POSITIONING STATEMENT

Positioning statement is not published, but it is an internal guidance.

Mostly, we see taglines which is an articulation of a positioning statement. Taglines
are for short-term promotion, but positioning should last.

ELEMENT DEFINITION
Target Market Chosen target user, it should be specific, i.e. Differentiable,
Measurable, Reachable, Valueable.
Problem The key need or concern (remember Kotler’s 5 levels of
product, mostly the Core Product, Generic Product and
Expected Product)
Frame of Reference The category you to be belong in. If you produce a car, you
have to choose the class of your product will it be Toyota
Camry class, Honda Civic class, or Yaris class?
Basic Requirements Characteristics, benefits or features required to play in the
category. If you want to be in Zara class, then you have to be
able to provide new product every 2 weeks, and located in a
prominent location. If you want to run a prestigious
restaurant, you have to rent a space in a prestigious mall.
Point of Difference One compelling reason the target should choose us; not a
compilation of many ideas, directly address targets’
problem, need, pain point or challenge; different from
competitors; focus on sustainable benefit (not feature). It
could be rational, it could be emotional, it could show the
pain or it could show the result. Example: Fedex’ “When it
absolutely positively has to be there overnight” means speed.
MacPro’s Beauty outside. Beast inside means a capable
machine. Disneyland’s ‘The happiest place on earth’ don’t
need further explanation.
Reason To Believe A solid list of validating features, capabilities, performance
facts and or testimonials that makes our point of difference
believable. Better if it includes rational and emotional proof.
For example: 9 out of 10 use it; used in the North Pole
exploration; no animal testing.
Distinguished from Consider competitors’ true capabilities, claims and target
Competition market perceptions. Direct competitors are closely watch
and become a part of the positioning. Unlike BMW,
Mitsubishi applies a double fuel injector system to ensure a
maximum performance. Unlike Nike, Puma puts fashion above
athletic performance.
Emotional End We have a clear view of the positive feeling we want our
Benefit customer to have about using, displaying, and or having
attachment to our brand. For instance, I am smart, I am
prestigious, I belong to …
Source: http://www.slideshare.net/CatStrat/cat-brand-positioning-101quiz
Pisang Barangan (example)

Pisang Barangan is one of the most delicious banana, especially in the Sumatra
Island.

Target Market: Housewifes with or without baby through modern supermarkets

and fruit stores. The target is twofold, Housewifes as the end buyer and stores
(supermarkets and fruit stores).

Problem:
1. Core Product: Pisang Barangan at a certain level of ripeness to remove
hunger or to stop craving.
2. Generic Product: Pisang Barangan is a ready to eat fruit. A thick yellow brow
skin covers the fruit meat. The skin can easily be peeled. A ripe Pisang
Barangan skin is yellowish brown with black dots, and it scents nicely. A
stem of Pisang Barangan consists of 8 to 12 combs, and each comb consists
of 12 to 20 fingers.
3. Expected Product: A ripe Pisang Barangan skin is yellow with some black
dots, it become yellowish brown overtime, and getting more black dots. A
ripe Pisang Barangan produces a nice scent.
4. Augmented Product: (1) Although the degree of ripeness could be assessed
from the color and black dots, it is better to put its expiry date. (2) 12 to 20
fingers per comb could be too much, it is better to sell it by half of a comb.

Frame of Reference
Pisang Barangan competes against Cavendish Banana which is branded under
Sunripe.

Basic Requirements
To compete against Sunripe, the following requirement should be met:
1. It should branded (the brand will be Xadina);
2. It should come in 1/3 of a comb, or 4 fingers;
3. Expiry date should be provided;
4. Over-ripe Pisang Barangan should be collected on time;
5. The skin of shelved Pisang Barangan should be yellow with around 100 black
dots.

Point of Difference
Pisang Barangan is a healthy gift of nature.

Reason To Believe
The study of Panuju shows that Pisang Barangan is good for babies starting at 6
months of age. Wild grown Pisang Barangan is better in term of Folic Acid and
minerals.
Distinguished From Competition
Xadina is a native fruit from Sumatra, grown in the wild with no pesticides and
artificial fertilizer. Chicken, goats and sheeps live in the estate. Traditional farmer
grown them in the wild with traditional nurturing system.

Emotional Benefit
Healthy fruit from healthy farming grown in the wild.
Brand Positioning and Product Positioning

A brand springs to exist through three different paths:

1. Through the vision of its founder, like Richard Branson (Virgin), Howard
Schultz (Starbucks), Mark Zuckerberg (Facebook), Jeff Bezos (Amazon) and
others.
2. It starts from a product with uniqueness. Overtime it develops into a brand.
Most brands developed in this way, including Coca Cola which first is sold as
a medicine.
3. It becomes a strong brand because it took the second path. Amazon
successfully became the largest bookstore in the world. Then, it also sells
non-book items and it is now one of the most important e-commerce
platform in the world.

ROLE A product boasts its functions, rational and emotional. But a brand
reflects its customers, because it is a source of identity. It reveals a personality, such
as Harley Davidson that reveals the rebellious personality. It shares culture, like
Mercedes is German, Mac is cool and contemporary, Coca Cola is North American,
and Starbucks is eco-friendly. And a brand builds relationships with its customer,
such as Facebook is a partner in developing our network. More at http://www.bdn-
intl.com/BrandVsProductPos.php

BRANDING A brand is connects a customer to a product. Imagine that you are in

front of different bottled tea in a supermarket. You will find it as a confusing array of
product, and a brand will help you choosing the right product. Brand positioning is,
then, position some values in the memory of customers. It is not about inserting
words or sentences, but it let the customers build their own perception about the
value of the brand. The process let the customer perceives these values as
appropriate, but consisting of our values which are transmitted through
advertisement, promotion and most importantly customer experiences. By
continuously transmitting our values to the customers our brand will be kept as a
valuable memory. This process needs time and it is called ‘branding’. You can
position your brand now, but it needs time for the brand to reside in your
customers’ mind. More at https://www.bayt.com/en/specialties/q/30167/what-is-
the-difference-between-brand-positioning-and-product-positioning/

TAGLINE and SLOGAN A tagline and a slogan is not the brand positioning
statement. A tagline is the summary of the brand. A slogan is a summary of the
product. However, sometimes it is used interchangeably.
BMW Tagline is ‘The Ultimate Driving Machine’, but the slogans are
The BMW 3-series. It's why some enthusiasts are more enthusiastic than
others.
Torque of The Town
No Compromise, No Substitute... The new BMW M3
IBM Tagline is ‘Think’. And Apple Tagline is ‘Think Different’ which is grammatically
wrong. The slogans are (for iPhone):
 ‘Apple reinvents the phone’ and ‘This is only the beginning’ (the first, 2007).
 ‘The first phone to beat the iPhone’ and ‘The iPhone you have been waiting
for’ (iPhone 3G, 2008)
 ‘The fastest, most powerful iPhone yet’ (iPhone 3GS, 2009)
 ‘This changes everything. Again’ (iPhone 4, 2010)
 ‘The biggest thing to happen to iPhone since iPhone’ (iPhone 4S, 2011)
 ‘Forward thinking’ (iPhone 5, 2012)
 ‘For the colorful’ (iPhone 5S, 2013)
 ‘Bigger than bigger’ (iPhone 5C, 2014)
 ‘If it's not an iPhone, it's not an iPhone’ (iPhone 6, 2015)
 ‘This is 7’ (iPhone7, 2016)

And, look what Samsung is doing: