Swiss Army knife can tighten a screw but not as well as a screwdriver, just like it can cut a steak, but not as well as a steak knife.  You get the point.  We understand that you want your promise to reflect all the wonderful things your brand can do, but limit it to one; the most important one to your target customer.  Every time you add an “and” to your promise you lose the power of a singular positioning.  

Update on Wednesday, December 19, 2012 at 7:11AM by Brand Engineers

Day 6: Supporting Your Promise

Unfortunately, the world of product marketing is full of empty promises.  Customers who were told that a product would satisfy a need they have, who put down their hard earned money and discovered the product cannot, does not, or will not perform as promised.  This has caused customers to become jaded about what brands promise them.  Let’s consider a holiday season example, think of the way LED lights have been presented for the past few years.  Most often, the messages focus on the brightness of the light given off by these products—but then the primary support (reason to believe) is how energy efficient the bulbs are.  Energy efficiency may be part of the product story and may fit somewhere in the promotion, but it isn’t the reason to believe the promise of brighter lights.  In fact, for most adults, life experience suggests that the brighter the light, the less energy efficient it is, so this connection of brighter lights and energy efficiency is contradictory to most customers.  If you’ve targeted the right need and your product promises the right benefit, make sure you support it in a way that convinces your customers you can deliver.  Come back tomorrow for some more detail on how to handle multiple supporting attributes. 

Update on Thursday, December 20, 2012 at 7:02AM by Brand Engineers

Day 7: The Other Layers of Support

Yesterday we laid out the importance of a strong primary supporting message as the reason customers can believe your product can deliver on its promise.  So what do you do with the rest of the important facts about your product that help to separate it from competitors?  If we continue to look at the LED lights as an example, we know that energy efficiency is a major benefit of the product.  At a time of economic uncertainty and increasing energy prices, it’s also important to customers.  This is where the importance of support tiers comes in to play.  Since the product promise is brightness (we can argue that this isn’t the primary benefit of LED lighting, but that’s for another time) the key support should show how LED lights are discernably brighter than standard incandescent bulbs.  If the product positioning is to be believed and set into the customer’s mind, the positioning, the promise, and the support/Reason to Believe must integrate seamlessly. Once the core of the positioning is established you can go on to provide customers the fortifying information about the product that seals the deal.  In the case of LED lighting it may be the energy efficiency, the extraordinary life, or the relatively cool operating temperatures compared to standard lighting.  Attention spans are short and getting shorter.  If you don’t say what you need customers to hear first and make it all tie together, they will not do the work of deciphering it for you.  You will have wasted an opportunity and potentially lost a customer.  So don’t throw your full list of attributes at customers, just think about the importance of each support point to both your brand and its promise.

Update on Friday, December 21, 2012 at 3:29AM by Brand Engineers

Day 8: The Emotional Benefit

So far, we’ve walked through defining a target and their unmet need, providing a suitable promise, and appropriately supporting that promise.  Today’s piece is one of the most important aspects if you want to drive consumers to your brand: the emotional benefit.  For certain products, it’s easy to see the emotional aspect—high quality jewelry, photographs, even books—but emotion plays an important role in all strong positionings.  Think of it this way: your promise is the functional fulfillment of your customers’ unmet need but the emotion they feel is another important piece of the payoff.  If we look back to the nephew with the “cool factor,” initially the emotional payoff is that he will be happy and maybe even astonished.  This ties back to his functional payoff of getting to play the game which, in and of itself, is not as valuable as the happiness that experience gives him.  His emotional connection is the strongest tie to the brand and, in this case, you for giving it to him.  This level of connection is not possible through functional benefits alone.  The value of the functional aspects fade quickly, actually, they fade as soon as the need is satisfied.  But the emotional benefit that the customer experiences endures; sometimes for a life time.  Check back tomorrow for  what level of emotion is attainable for brands.

Update on Saturday, December 22, 2012 at 2:26AM by Brand Engineers

Day 9: Don't Overpromise Emotionally

As a human being, you’ve experienced both the range and the power of emotions that come in daily life.  From ecstatic to satisfied, there are a variety of emotions that may be generated by the customers that use your product to satisfy their needs and many of these are available to include in the positioning of your brand.  What is important to keep in mind is that understanding the emotional response and the intensity of that response is critical to solidifying the most effective brand positioning.  Think back to the LED lights example we’ve been using.  If the manufacturer claimed that by using these particular lights you would experience the most joyful holiday season ever, you would be more than a bit skeptical.  Why?  Because no one in their right mind would expect that a simple set of lights could create that level of emotional response as a direct result of their use.  Instead, we should be looking for the initiating emotion.  What is the emotion generated as a result of the product that cascades into more intense and memorable emotions?  In the case of the LED lights, the customer may feel their holiday display is brighter, more festive, and attractive, which may lead to a sense of joy and satisfaction.  The lights didn’t create the joy, they facilitated it.  Emotionally the lights may have been satisfying or pleasing, but they resulted in a higher level of emotion.  As you create your product’s positioning, you need to know the emotion you are attempting to deliver and it should be reflected in your brand’s promotion.  Don’t just throw any old emotion in there, know what your customer derives from your product and make it part of the brand.

Update on Sunday, December 23, 2012 at 11:11AM by Brand Engineers

Day 10: The Importance of Creative Implementation

Over the past 9 days we’ve shown you the fundamental pieces of positioning development in the hopes that it would aid your understanding of what it is and why each component is so important.  One of the major opportunities presented by the finalization of positioning is creative implementation.   The positioning identifies the perceptual destination of your brand along with the functional and emotional benefits it delivers to customers; it identifies the “what and how” of the product as you want it to be perceived, but not the execution to achieve it.  Everything from the creative imagery and logo, to the font and brand colors brings the positioning to life and delivers it to your customers.  Different images, colors, and fonts can depict dramatically different tones, emotions, and responses from customers so all must act in conjunction with the positioning to reach the ultimate brand goal.  A simple holiday analogy to this exists in the way gifts are wrapped.  Say you took the time to figure out what your spouse (or significant other) would really appreciate from you.  You did the research, found the gift at the store, went out to get it, and carefully transported it back to the house.  Now say you wrapped it in old newspaper and sealed it with masking tape; chances are that that the presentation of the gift wouldn’t communicate the care and thought that went into picking the gift.  Now take the same scenario, but this time you stopped to have the gift professionally wrapped; high quality paper, silk bows, and adornments that celebrate the recipient and the season--which scenario communicates the thoughtfulness of the gift?  Unless the message is “I found this thing you mat like and threw something together”, I’m going with scenario 2.  This isn’t any different when it comes to your brand.  You take the time to ensure that the positioning reflects your customers’ needs and desires and you make a decision how to present it.  The same careful consideration should be given here as well to ensure that the brand positioning is crystal clear and truly reflective of the brand as you wish it to be defined.

Update on Monday, December 24, 2012 at 7:54AM by Brand Engineers

Day 11: Tying Your Messages Back to Your Positioning

Let’s move our analogy a bit further.  We’ve picked out a great present and decided that we want our spouse to understand the effort and consideration we put into finding just the right gift, so we had it professionally wrapped.  But that isn’t the end of the story.  We can be pretty confident that when they receive the gift it will be clear that we put considerable time and effort into both the gift selection and wrapping (think about this as the core perception), but the gift and card can only represent part of the message we are trying to communicate to them.  Of course, this is likely the part that they will remember most and, quite frankly, the part we want them to remember most, but it’s not the only thing.  There is a back-story that comes with the gift, how you feel about them, why you thought the gift would be perfect for them, or why you think they are worth the effort.  These ‘other’ pieces of information enrich the brand story, they help to fill in the blanks and add richness and context to the ‘positioning’.  In our brand world, advertising, and TV spots are the gift-wrap and the card.  These are the instantaneous perceptions we want to create and drive the overall perceptions we wish to set about the brand, but they aren’t (nor should they be) everything.  Once we have created the interest and set the basis for the brand’s positioning, we deliver the rest of the story through messaging.  This is intended to reinforce the positioning and provide additional support around why they should believe the brand promise.  Complete the picture, tell the story, fill in the blanks, and solidify the positioning.  This step is important in deepening the relationship between customer and brand.

Update on Tuesday, December 25, 2012 at 8:04AM by Brand Engineers

Day 12: Living with your positioning

In the hypothetical sense, you should now have a fully formulated positioning that has been implemented both strategically and creatively.  Now what?  Unfortunately, positioning is not like gift giving in the sense that they’ve opened it, they’ve liked it, and now you don’t have to worry about it for another year.  Customers are constantly interacting with brands and competitors, and that means that brands need to interact back.  Positioning implementation cannot be put on autopilot.  Like a winding mountain road you need to pay attention to the terrain and adapt to it.  The landscape your brand lives in is constantly changing; new competitors, new products and trends competing for your customer’s attention, new ways of interacting and communicating are constantly making what you did last year, last month, last week, ineffective or obsolete.  Like that mountain road, if you fail to adapt and just drive straight ahead you will drive off the cliff.  Once you have all the pieces in place, effective positioning requires monitoring.  Understanding how customer’s perceptions of your brand are changing and what else may be affecting those perceptions.  Tweaking your messaging or finding new ways to communicate your positioning is critical to success.  So once you’ve gotten things rolling, don’t just set it and forget it, watch it, work it, adapt it to your customers and their environment, but stay with it.  Positioning takes time and isn’t done in the short term; with careful attention and thoughtful adaptation you will make it work.  We wish you the best of luck in your positioning endeavors and hope you have a wonderful holiday season and a happy new year!

Can a brand grow with negative perceptions?

McDonald’s same store sales have grown for six straight years, its brand value is rated 4^th according to Millward Brown up in 2011 from 2010 and the Harris Interactive 2012 Reputation Quotient gives McDonald’s a score of “good”.  No one would argue that, even in the face of withering criticism McDonald’s continues to be a success in part because they know who their customers are and they work to satisfy those customers.  If McDonald’s changed the company to satisfy its critics (none of which are customers) they would likely lose their current customer base who like McDonald’s the way it is, and not pick up any new customers from its group of critics.  McDonald’s is doing what good brands should, they know their target customers and are serving them.

Corona's Point of Differentiation

Earlier this week, in our Positioning Tip, we analyzed the Dos Equis brand from a competitive standpoint.  During our review, we made note of the fact that the other main Mexican beer import warranted attention in its own right.

A primary driver of brand positioning is competitive differentiation.  If you look at the broader beer market you begin to see similarities across inter-category segments--domestic beer brands tend to look and feel the same, imported beer brands tend to look and feel the same, and even craft beers look and feel very similar--until you get to Corona.  Corona's positioning is simple: relaxation anywhere.  This drives differentiation from the main points of other imports--country tradition and quality, and from the main focuses of domestics (partying and friendship) and crafts (tradition and uniqueness.  Corona stands alone with its positioning and continues to make "finding your beach" important year round.

Brands show their true colors during the worst of times

It is often said that a person’s true colors show during the most trying of times; the same can be said about brands. The anticipation and aftermath of Hurricane Sandy has clarified all kinds of relationships for me: personal, professional, political, and commercial.  

The stark contrast I saw between communications from Chase Bank® and Bank of America® gave me a deeper glimpse into the emphasis of each brand’s positioning. Chase contacted me before, during, and after the storm with a conversational and empathetic tone; for example, “We hope you, your families and your customers are safe. Natural disasters are very stressful and we want to help where we can.” They shared that they would be waiving fees, and even that they would be sending generators to get their banks up and running in affected areas. All in all, I felt that Chase thought of me as a person and cared about me as a person, which aligned directly with my view of the Chase brand.

On the other hand, Bank of America waited to contact me until after the bulk of the storm with a subject line “Hurricane Sandy Relief.” The email explained I could extend my credit with them—which struck me as rather opportunistic, although they, too, offered to waive fees in the coming days. The communications were flat, generic, and made me feel like I was dealing with a big business as opposed to a member of my community.

How brands view their customers and the relationships they’ve built reflects directly on the values of the brand, ultimately derived from each brand’s positioning. No more than ever communication matters even more and companies need to pay attention beyond the practical point they are trying to make. Tone, timing, context, frequency, and messaging channel all indirectly influence brand perception.

What Impact Does Your Logo Have on Positioning

When part of your branding changes, what impact does it have on the positioning?  Can a logo change affect the perception of the brand?  Change to any aspect of a brand can have an impact on its positioning, particularly something as prominent as a logo.  Sometimes the perceptual change is intended, other times it is not.  Either way, before you make a branding change, you need to consider its impact on the brand’s positioning.

Take, for example, the new eBay^® logo.  In one sense, it is a safer, cleaner, perfectly-corporate version of their old logo.  In another, it is the complete abandonment of the personality eBay used to brim with.  The old eBay logo captured the quirkiness of the brand, the interesting and diverse items one could find there.  Now eBay feels more like another online store, and less like an online bazaar.

Healthcare Marketing in an Increasingly Digital Age

It is safe to say that the use of digital & social media has taken a foothold in the world of healthcare – now more than ever patients have access to prescribing information, promotional materials, disease state knowledge, and experiences from other patients. Physicians across all specialties are reporting an increase in dialogue with their patients, often sparked by something the patient read online. This isn’t limited to the traditional categories of patient involvement, Acid Reflux and E.D., but is now becoming more and more prevalent in chronic disease, previously seen as physician only territory. Patients with rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis, and cancer know more about treatment options than they have historically and want to be part of the dialogue and decision. Involvement by patients in this way isn’t new, but the extent of the involvement is new.

So what does this new customer touch point mean for healthcare marketers? It is one more opportunity for integration. New media doesn’t equal new strategy; in fact it is quite the opposite. As healthcare marketers we need to embrace the web and incorporate it into a larger communication strategy by ensuring that the perceptions we create online build towards the positioning of your brand. With the web increasing the rate of patient driven dialogue it is more important than ever that the perceptions your brand creates with customers/patients online align with the how the brand is positioned to physicians.

When the Pie Dwindles Grab a Different One

The way we think about pharma is shifting.  As the patents on big name drugs begin to expire, we see less and less emphasis on advertising in the pharma space.  Companies do not have any assets in development that compare to the blockbuster drugs of yesterday—in fact, their focus is smaller.  Many of the new drugs awaiting FDA approval are for small, “niche” diseases: targeted therapies indicated for very specific subtypes of diseases. The shift is impacting advertising and marketing in a big way. 

For pharma companies, the days of spending hundreds of millions on large-scale advertising campaigns are nearing their end, but they need to be cautious about getting too far away from it.  Even in smaller markets—where there may be no competitors (yet)—it is important for brands to maintain focus.  Many of these upcoming brands will be working with smaller pies to begin with, and poor focus will lead to even smaller slices.  It’s never safe to just assume that a drug will be prescribed.  The product still needs to stand for something, and it needs to paint a clear picture of what that is for all parties involved.

Miller 64 - "Brewed for the better you"

Over the weekend I tried MillerCoors’ new line of light beer, Miller 64. As a fan of rich, full tasting brews my first thought after bringing this new beer into the house was, “why did I buy this?” I paused, scratched my head and thought about the fact that I’m generally not a big fan of any of MillerCoors’ products, in fact, I don’t really enjoy light beer at all. It wasn’t until I saw the Miller 64 commercial again that I understood why it made enough of an impression on me to try it.

Rather than competing on the field of taste, as most beers do, Miller chose to go the route of identifying a particular user for its new brand. By focusing on the target customer, Miller changed the discussion, implied the benefit of great taste, and broke through the clutter of strong competition. Through television spots and print ads it is clear that Miller is positioning the Miller 64 brand as the beer for those who are incrementally health conscious in their everyday activities, but still take the time to enjoy life with good food, good company, and of course good beer. So if you care about your health, but may not always opt for the salad, or hit the gym every day, the brand’s tagline will tell you, Miller 64 is “brewed for the better you.”

“The ocean is bluer in the iPhone 5, kids look happier, and the world is a more beautiful place”

Once again Apple wowed the world with the latest iteration of its iPhone line and, following this afternoon’s conference, it is clear that Apple hasn’t lost its competitive edge. By understanding its customers at a foundational emotional level, a key principle of the late Steve Jobs, Apple has been able to transform features and benefits available on nearly all smart phones into truly meaningful differentiators. The iPhone 5 is another example of Apple utilizing key principles of positioning to build a truly unique product—one that in a sea of competition is often described as standing alone.

Watch Apple's video introduction to iPhone 5

Avis no longer “Tries Harder”, now they give you “Space”

After 50 years Avis has abandon one of the most famous brand positionings the marketing world has known.  In an attempt to refresh the company image, Avis’ new CMO has decided that the well known rental car company is in the business of providing ‘space’ for business people to recharge and be most productive.  But is the space inside an Avis rental car different than a Hertz rental car or an Alamo rental car?  Is the air conditioning extra cold or the seats extra comfy?  Isn’t one of the basic tenets of brand positioning to differentiate your brand from your competitors?  Can Avis convince customers that they will be more productive if they rent from Avis than if they rent from anyone else? 

When you consider that most rental car companies have fleets that are virtually identical to each other, how is it that Avis’ fleet provides a benefit that the others do not.  Does the new tagline “It’s your space” really define a difference for Avis?  At least the famous and now jettisoned “We try harder” reflected a point of distinction that Avis could create from other companies.  By providing superior service, quick answers, and rapid customer support Avis could decisively separate itself from its competition.  Besides, wouldn’t services and support help the very business people they are targeting be more productive then letting them know that the car they just rented is ‘their space’?

http://adage.com/article/news/50-years-avis-drops-iconic-harder-tagline/236887/