This document provides guidelines for developing an effective brand positioning strategy. It discusses how brand positioning needs to evolve over different phases of a product's lifecycle. A strong brand framework is important to ensure consistency across all customer touchpoints. Great brands offer rational, emotional, and personality benefits that create loyal relationships. The approach involves collaborative research to uncover insights, develop ideas and directions. Stimulus like ads and packaging are tested to determine the positioning. The outcome defines the brand differentiators, personality, and executional guidance so the brand strategy can be successfully implemented. An example case study shows how this process helped develop a new consumer brand for a bakery supplying retailers.

1. A powerhouse of insight, creativity
and brand marketing expertise to
Position and Build Brands

2. A robust and practical brand positioning is vital to focus
marketing in product launch and decline phases
Launch Growth Mature Decline
phase phase phase phase
Repositioning
needed to
attract new or
lapsed
customers
Sales
Positioning
needed to focus
product and
communications
to attract
interest and trial
Time

3. The challenge is to project the same message via all
consumer or brand encounters ...
Organisation/
Culture
Process
Physical
Person
Environment
Product/ Symbol /
Channel Visual Identity
Communication
/Promotion

4. This requires a brand framework to focus and ensure
a consistent consumer take-out
Before
Business
Business
Business
Business
Customer
Brand framework
as a lens
After
Business
Business
Business
Business
Customer

5. Great brands offer a unique combination of rational,
emotional and personality traits that win hearts and
minds…
Awareness Consistent delivery Personality
Incremental Distinctive value Communications Strong and enduring
measures proposition aligned with delivery relationship
Incremental Choice Loyalty Increased leverage
Purchase Premium prices opportunities
benefits
Traffic

6. Three principles guide how we work
1. Work collaboratively to think from a
consumer point of view (or via
research) to uncover insights and
ideas where your brand is now and
could go in the future
• vital as your customer is the
ultimate arbiter of choice
2. Create very rich stimulus to bring to 3. Use customers as co-creators to
life and explore the positioning determine where your brand should
territory your brand could occupy go and why.
• ie the rational and emotional • create strategic and executional
benefits, supports, character blue-print to inform brand
/personality traits covering what to development and execution
say and how to say it

7. Our approach is collaborative, creative and rigorous
Insight Ideas Direction

8. In highly competitive markets, original consumer or
market research is needed to reveal true and useful
insights on consumers’ needs and brand beliefs….
Insight Summary
Summary of profound understanding on a consumer or his/her
circumstances.
Has to be expressed as a consumer need, want or belief to
ensure that it is something that genuinely matters to consumers.
Relevance / Application of Insight
How this consumer need, want or belief articulated by this
insight could be acted upon or applied to benefit the brand

9. …that point to clear and compelling brand positioning
routes to explore and…
Wife (of ‘Crantock’
Mum’s mum
Everyman) the baker
Magical Efficient
helper housewife
Master
Innovator Good host
baker

10. …focus creative work to express what sets your brand
apart and mimic real consumer encounters…
Mock-up ads are
created to express
the range of
positioning
nuances. All are
explored with
consumers to
determine what
truly stands-out
and excites….

11. Working with a range of designers, packaging ideas
are created to mimic real-life in-store experiences …
Packaging is
designed to cover
the spectrum of
positioning
options. They help
confirm what
drives and inhibits
appeal ….

12. Using multiple types of stimulus all details are
covered and nothing is left to ‘chance’….
Brand names and
logo types echo
and summarise
brand positioning
opportunities.
They help spotlight
the ‘space’ that
could be occupied

13. Via creative qualitative and semi quantitative research
and rigorous analysis powerful new positioning
dimensions are clarified and confirmed…
Creative Audience Workshops
Brand
promise
R R R R Personality
e e e e
c c c c Rational benefits
y y y y
c c c c
Emotional benefits
l l l l
i i i i
Supports (Reason why)
n n n n
g g g g Consumer
Target market
insight

14. Brand positionings are defined in both strategic and
executional terms…
Brand Differentiators Brand Personality
and Promise – define - defines how to
what to communicate with
communicate to consumers
consumers

15. … so they can be acted upon to ensure successful
brand development and communication

16. Crantock’s Success Story
Background:
• Crantock Bakery mainly supplies the bake-off trade
with pasties that are sold using retailers’ own labels
Challenge:
• To research and develop guidelines for a new high
quality ‘Cornish’ consumer brand
Approach:
• Collaborative working to develop hypotheses and
create packaging and brand communication stimulus
• Multi-stage research with both men/women in 3
parts of the country to explore reaction to pies,
pasties and Cornish produce and creative exercises
to develop a new consumer brand
• Debrief and working session with client team
Results:
• Insights identified and strategy developed to create
a new consumer brand covering brand name,
positioning, personality, product/packaging and
communication guidelines. Launching 2011.

17. What sets us apart
• Brand marketing consultancy;
research, creative and strategic
marketing experts
• Leading edge brand expertise
• Pioneering research and
creative techniques
• Network of world class creative
partners
• Superior analysis and
marketing/commercial skills
• Collaborative way of working
• Global capability
• Clear and practical deliverables

18. Call Guy Tomlinson to discuss how we could help you:
The Marketing Directors
The Old Barrel Store
Brewery Courtyard
Draymans Lane
Marlow Bucks SL7 2FF
Tel: +44 (0) 1628 400 699 (Main)
Email: themd@themarketingdirectors.co.uk
www.themarketingdirectors.co.uk

19. Personality and style/tone guidelines
IS
Homely, human, Traditional, Caring, heart of Down-to- Friendly,
imperfect authentic community, earth experienced
altruistic
ISN’T
Aloof, authority Factory Haute cuisine, Boring, formal,
figure, old workers fancy chef ‘why is he
wearing a tie’

20. Example Insight Platform/Brand Creative Brief
Insight Summary: Summary of profound understanding on a consumer or his/her
Insight & circumstances. Has to be expressed as a consumer need, want or belief to ensure that it
application of is something that genuinely matters to consumers and the business.
insight Application of Consumer Insight: how could this consumer insight be acted upon or
applied to consumers’ lives to meet the need, want or belief articulated by this insight
Description of target consumer Description of when the consumer
Target market Occasion
could use the brand
Consumer Summary of what the brand offers consumers and why it is different and appealing
proposition /
promise
Rational benefits Emotional benefits
Summary of the rational benefits Summary of the emotional or self image benefits
delivered by the brand delivered by the brand
Offer features / supports (reasons why)
Summary of the key brand or product features that make this claim credible and believable
Personality Description of how the brand talks to consumers
style and tone Some times helpfully described in terms of dos and don’ts
Description of symbols, ideas that epitomise the brand
Brand symbols

21. Personality/style and tone guidelines - detail
ISN’ IS ISN’
T T
Haute
Artist, Family baker,
cuisine,
artisan server/carer
fancy chef
Just a label, Genuine Cornish Idealised,
superficial experience, true to roots happy clappy
Friendly, sociable, Smothering, in
Whacky
heart of community your face
One of the lads, Masculine, Alpha male,
cheeky chappy down-to-earth super sporty
Hand-made, Factory
Perfectionism
traditional, human made