 سلام علیکم خواتین حضراتہ سی رہی ہے ۔ لیکن آپ کو پارکستان کے مجھے بار میں پورا دانے دل کیا ہے۔ دل کے لیکشن مرے اٹین ۔ برانت بینششری ۔ جولنر کے بار میں ۔ میں تویزے کا ایک بڑے رکھنے والے ۔ اللیکشن مرے ٹ سبٹین و ٹ سبٹین ۔ کیونکہ ہم نے ہے جو بہت اہمcommine ۔ برانت بینشچنے کے بارے میں اس کے طرف دکار ہوتا ہے۔ اور ہمارے سامنی تلیے مجھے بات کیا ش었어요 کیا کہ وہ سب بہت سوچ round نقلی کیا جاتا ہے نیدلی اس کی دفعہ کہ نقل کیا کہ دوسری صلاح حالت ہے جو جو پرہنچوں کا حلالیے سنٹیجیs کو بہت کافی بھائی شامt بنائیں کار ہے ہمیں نصفہ پر کانجول اپیجیکٹیفوں اور اپیجیکٹیفوں کے right ہوگی جب کوئی نقلی کے لئے مجھے سامنے کی نٹوری کے جو ہند انastیل کا دقانہ ہی ضمن باہر کرنا ہے تو بہترین کیا ہے کہ حدا جو وقت ہی تصورت کتنے کی تصورت کا لئے جو ہی جانتے ہیں۔ بہترینی انہان کیا ہے کہ ایک امریکیوری باہر کرنا مجھے اللہ کے حماری جاتے ہیں۔ بہترینی انہان جانتے ہیں۔ کہ حماری جانتے ہیں۔ انتقابت پرشنے میں جانتے ہیں کہ ہونے جیسے دیتے ہیں اس ideas بات لیتے ہیں اور لیتے ہیں کہ ہمارے مجھے بھی اپنی خونات پر انہیں بڑی کرنے کی تصہفانای ہے سبماہے کچھ بڑی برائی کر دیئے مجھے بہت بہت گیا ہے جس کیا کہ مجھے داملے میں kızبا کی کامک دیئے اور انہ تینے کا پروڈت کو بڑی کی ہوئے پروڈت پروڈت پروڈت دیئے تکنالوجیز کدورہ کمینگ انکو بینگ ان ادوانسٹ مانر بچے گئے فرائز تو سو many نیو پروٹٹس with نیو فیترس میننگ دفرنشیٹٹٹ فیترس اور ملسٹ اپنے منفیکٹرس ہوتھوکنگ about the unique selling propositions بچے بیسکل اسٹمٹ from the differentiated features دیر پروٹس of their brands had. سو that was a time when people were talking about usps meaning unique selling propositions کمینکیشن was at a very high level because they all had to talk about differentiation that their brands were carrying. دیر پروٹٹیرہ came to an end when technologies reached a certain level meaning access to technologies various technologies by various manufacturers دیکھیں easy and most of the manufacturers were producing products which are very similar in nature what happened the level of innovations dropped but the level of communication stayed not only stayed at the same level it further increased why because with the drop in differentiation managers thought that they could find refuge in stepping up communication and by doing so they can talk very frequently with the target market and hence can push up their sales it did not really happen the way they wished سو the product came to an end and it made a transition to what they call an image era image era was all about building up image of the brands the managers and companies were carrying there was a thinking on part of the advertising people if we talk about image we really can build up something at the receiving end and make them go for the brand meaning to make it possible for them to be motivated into going for a sale I mean into going for a purchase but that did not really work because of the problem that I discussed in the previous lecture and also even before that that image is not something which you can develop which you can build up or you can change overnight with the help of a creative campaign creativity just for the sake of creating something new does not really help this era also came to an end just like the product era and since this was also an era meaning a period it had to come to an end the effect was that these eras graduated into new eras which witnessed even a higher level of communication meaning when the image era came to an end the level of communication was even higher than it was witnessed in the product era it was a moment of thought for specialists meaning for the advertising people as to what to do so this was a time when two advertising experts thought of the positioning concept and they thought it is something which can be done to the mind of the customers and by doing so we really can hit the jackpot and we really can reach the territory where people make decisions whether to buy something or not to buy something so the positioning era came into being and positioning as you will recall is all about doing something to the mind and in relation to the prior knowledge or the perceptions with which customers have in their minds and not forgetting that perception is stronger than reality we have to do something with those perceptions customers are exposed to the market they are exposed to an array of different brands meaning competitive brands they are aware of the strengths and weaknesses they go through comparison process meaning a process of selection where by they make the decisions what to buy and what not to buy and therefore to facilitate the mind of the customer the mind which they call is oversimplified oversimplified because it retains they are just a portion of what it has been receiving and rejects the remainder so in order to reach that oversimplified mind that we have to do something with the information and knowledge that mind already has so let us start talking about things which really will touch the card and things which really will ring a bell in terms of the existent knowledge at the back of the mind we also learnt that there are four basic factors which govern the positioning and we are not to lose sight of those factors one is a brand for what the second is a brand for whom and the third is a brand for when and the fourth is a brand against whom now these are the four factors which govern the positioning process I would say the way it should work within companies because while you people are deciding about where to position the brand now don't lose sight of the fact that although positioning is something which solves a communication problem and it is all about communication when it comes to it being externally driven but then at the same time since we are trying to generate something which is going to supplement the already existent knowledge in the minds of the customers we have to create something at the company end meaning at the sending end in a very tangible form meaning the product which really matches with that communication so in other words communication is taking place and it is being deceived at this end to the where the customer is and something very tangible to the which is a product or a brand is being produced here which is the manufacturer's end and which is your end so there has to be a match between the two and knowing that or having learned that we defined the positioning process and we also learned that this process or the definition of positioning or the positioning statement so to say has three fundamental components one deals with the overall market meaning the category in which you are operating or the playing field or which you are a part it deals with the target market which is the second important component and the target market is what you are trying to reach which is your target and where you have your direct competitors the third component is the point of preference the third component is the point of preference and you will recall I stressed that clarity of all these components of all these three areas is of paramount importance we did discuss the first one meaning clarity about overall market meaning the category and detail about the aspect of that component in the previous lecture and we now get on with our discussion with the remaining two components in terms of their micro aspects the things that we have to consider and study very carefully before we can decide on what should be the positioning of a brand and I will keep repeating this thing that the concept of positioning is so important that we just cannot live without it in the world of marketing this is the concept which lays the ground and which lays the basic framework for all the strategies which are going to flow out of the positioning and needless to say the positioning has not to be very closely related with the brand vision having said that now let us get back to the second component of the positioning statement which is about the target market there are certain concerns and certain questions which have to be answered and we have to raise those questions to ourselves and we have to answer those questions to ourselves in order to be sure and convincing that we are moving in the right direction we are on the right track the first question that we should ask ourselves is does the market could be trying to reach fall within the target range now this is a very pertinent question what it means is we may be working on a target range which is not ours getting back to the same good example of brand XYZ if we think that the professionals working in banks and other professional companies are our customers and therefore the target market because they are hungry at the lunchtime and they don't really have time to get out of the office and we are there to offer them something right at the doorstep when we start selling we may find out or when we carry out the market test as a very preliminary step we may find out to our surprise total astonishment that the range which we thought was a target range or maybe that is the target range but another part of the segment which you never thought was part of the target range has turned out to be the target range that also is a possibility so looking at these things you have got to continuously reassure yourself that the positioning that you have carved out for the brand is the right positioning the positioning has got to be a little flexible flexible in the sense that if you move a little leftwards on the price quality index if you may recall that graphic illustration or if you move a little rightwards the meaning in the upper segment positioning should not be disturbed it still should be maintainable it still should be sustainable the next question which you should ask yourself is do the customers consider themselves as part of the target market you may introduce something for a target market and the market may not be ready to accept that because their habits are different their buying patterns are different and whatever promise and the brand contract you may have whatever picture that you have created is not compatible with the market which we think is the target market and customers could falling within that range do not look upon themselves as the target customers now this is like i mean to give you an example this is like introducing an 800 cc car having an appeal for that segment or that part of the segment that target range which is the appropriate target for a car of 1300 cc so this may explain what i am talking about another question which you should ask yourself is are the customers reachable i mean reachable not only in the sense in the physical sense like you are delivering something or you are selling something through the stores and they may come there also if you are selling something to farmers for example and you don't really have the level of requisite communication which you should have in order to reach them then i think the dialogue between the manufacturer or the brand manager and the prospective customer is going to be difficult and impossible so you have got to be very clear about whether or not the target market is reachable another question that you may ask yourself will the target market be interested in the point of difference i am talking about the point of difference in relation to the target market whereas i am going to talk about the point of difference also in relation to the point of difference as one of the major components now you might think to yourselves i am talking about things which may belong here and not there but that's not the point the important point is these are all building blocks they all have so closely related relationships and so closely related links that they have got to be talked as part of an overall integrated thing where like i told you earlier all these converge at one single point and that is a point where you produce the product or the brand with those differentiated features for which the whole company is striving or for which the whole company is working day in and day out if customers meaning the target customers are not willing to accept that point of difference the point of difference is no good just to give you another example relating the car industry i would say this is like laddering up a car model in terms of very attractive attributes which may have the benefits translated in terms of very high comfort and luxury and targeting and targeting that car to the customers who basically are economy oriented they keep thinking all the time that consumption has got to be improved by the manufacturers and if cannot be improved we might as well go for an added feature on our own meaning we should go for fitting of the cng kit the natural gas kit where as we are adding features in terms of luxury and comfort which do not really have a very strong appeal for the target market so the point of difference that we create has got to be understood appreciated and owned and accepted by the target market another question that must be asked to ourselves is why has the target market not been approached before by anyone else this is a very heavy weight question because this opens the avenues to a very long thought process why is it that competitors could have not introduced this kind of a feature or this kind of a product before is it because of certain entry barriers and entry barriers relate to like I told you the amount of resources or the nature of resources which a company requires in order to be able to deliver the promise or in order to be able to deliver the feature which the company is contemplating about positioning the brand maybe it requires a very high amount of investment and if it is that are we ready for that or maybe it requires to find are we in a position to have those kind of people, operatives who can handle of a product in a way that we can own the positioning of the product or the brand so this is a very heavy weight question which must be answered well that's about the clarity that we should have and we should develop in relation to the target market let us now make transition to the third component which is equally important another fundamental component which calls for clarity about the point of difference the first question that we must ask ourselves is about the key benefit is it really important to customers if the key benefit is the health food is it really important to them the kind of target market that we are trying to reach are they really concerned about their health or maybe they are young enough not to care about that if the target market is like people between 45 and 65 for example or 45 years and above but maybe the key benefit is going to be important to those people and if the target market is like below 45 and also there goes even lower the down to 30's then maybe the key benefit that we are talking about or on which we want to position of a product it may not be just about the right thing to talk about in terms of positioning the second question that we should ask ourselves is can we really deliver it now this takes us back to the brand contract and the brand promise that we have for our brand in relation to positioning also that we have to ask ourselves this question now let me make it clear all over again when we are talking about the brand promise or we are building those promises into the product of the brand and working on the brand contract it doesn't mean that we are not working simultaneously also on positioning but we are talking about all these things and we are considering and studying all these factors all at the same time this may sound rather tricky and a little difficult to you people because you are trying to imbibe whatever I am talking about and it is a learning process where you have just started to begin learning but the fact is that you will get used to all these things in a practical field coming back to the level of preparedness that you must have in order to enter the practical field let me assure you that all these concepts are going to be considered simultaneously all at the same time you are talking about the promise and then you are asking yourself or discussing among colleagues that well this is a promise which we may not be in a position to deliver because we have certain operational constraints or you may ask yourself this is a promise which cannot be delivered because it is very difficult in terms of delivering the product the way that we are talking about that even if we grow beyond a certain point we shall still keep our model of selling through this direct delivery meaning reaching the door step of each and every customer you may think to yourself that the point is not that far whether when you start putting up for your restaurants and when you have done that it is going to be a combination of delivery at the door step and also selling at your shops meaning at your stores or small utility restaurants when you are doing that there is going to be a little change in the delivery so the question is whether you are going to be in a position to deliver at all or not and number two part of the question is even if you can what are going to be the changes the implied changes have got to be taken into consideration before you answer to yourself this kind of a question so in other words the elements of wishes involved in the considerations are involved in relation to answering this pertinent question which has to be taken very seriously whether you can do something or not if you can very good if you cannot then don't do it I mean do it in some other way the third question which you should ask yourself is can we sustain the point of difference over time I mean if point of difference is very trivial not very serious and can be by competitors maybe we are not going to be in a position to sustain this and this might take us back to the product era I was talking about where technology levels came to a point where everybody started producing the same thing and the same is happening nowadays because how easy it is to acquire different technologies and start producing things which are very similar to what is being made next door for example and still we have to find a point of difference let us concentrate on the point of difference and talk about our ability or inability to sustain that point of difference so one consideration could be the non-serious or very trivial nature of the point of difference the other could be a very serious aspect and that maybe that the point of difference requires over a longer period very heavy investment because it is a vision and your vision is and has got to be evolved with the changing needs and expectations so what is it see what I am going to do when I am here changing the product and yet keeping it yet keeping the identity of it the same giving the customer the practical demonstration of a changed or a laddered up benefit and yet giving him or her the same brand they love so being able to sustain or not being able to sustain the point of difference is something that has to be taken into a very strong consideration while you are studying the positioning aspect another question that you might consider rather you should consider is can we further fortify the point of difference well this is an extension of what I already have talked about that talked about improving the brand server down the line and if you think you really can fortify it and further strengthen it well you should be very clear about that because the fortifying it is going to have its implications in terms of investments again investments into plant and machinery investments investment into information systems or investment into marketing systems in terms of distribution logistics and warehousing so these are the factors which ought to be considered in order to make sure that the positioning that you have carved out for the brand is going to and I keep emphasizing this point again and again that it is positioning out of which all operational strategies flow and if the whole game is about implementing strategies then we've got to make sure that the positioning that we are talking about is the right positioning and it is something which can be sustained over a long period but can be fortified also having said that the next question which is very close the related is what is the potential of the positioning we are studying talking about in terms of placing ourselves of placing of a brand at the brand value pyramid does it have the potential to hit the top and be at the pinnacle if the answer is yes it is moving so well it is moving so beautifully it has such a tremendous following and we have the resources not only to maintain and sustain it but also to further fortify it and the changes the improvements that we are going to carry out down the line are also already not only contemplated but worked on just like the car manufacturers motorbike manufacturers or electronics manufacturers do and you take a very good look at a car model maybe you can find out that this particular point right underneath the tail light seems to be a kind of a vacant point which is going to be used for something else something beefed up in the model to come and that might be correct so what I'm saying is the changes are the fortification that you envision and you plan to carry out the many a time you put them in place and you start working on those and if you really are in a position to do so meaning if you really have the human resource and the technical resource to do all that then the positioning is not only strong but it is going to stay strong and strong look at the campaigns kicked off by cola drinks and when I talk about the cola drinks I am talking about international brands and they have been around not on the daggers but more than a century and the brand identity remains the same the position remains the same there is a little bit of change that does not really alter the identity of the brand altogether it did happen by the way in relation to one brand but that is not going to be the topic of discussion right at this moment what happened as a consequence of that is a very interesting case study and the company had to go back to the original positioning and this is something which I am going to talk about right now with you guys what is going to happen when there is a change in the positioning and what is it that causes that should cause a change in the positioning of the brand and how soon or how late or how frequently positioning should be changed relating any brand because this is a continuous evolution and habits are changing people are changing market dynamics are changing how do we respond in relation to changing the position of the brand and what are the consequences of that let us talk about those the question is why at all a change is positioning should be caused we have had the understanding about the components of the positioning the three fundamental components but at the same time we also know that we have got to stay current and contemporary meaning up to date in order to respond to the changing needs I am relating the concept with what we already have learnt when we do that is it that positioning is going to change or is it that positioning is not going to change and what we are discussing at the moment is that positioning is going to change and it is going to cause certain ramifications and it is those ramifications that we are going to talk about let us go back to the example of this fast food once again the company is considering getting into the the area of restaurants it does not really want to confine itself only to delivering direct at the doorstep because of certain the complications maybe they started off on the right foot by carving out just about the most appropriate positioning because they started talking about in their communications that they really specialize in delivering at the doorstep within a specific time which is very consumer friendly at the end which will not give you any cause for complaint that is a strong position which the brand developed to itself now we are talking about staying current meeting the growth aspect that we are growing that we think that the only way to grow is that we start putting up restaurants because there is a limitation to the concept of delivering the way that we have been delivering because of certain operational complications and limitations is the positioning going to change the answer could be maybe the positioning is going to change the positioning is going to change if you've had problems with delivering direct and people started complaining and that might force you to get into another area of positioning or meaning making a shift in terms of positioning and start communicating about something which is different from being very direct you started talking about the direct delivery because you thought that was your strength and you thought that was not the strength of competition and you could really capitalize on what was the weakness of the competition now maybe in order to be very competitive in the marketplace your competitors also jump in the same bandwagon of direct delivery and you started facing stiff competition being another factor apart from the operational limitations and you think that you should also now concentrate apart from the way you've been working on the restaurants that is a place where people come and the buy you do not go to them this is not to say that you stop working direct you can continue that mode of selling or that channel of delivering even through the restaurants or maybe through different restaurants which is going to provide you with a chain and which is going to improve in a way with your distribution but the fact is what is going to be the impact on positioning if you think like I said earlier you think that it does cause a little bit of shift in the positioning then you've got to change it lest somebody else start talking about what you want to talk because of the existence of restaurants with the existence of utility restaurants with which you think should not be very upscale and should not be very fashionable and should give a look very economy driven where the people should not really hesitate walking into because they know the price is still very consumer friendly the point to ponder here is what is going to be the impact on the positioning statement or in other words positioning of the brand I cannot give you an answer right now in absolute certainty because I have not yet talked about the mechanism which you should bring into play in order to decide what positioning the company should go for because once you have learned that then I will be in a position to tell you what should be the position under what circumstances like you have brought about a change from here to there in terms of the attributes this is a situation in which you are dealing with the restaurants you are dealing with the delivery because sandwiches food items so it is a combination of the product market and service market the positioning is going to be based on what factors because we should talk about those little later but the effect of the matter is it is the growth process which has made it because it is important for the company to bring about a change and then it is going to be sensitive to that change in terms of making the decision about renewed positioning because this entails a different level of communication talking about the same restaurant which is growing and it is getting into a chain of different outlets then I think it becomes imperative and very important that the company steps up its communication campaign and start talking with the target customers in an aggressive manner now what is it the company is going to talk about in relation to positioning that is something we are going to talk about as to what should be the mechanism which is going to be the basis of that shift and the positioning which is going to be the new position of the brand adjusting and strengthening your position under those circumstances becomes the main real objective it is not that you are improving your product you are passing through a process of growth and nothing could hurt the brand more than weakening its position only because we could not handle the shift so that is something which has to be handled very professionally and being very sensitive to the consequences of the shift in positioning causes in other words if we manage the shift in positioning properly that amounts to meeting growth with credibility because that brings the brand credibility and it becomes more and more credible and this is how and this is why strong brands stay strong for decades and decades because they know when to bring about a change and based on that change when and how to change positioning and what is it which really appeals the target market in terms of the positioning they are contemplating and in terms of the communication process relating that positioning we have seen that a shift that we have been talking about of course in a very hypothetical way it is something which is going to cause a change not only in strategies but also in tactics in relation to the same restaurant or the XYZ brand that we've been talking about throughout the course and it is because of that that we say that positioning has its implications in all the strategic areas it is because of that that we say that all the operational strategies stem are going to form the positioning of the brand now positioning is therefore is just not a concept it is something which governs the total strategic framework when it comes to the brand strategies and implementation of those strategies and when you talk about those strategies and implementation of those of course we are talking about the total operations within the company so we are not only talking about the degree of brand management because we are talking about the operations in their totality and therefore we are not to lose sight of all the touch points of brand management and in turn therefore we can say that a shift in positioning is going to have its implications in terms of pricing in terms of distribution in terms of aesthetics and in terms of investments we are putting up restaurants we need money to do that we need more people you have to have a very well trained human resource that the wish can work as a team in those outlets you may have to do something with pricing also although I've been talking about consumer friendly pricing but none of us are sure so far until we really work out what is going to be the implication of the investments that we are going to make in terms of the infrastructure and also in terms of the market investments meaning communications maybe the implications of all that are going to be so serious that we are forced to bring about a change in the pricing for example and if there is a change in pricing then again the question is does that change the position of the brand or does it not let me tell you one thing that the strong position that maybe we missed this point in the previous lecture a strong position is the one which does not subject itself to changes to sensitive changes on the basis of the minor shifts while changing the price drastically is not a minor shift it is a major shift but then you see the point is positioning should be such that bringing about these the kind of changes to the one should keep in mind that the one is developing the vision of the brand because you know that you are here and you are going to go there so you are developing the vision and you have developed the brand picture the brand contract and so on and so forth that you should be in a very good position to assess whether or not these kind of shifts are going to cause the very serious the consequences for the brand positioning or will just cause minor ripples on the surface which can be taken care of by the minor the levels of stepped up communications so these are the things which one really has to consider while changing the position of the brand and the crux of the matter is that the change in the position occurs because you are continuously changing and continuously changing means once every three years or once every two years based on those changes you have to stay the very current and very contemporary in relation to all the strategic implications that those changes may have including positioning and positioning needless to say is very highly strategic is the mother of all strategies this is a statement which I can make with confidence so we have talked about the fundamental components of the positioning statement we have talked about the basic questions in the micro form that we should be asking ourselves in order to make sure that the positioning that we are on our way to carve out for the brand is the right position and we also have talked about the ramifications in terms of strategic changes within the setup brought about by certain shifts and positioning here and there let me give you another example which is a textbook example and therefore I can talk about the brand with confidence the difficult situation which was caused for that world renowned brand only because the brand changed its position now this position was not changed because of a situation which had similarities with the XYZ brand this is a car brand a Swedish car brand by the name of Volvo we all know that it's a great case study and what happened was this car has been known all along its existence about the safety the measures which the manufacturers take while manufacturing all the cars and all the communications over the last few decades as long as I can recall and remember all the communications have been addressing the safety concern of customers you might have looked at the print ads and also television commercials in which the company showed a framework of steel kind of a cage which was the framework of a basic car and then they leave it to your imagination that if you put something on the front of the cage that is the front side of the car meaning the engine and all that and if you put something in the back side that becomes the back of the car meaning the trunk and that's the total structure the basic idea of showing that strong very solid steel framework was that if your car is hit in case of an accident and that's what they showed the front and the back whichever side the car is hit from those will buckle but the frame inside is going to stay intact meaning there is no danger to your life the car is so safe and the car really was that safe and people bought that because of that positioning now this is not to say that the car did not have comfort this is not to say that the car did not have luxury and this is not to say that the car did not perform well the car had all the benefits and those benefits got translated out of all the basic attributes which a very good car should have and do have and does have from there on God knows what struck the managers in that company and they started thinking in terms of repositioning their cars in terms of their performance and they built up their communication campaigns on the basis of performance because they thought other models are going to introduce by I mean produced by the Germans and Americans and Japanese are doing so well because they all talk about their performance or maybe they are positioned in terms of performance so they started talking about the performance of that car they changed the position and you can guess what happened sales declined that is a real that is a textbook example so the point is one should be very sensitive I'm in the business managers and brand managers and marketing managers in particular have got to be very very sensitive to the shifts to the which have the potential to change the basic positioning and basic positioning of any of the brand should not be brought about they have to be brought about in line with what customers want meaning in line with the customers perspective and that is what is meant by the positioning has got to be owned by customers and that is what is meant by positioning has got to be externally driven with this example I hope and I am very confident that whatever I have talked about positioning so far is very clear to you all and I will continue my lecture on positioning next time until that time and I look forward to seeing you