Brand Positioning

Powered by Harvard Business Education Publishing materials, this module addresses brand positioning principles. It demonstrates how companies can strategically craft powerful, resonant, and unique brand positions to help products stand out amidst the cacophony of the marketplace. Strategic brand positioning provides consumers with the answer to the all-important question, “Why should I buy?” The module discusses how to craft a brand’s value proposition for competitive advantage through analysis and synthesis of consumer, company, and competitive factors. It highlights the types of brand positions that companies can stake out in the minds of consumers, providing insight into the many creative ways brands can be differentiated from one another. It guides defending a market position by illuminating the competitive dynamics of brand positioning. Finally, it presents the challenges associated with repositioning brands and the tension between maintaining consistency in a brand’s meaning and adjusting to changing consumer preferences.

This module features an Interactive Illustration demonstrating a technique for visualizing consumers’ mental landscapes: “Perceptual Map of Watch Brands.” It also contains links to three video clips: “Hiring Milkshakes for Breakfast,” which describes how consumers “hire” a product or service to meet a specific need, and 2 TV commercials: “1984,” for the Apple Macintosh computer, and “No Cages,” for the Harley-Davidson “Build Your Freedom” custom motorcycle program.