 As-Salamu Alaikum, Qawatin Huzrat. Wasim As-San welcomes you to the Virtual University of Pakistan and lecture number 19 of Grand Management, MKT 624. We are still into good old positioning. I've been talking about this for the previous lead lectures probably and I'm still going to talk about the same and I'm going to pick up the threads where I left in the previous lecture. We're talking about the shift in positioning and all that. Positioning, maintaining positioning and repositioning are some of the most popular questions relating to area. When should we do that and why should we do that are the questions that we're going to discuss in this lecture. There are certain guiding principles which lay the foundation for any changes that are to be brought about in the positioning of a brand. And let us start talking about those one by one. The first being update your position whenever it is necessary. You have to look at the positioning from the standpoint of fulfillment of needs. If as brand managers you realize that the needs are being fulfilled without any problem it is still relevant to the target market meaning positioning. It is still relevant to the market dynamics and customers do not really have any problem with the positioning that we have for the brand then you may not change that. But the moment you realize that there are certain needs which remain unmet you have been quick all the time but you have been very efficient in trying to identify if there are any needs which are to be met and you have identified okay fine there are some and that is when you start considering whether you should go for a change in positioning or not. So when I said wherever and whenever there are unmet needs you should change the position. I never meant that US brand managers have been sleeping over something or have not been really alert to the bringing about a response to the unmet needs meaning meeting the changes. No, I don't mean that. What I meant was as to mean is that any unmet needs which are there for taking and therefore fulfillment you must grab those and capitalize those and then see if they require any change in positioning. Generally it is said that it is about 3 to 5 years of time given to one positioning relating one consumer brand. That may not be true in the case of Volvo the example which I gave you in the previous lecture and you will recall what happened sales declined only because people started thinking that maybe the company has changed the focus from safety to performance and they are no longer paying attention to the safety factor and they felt kind of put off. They did not talk about the car in as much number in as much volume as the car was setting previously. So that is one example which very convincingly explains whether that we should go ahead with changing position or not. In relation to the consumer consumables like I told you it is said that generally it is about 3 to 5 years because then you should start considering that a change in positioning should come about. To what extent whether the change should be minor or should be major that is something that you have to study in relation to the dynamics of the situation at that particular point in time. But there are certain guiding principles and other factors which lay the foundation for the shift in positioning in a well structured way. Let us take a look at those one by one and I would invite you to take a look at the screen which graphically illustrates what those factors are. As you can see from this illustration there are five factors which are studied whenever there is a need to update your brand position. Number one is the value. Here we have to ask ourselves again quite a few questions. It all is a game of questions and answers because you have to reassure yourself that whatever you are undertaking has to be most accurate and you do not make any strategic mistakes because any lapses on your account are going to translate into strategic fiascos and disasters and you have got to make sure that you do not run into that kind of a difficult situation. So what is value? One of the criteria of judging whether we should be updating the position or not. The questions that you should ask yourselves are do customers feel motivated to buy? If they are no longer very much interested or feel motivated to keep on buying that is the moment when you start thinking to yourself what has gone wrong? Maybe we are not really communicating the right message and that is where you start considering a shift in positioning. The second question which you may ask yourself is do the customers really prefer of a brand over competition? Now this is something which is going to lead to the comparison which I talked about earlier and about which you are an expert by now, I hope pretty much. Because you compare the strengths of your brand with the strengths of competitors' brands. Now there is a very strong possibility that competitors have done something with their brands and have improved the positioning of not all the competitor brands say one major brand has improved to the detriment of your brand that is a moment of thought. You must think to yourself what is it that you should do? Shift the position and how? In what terms? In terms of service or in terms of the product attributes in terms of distribution in terms of technology so that whatever is the case that is going to present itself to you if you try to be incisive and if you try to be analytical. The next question which you should ask yourself is do the really feel the getting to benefits? I mean maybe they are tired of the benefits which have become so standard by now only because somebody else has offered them better benefits. So that again is a situation in which you must think to yourself what is it that you should be doing with the shift in positioning. Now whenever we talk about the shift it means it is not something that only may be confined to the level of communication because we know that positioning is something which solve a communication problem but then that communication which is taking place destined for the customer has to be matched with the product itself otherwise what is it that you are going to talk? So therefore it is going to have its ramifications across so many boundaries across so many functional lines with the meaning maybe there is something that has to be done in terms of the production process maybe there is something that has to be done in terms of the technology there is something that has to be done in terms of the machines you know the technology is the same but machines have become very old and you have started receiving a lot of quality complaints and in order to rectify those whether you have got to do something with the machines and equipment or maybe you have to do something with information systems these are a few areas which I keep talking about for your benefit and the objective is that your approach should not be very single minded and you have got to understand and keep into consideration all the touch points all the contact points which brand management has with other functional areas within the business setup okay another question which you must ask yourself is does the market allow us to charge your premium? now this is not a negative situation this could be a situation in which you see the brand is so strong that you feel actuated that go for the price increase and you feel actuated to go for the price increase because of so many different factors inflation being one and you have got to meet all the challenges of increasing costs I mean direct costs indirect costs and everything which is translated into money so you think to yourself why shouldn't we go for the price increase the question is is the market ready for that and if the market is ready you bring about that change now the next question is does the change signify a shift in positioning or not? if it does we shall talk about that why if it does then you bring about a change in positioning another question of the brand is does the positioning cut across various segments I would take you back once again to the price quality index you started with one of the segments and you also remember the segments to the right and left of the one where you started off now it is very obvious that you're not going to confine yourself to just one segment or to just one offering you ought to have so many different offerings in order to satisfy maybe the same need in a very macro way but then to serve so many different customers relating to a brand is for when maybe somebody is not that hungry but somebody is looking for something with a smaller size which has a clear profile which is very compatible but that particular point in time so you ought to offer the customer something which has a variation and if you are in a position to do that meaning if you are in a position to offer so many entries meaning so many different types of sandwiches with the two different types of customers but within the same segment then the positioning of the brand is good and it really is valued and you can say it is valuable because you do not really have to shift it that frequently or that often because it cuts across so many segmental lines ok the next criterion is about uniqueness and this says does the position make of a brand really unique meaning does it exclude competition if it does exclude competition it really carries the character and element of uniqueness and the questions we have to consider are do customers consider of a brand positioning as something really unique different from others if the answer is yes ok fine if the answer is no then it does not really carry that element of uniqueness and you might be forced into thinking that you have to bring about a change in positioning meaning you have to update that the next criterion I mean the next question is does our brand really offer a unique value proposition I mean USP when I was talking about USPs in relation to one particular era which was back in the 1950s which was the product era that does not mean that USPs have ceased to exist even today and for all times to come companies and brands are going to find unique selling propositions in order to differentiate their brand from the rest of the crowd and if you are convinced that your brand does carry a USP then there may not be need to bring about a change in positioning but if the brand no longer offers something which you might consider as a unique proposition then the positioning has got to be updated something has to be done and again you have to decide in relation to the situation the kind of change which should be brought about maybe in the package just about the package because consumers and customers are tired of looking at the same thing for years and years or maybe in terms of hardcore attributes and so on and so forth another question that you may ask yourself is do customers immediately recall of a brand when we tell them the position now this is not to say that you talk with your customers about the positioning statement which you crafted in relation to your strategic planning and in terms of strategic preparation for the whole framework it doesn't mean that of course that is something very internal but then you develop that because you want it to be very clear about what direction the brand is going to take and what are going to be different turns which you might be taking ahead and there in order to reach your final destination getting back to the question when you are talking with your customers in relation to your market research with the model which you developed while you were developing the brand picture for example those are the models which will help you all along when you are talking with your customers this was I think if I recall correctly one of the questions somewhere where you ask them by way of giving them leads and those leads indirectly are related to the position that you have created for their mind and when you give them that lead they immediately say yes that's the brand which I can think of when you name this particular factor and if the respondent immediately they can recall your brand then you are wrong with positioning it means positioning stays very strong but if the respondent or the customer cannot really recall your brand even with the help of very strong leads then you have got to do something about your positioning the next criterion is about and that addresses the question is our brand positioning credible in the marketplace or is it something that we have to do in order to make it credible are there competitive brands that are much more credible now what is it which makes the brand more credible it may not be the tangible factors meaning the hardcore attributes which may go wrong it may be just for example distribution which has caused these kind of ripples full of problems you in that case have to do something to fix the distribution situation in order to make your brand credible the point is you have to look at anything and everything which has the potential or which has made your brand incredible strength credible and strong is the basic objective another question relating credibility that you can ask yourself is are we delivering the promise maybe we no longer are delivering the promise again one reason could be that we have some quality problems and the customers do not feel that the promise this brand makes is being fulfilled meaning there is a breach of contract or is it that there is something along with communication process the promise is being delivered but somehow a perception on part of the customers has developed that we are poor on delivering the promise but even then like we all know perception is stronger than reality we have to look into the situation and fix it another question that we must ask ourselves is is the positioning credible enough to allow the management commit resources for time to come but this is a very very important question we have got to be convinced about the fact that our brand is credible and if we commit ourselves to huge resources financial resources everything you know translates into financials if we commit ourselves to resources we are not going to make blunders meaning the brand is credible and if the positioning is such that the management starts questioning itself or starts questioning the very rationale of the question then there is something along with positioning I mean if you as a manager one of the managers responsible for making the decision are not really convinced that you should commit the amount of money which must be put into the brand in future months and years why would you stick to that positioning raising money is not all that easy you know it's companies resources money is coming out of the reserves money is coming out of banks so it is a very very strategic area about which managers have got to be very clear and tell themselves that they really feel comfortable while the commit resources to the positioning the brand has again do not lose sight of this fact that it is not a commitment to just one concept it basically is a commitment to the set of strategies which are at work in order to achieve the objectives the financial objectives the marketing objectives and those strategies or the set of strategies has come out of the positioning that is why I said why should management commit itself with the positioning because positioning translates into something really huge another criterion is sustainability and this relates the big question can we sustain the position for a long time and the questions are is it that we no longer sustain the position I mean let us start with a question which might make us susceptible and vulnerable to the market situation and we ask ourselves can we really sustain this position to convince ourselves whether you can or you cannot again maybe because of the negative pressures or because of the lack of resources because of some internal problems that plagued the company or that has started presenting the company with some serious problems could be anything maybe a lot of people leave the company something has gone wrong with the company culture and all of a sudden the company finds itself at crossroads these are a few areas which might make the company vulnerable and US brand managers must be sensitive to all these things because it affects the overall performance of the company and yours in particular the next question that you have to ask yourself is it that the needs and wants will remain the same for some time to come now this is not something which stems from vulnerability this is something positive and this prepares you for times to come this prepares you to preempt something which might pop up as something negative so you've got to convince yourself that the positioning is going to sustain itself because of the resources that you have committed and because of the sales results that you're getting from the market and because of the overall reputation of the brand that it enjoys on the market yet another question that you must ask yourself is is it that the position that we copied quickly to the buy competition I think this is something that we talked earlier as well and this again is something that should keep you prepared all the time for any possible eventuality another question that you should ask yourself what is it that we need to sustain this positioning internally as well as externally well as far as the external situation is concerned I think we have talked about so many different factors and examples that might present a problem giving the company reason to update the position positive or negative but let us talk about external ones this is something which I will talk again in relation to another perspective but let me go light on this one right away all the people in the company meaning all the managers and all the people down below have got to stay committed to the positioning of the brand again you might start questioning is it that we have to tell them this is the positioning statement well in a way yes but basically it is the strategies and it is the execution framework which is a translation of those strategies and which overall is a reflection of the positioning of the brand which the whole company must be committed you have got to ask yourself is it that we can sustain this positioning because people continue to stay committed to the positioning if the answer is yes then you are a good company a lucky company and if the answer is no you have got to the pin point where the problem lies once you have identified the problem you have got to go for the fix meaning you as a team a smaller team in the marketing department first larger or an extended team within the company across various functional boundaries the next criterion is what you may call fit does the positioning have a perfect fit with the organization part of that I already have talked about the question that arises is does the positioning promise fulfilling our goals again the factor of commitment and I think you are quite very clear about that factor by now the next question that you should ask yourself is does it have the potential meaning does the positioning have the potential to fill the growth gap back to one of the previous lectures one of the goals of management or one of the objectives that you fulfilled is that you fill the growth gap and you fill the growth gap by strengthening the existing brand by introducing its variations by getting to different segments or maybe by getting to different categories of different products this is an area which is going to be talked about spanned over quite a few lectures and this basically relates line extensions and brand extensions I should be talking about that area in great detail but that's something that we have to ask ourselves is the positioning strong enough and does it have the potential to fill that growth gap with the help of existing brand if the growth gap is to be filled only in the segment or only in the category that you are working for or working where in that's one thing if the growth gap is to be filled over a broader area meaning there is a great need for the company to get into different categories like I just pointed out then it becomes a game in which not only you but also others that are involved well others are involved all the time but the emphasis is going to shift on the categories the potential categories for the company may like to get into as part of the overall business region this is a very important question because that relates what the company really wants to achieve two years down the line or three years or five years alright having answered these questions the next one you may ask yourselves is will the positioning really enhance the value of the brand and hence the profitability of the company well if the questions that I have asked I have talked about so far are well answered and you are very clear about the circumstances that surround your particular situation within the company then I think you are in just about the right position if the answers are right meaning yes you can tell yourself the brand has the potential to further grow it will fill the growth gap it will bring a lot more contribution financial contribution to the company and hence will beef up the bottom line and bottom line is the bottom line and if you have a healthy bottom line it automatically translates into good cash flows and if you have positive cash flows does it provide you with an opportunity to go for further investments and in particular of your interest is investments into the market communications a huge area advertising promotions and this and that we are going to talk about those also later but what I am saying is this is a very weighty question which must be answered that does the positioning have the potential to add value to the brand and hence add to the profitability of the company and with this we are done with the criteria that must be at work in order for us to make the assessment whether we should go for an update of positioning or not with that we are done with the first guiding principle which is update your position whenever it is necessary and with the help of a very well laid out we are now clear when how and why we should go for an update in our positioning the second the guiding principle is that brand positioning guides all the strategies within the company this is something which I have been talking about here and there at so many different occasions let us talk about brand XYZ all over again when I was talking about changing the focus from the direct delivery meaning delivering free the need for putting up small outlets small utility restaurants I was talking about changing strategies that is automatic whether we change the positioning or not that is something that has to be taken for granted whenever you shift your focus from one area of activity to another even remaining within the same ambit of positioning strategies are going to experience some change here and there so the example of putting up small utility restaurants takes us into the area of investment and into the area of training of people into the area of logistics of different nature into the area of warehousing or storage at those restaurants of different nature because now we are dealing with a network another implication which it is going to have is your decision whether you should own all those small outlets or you should get into a franchiser and franchisee relationship this is something that you might have studied in one of the courses of the business administration but my point is if you are going to own all the restaurants all over the place your strategies going to be of one nature and if you are going to get into some kind of a franchising arrangement then the set of strategies is going to be very different altogether the objective here is not to talk about the pros and cons relating to owning the chain versus getting into franchising the objective here is to understand and appreciate the significance which is attached to changing strategies and how to be ready for that and how to bring about changes in the implementation process and how to be led by brand positioning now I said even if there is no change in the brand positioning I am not saying that there is just no change in the positioning and we are getting into restaurants from service of one kind which still is direct delivery I am saying whatever the positioning is even if it necessitates a change in the position all the more reason it is going to bring about a change in the strategies because strategies are a translation of the positioning statement that really guides you the kind of areas you should get into in order to start working to achieve your objectives so this is I would say a very relevant example of how positioning guides us into developing strategies and into bringing about a change in strategies and to sum up the example which I have just talked about these are the strategies which in terms of the management you will call strategies of growth you might be grappling with strategies which are connected to a decline but this is a situation in which you are trying to come to grips with strategies of growth and this is a situation in which you are going to make a brand more credible this is a situation in which you are going to strengthen your brand increase its sales and add to the value how it is going to bring to the company and add to the value it carries for the customer so that is about positioning, leading all the operational strategies its clear I hope very much the third guiding principle relates the top management and this principle says that top management must lead the charge what this really means is that top management has got to stay committed to the positioning and their commitment that it must not be just lip service to manifest that support in real terms and if they are committed to the brand positioning others are going to follow them and that will become the company's culture and if the company has that kind of culture there is no way that the company is not in a position to fulfill all the goals and objectives that it has set to itself the fourth guiding principle is that employees of the company bring positioning to life now here again you might be thinking how come it is that employees could bring their positioning to life because it is advertising it is communication it is so many different things which are taking place on the marketing side which should in principle bring positioning to life no it is not that don't forget that positioning is integrated into so many different strategies and into a complete framework which is all encompassing and it takes that framework takes into its fold all the people working for the company isn't it that the product of the brand you are selling is manufactured somewhere and there are some people responsible to produce a certain quality according to the benchmark which is established by your brand isn't it that there are some people responsible for transportation of all that isn't it that there are some people who are responsible for inventory management of the brand that you are selling of the brand that you have created isn't it that there are people who are keeping all the accounts in relation to whatever is happening with the brand and with the company and they out so all these people across so many functional boundaries they have got to be sold to the positioning they have got to be convinced that whatever positioning with the marketing department or brand managers have created is very relevant and the company has got to achieve that in order to be a viable entity and for that we have got internal marketing and internal marketing is something that cannot be enforced it is something which has to be taken by all the employees by conviction you just cannot order something and tell him or her well this is the way we are looking at the product or the brand and this is the way you must also start thinking about you cannot enforce that they have got to develop conviction in their minds and create position in their minds regarding the positioning of the brand to which they are handling whether in terms of producing it or in terms of maintaining the warehousing or in any other terms everybody whether the company has got to be sold to the idea of the positioning and sold to the positioning statement meaning all these strategies only then we are going to work for the implementation of those strategies so in other words they have got to become brand ambassadors if you are the brand managers all other employees of the company have got to be the brand ambassadors whatever they are they have got to think all the time about the brand strategies meaning brand positioning all the time they have to work on those lines and that is the way they bring positioning of the brand to life that is what is meant by that through internal marketing I talked about that through internal marketing you maximize your positioning in so many different ways you have carried out internal marketing it is not a one time process you keep doing that and you are talking with your colleagues informally informally at so many different forums during training programs during presentations across the department presentations you go forth but there are certain factors which really maximize the positioning and those are the factors which come into play while you talk with them while you try to build up their conviction through formal and informal forums and those factors as a result of the text book which is the prescribed text book for this course calls audience it is an acronym A-U-D-I-E-N-C-E audience now what this audience is which really maximizes the positioning of the brand as a result of internal marketing that you have carried out or that you carry out from time to time let's take a look at that the first letter of the acronym audience A it stands for awareness now this is not the awareness that we are or that we keep talking about in relation to the marketplace meaning customers it is awareness on part of the employees they should be able to do brand positioning that's what the author states and that's what the author suggests very strongly that all the employees whether the company should be in a position to clearly state positioning of the brand now it may not be in exactly the same terms or in words which you have put together as part of your strategic plan what it means is whenever they talk about positioning they should not be off the track they should not be miles and miles off they should be on the same wavelength the second letter of the acronym audience is you and you stand for understanding they must understand meaning the employees why the brand positioning was chosen and how that affects their lives as part of the company so in other words they've got to be told that why that particular position was chosen it is not that you have got to go through all the marketing process like you're going through this course of brand management it doesn't mean that what it really means is you've got to give them the rationale and giving the rationale you talk about the overall market what you're operating in you talk generally about your competitors and you talk about the gap which you're trying to fill and you talk about strengths and weaknesses other than your brand, the visibility and the competition and then convince them that the positioning that you have chosen for the brand is just about the right positioning so that they're sold to it and they can develop understanding of that so awareness and understanding what orders these stands stand for these stands for direction the internal marketing that you are carrying out gives all the employees of the company a sense of direction once they have the awareness the requisite awareness and understand the background or what you may call the reason for being of the product meaning why the product exists once they are convinced about the reason for being mark this terminology they really have a very clear sense of direction and the need to have that sense of direction in order to be the best workers in whatever field they are working in this is the sense of direction which is going to help the company to use the level of quality which is expected by your customers and this is the sense of direction which is going to help your colleagues to handle upon it through all the stages within the company and outside of the company so their output in terms of the direction they must take must come to be the best so about this you can develop standards because once they have the sense of direction and you want them to stay the course and not to move right and left which is obvious I think which goes without saying you've got to develop certain standards and when I say you what I mean is people all over the company they've got to develop standard operating procedures SOPs which basically is part of operations management and the concept should be very clear to you guys as well that there have to be a set of standards relating different areas within the company and those standards have got to be followed whether by people working in those areas so that they do not really deviate from what is standardized only then you will get the product of the same standard and of the same quality day in, day out and by the way this is one thing which sets a product a tangible product apart from a service product in a when you are selling a service product it becomes quite very difficult to maintain the same standard because you are not selling something tangible that's not the point of discussion at the moment I just digressed for the sake of the benefit the next letter of the audience is I and I stands for inspiration what is inspiration and how it really helps in maximizing positioning of the brand and what are the remaining letters and what they stand for is something I think for the next lecture I would like to wrap up whatever we have talked about for positioning so far and whatever is left of the concept taken up in the next lecture in which we shall be done with this concept inshallah and we will get on to the next learning block within the brand, the management framework I look forward to seeing you in the next lecture Allah Hafiz until then