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.

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.

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.” 

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)

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.

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)

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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.

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.