Examples of Positioning and Repositioning - Johnson and Johnson, Vespa Scooter, Marlboro and Debeers (Part 1)

The last post we had discussed Positioning. Let us see some examples: 

1) Johnson and Johnson baby shampoo (Differential Positioning):  Johnson and Johnson is the company that is famed for child care products. It is the mother of all baby category products (pun intended). Thus it is not surprising that mummy care and mummy love is equated with J & J products. Parents willingly spend a bomb as long as they get the best baby care products for their children. J & J’s baby shampoo has that soft, mild smell and texture that gives the baby the soft creamy hair. Mothers used the same mild baby shampoo on themselves. Seeing the marketing opportunity,  J & J launched a “Baby Shampoo” series targeted at adults -  Adult mothers who want the same soft baby hair just like their children hair.

2) Marlboro (Classical Repositioning):  Marlboro is the ultimate male cigarette and the advertising reinforces the same. The famed cowboy, his Stetson hat and the rugged looks have gone a long way in reinforcing that image of rugged manhood. Marlboro had started out as a ladies cigarette. Check out the very red filter. The very red filter was used so that the lady‘s lipstick is not spoiled. Over a century’s what started out as a lady’s cigarette has been repositioned as the ultimate manly cigarette. Talk about persuasive advertising!

3) Scooter: (Classical Repositioning):   Scooter is a product that was invented in Italy. It was a product that was made with the women in mind. The male two wheeler vehicle of choice is the motorcycle. It is heavy manly and sure is rued like the Bullet. Scooter was designed by Vespa keeping women in mind. The lady can get on to it like a ladies bicycle. They need not straddle like a motorcycle (a lady wearing a skirt could drive a Vespa). It was lighter and had a easier kick start. The early Italian Advertising campaigns for Vespa and Lambretta, mainly targeted at women, the advertisement seem to be saying, "I may want to be with you, but I am a busy girl, I have options, I am independent I can do what I want and choose who I want"!

The Vespa called Chetak in its Indian Avatar got positioned as a man’s bike of choice. It was heavy, rugged and had a kick start. The positioning of the lady’s bike of choice had later first occupied by the Kinetic Honda and later by Honda Activa.

Debeers: (Repositioning the customer mindset):  Debeers is the king of diamonds. It had a easy time in the western world where the traditional symbol of love has always been a diamond. A diamond is forever. Diamonds are extensively used in engagements and there was no dearth of customers queuing up to buy its diamonds. In India Debeers faced a problem. In India the metal of choice is gold. So much so that the majority of gold mined and sold in the world finds its way to India (either legally or illegally). Debeers is still working out its positioning strategy in India. It is trying to persuade Indians to buy diamonds along with Gold. It is trying to change the Indian perception that stones are not that glamorous. It is pitching hard to drive home the fact that diamond are forever and so is the bond that is about to be sealed (the engagement ring being the symbol of everlasting love).

Positioning, TOM, Unaided Recall and Aided Recall Concepts

Positioning according to Al Ries and Jack Trout is the space that the brand occupies in the mind of the customer. Oh yes the product has a significant position on the shelf but does it occupy a significant position in the minds of the customer? When faced with an impulse purchase decision to buy a chocolate would the customer blurt out the words “Cadbury Fivestar” or would he utter some other brand name. Battles are won and lost in a split second. 

Human mind is cluttered and has many things to ponder. Tus there is no space for many brands. Positioning is the clutter breaker. It clearly defines what a brand stands for. For example Volvo is the safest car, Charminar is synonymous with Hyderabad, and Hero stands for best in mileage and so on. The brand that occupies the top (Pole) most position in the mind is the TOM (Top of the Mind). On prodding the customer might remember other brands. Brands that he is able to remember with out  aid (or external help) are referred to as unaided recall. 

Best English movie -  I might say “Titanic”. When asked about other most like movies, I might add “Modern Times, Ten commandments”, and may be mention three other movies. That is in any category most people are able to remember six brands without external aid. When shown posters of famous English movies I might happily remember many movies that I might have seen and liked. Movies that were remembered with aid (external help wold fall under the subset of Aided Recall. 

Marketers try their level best to be in TOM or atleast to be in the stage of unaided recall. Both TOM and Unaided recall are ideal. Aided recall status is very costly and cumbersome. Most advertising is reminder advertising that brain washes the customer to make the brand reach the stage of TOM or atleast in the unaided recall stage. 

Alive App - Innovation in Print Media - Times of India shows the way

 

 

 

Things are changing and so are the customers. Keeping the changing times and keeping in view of possibility of dwindling readers and reduced advertising revenue Times of India has hit upon a novel idea. To attract the young and restless Times of India launched a new application called Alive.
 
Alive would let the reader view videos, photos, and polls related to a news item  just by pointing the app at a newspaper item with Alive logo. This app is available for Android, iPhone, BlackBerry and Nokia Symbian Smartphones and would offer a captivating experience for the users than just reading a newspaper.

The app has crossed 250,000 downloads on the launch day, leading to 300,000 augmentation views on a single day. Augmentation view is a view where the reader would have seen the news on the physical newspaper and would have tracked the same from his Alive app. The readers can also head to aliveapp.in from their mobile phone to download the app.

Benefits of Alive app

Transforms text, image, symbols, patterns or objects into a virtual experience

View videos and picture gallery of the actual news items in the newspaper

Voice your opinion immediately and make the newspaper more interactive;

Make the best use of two media that is the reliability and credibility of the newspaper and the multimedia capacity of the internet with moving pictures sound and animation.

Keep track of the story as it develops and not a static news item as in a traditional newspaper

Share the newspaper news item on the go

View history of the news items you have viewed

Save the multimedia content for future viewing

 

 

Data Collection Techniques

Data collection techniques in research are classified by their degree of structure and the degree of directness of the queries or questions posed.

(1)        Structured and direct methods of Data collection  

(2)        Structured and  indirect methods of Data collection

(3)        Unstructured and direct methods of Data collection  

(4)        Unstructured, and indirect methods of Data collection  

  

(1) Structured and direct methods of Data collection: The most common data collection technique is the structured-direct questionnaire, which requires that the questions be asked with exactly the same wording and in exactly the same sequence for all respondents to control response bias by ensuring that the respondents are responding to exactly the same question. The response to a standardized question may require the selection of an alternative from a predetermined set of responses or alternatives.

Descriptive research projects typically require a Structured and direct questionnaire. The structured question-and-response categories usually require extensive pretesting to ensure that the questions measure what they are designed to measure. The structured direct questionnaire requires extensive time and skill to develop.

There are several advantages of the structured-direct approach, the greatest being administrative simplicity and ease of data processing, analysis, and interpretation. The structured question format is designed to control response bias and increase the reliability of the data. In addition, it can be administered over the telephone, through the postal mail, and by personal interview. We can use the internet via e-mail and websites to solicit responses.

Among the disadvantages of the structured-direct approach are the respondents may not be able to provide the desired data, they may not be willing to provide the data, and the questioning process may bias their responses.

In addition, structured questions with fixed-response alternatives may result in loss of validity for certain types of data. If the data required from the respondent are clear-cut, limited in scope, and well known, the structured-fixed alternative question may be very appropriate. Structured - direct data collection techniques presume that the respondents clearly understand their beliefs and feelings and are willing to communicate these data directly.

However, when the information needs involve exploring the nature of recently formed or evolving beliefs and feelings, the structured approach could seriously influence the validity of the data.

(2) Structured and indirect methods of Data collection:  The structured-indirect approach is often called the performance or objective task technique. Respondents are asked to report factual information about the topic of interest. These responses are analyzed and inferences are drawn about the nature of the respondents' underlying beliefs and feelings regarding the topic.

Structured-indirect questionnaires are generally used to uncover people's attitudes toward sensitive issues of concern to society, like abortion, pollution, or deregulation. A structured indirect questionnaire consists of a number of factual items to which respondents provide structured answers such as yes or no and true or false. A wide variety of items — ranging in degree of favorableness toward the issues being investigated — are included in the questionnaire. The items themselves can be real or fictitious.

The rationale behind a structured-indirect tests is the assumption that what and how much people claim they know about an issue can shed light on their attitudes toward the issue. Presumably greater knowledge reflects the strength and direction of the other attitude components. This contention is based on research findings on selective information processing, findings which indicate that people tend (1) to selectively expose themselves to information, (2) to selectively perceive the information and (3) to selectively retain information which is consistent with their attitudes. Consequently, asking respondents to recall factual information about a topic is a way to indirectly measure the direction and strength of their attitudes.

The structured-indirect approach represents an attempt to gain the advantages of indirect attitude measurement with the data collection and processing advantages of structured approaches.

(3) Unstructured, and direct methods of Data collection: With the unstructured - direct approach the purpose of the research study is clear to the respondent. There is a great degree of flexibility in how the questions are asked and in the degree of probing. The response format is open - ended, and respondents are encouraged to freely express their beliefs and feeling on the issues presented by the interviewer. There are two techniques that use the unstructured - direct approach the focus group interview and the depth interview.

(4) Unstructured and indirect methods of Data collection: Unstructured - indirect data collection techniques are called projective techniques. They come from clinical psychology and are designed to obtain data indirectly about respondents' beliefs and feelings, very popularly called Psychographics. Projective techniques are designed to explore the underlying reasons and motivations of behavior.

i) Rorschach Ink blot test: The subject is shown a series of ten irregular but symmetrical inkblots, and asked to explain what they see. The subject's responses are then analyzed in various ways, noting not only what was said, but the time taken to respond, which aspect of the drawing was focused on, and how single responses compared to other responses for the same drawing.

ii) Holtzman Inkblot Test: This is a variation of the Rorschach test. Its main differences lie in its objective scoring criteria as well as limiting subjects to one response per inkblot (to avoid variable response). Different variables such as reaction time are scored for an individual's response upon seeing an inkblot.

iii) Thematic apperception test (TAT): Another popular projective test is the Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) in which an individual views a series of pictures and is asked to describe various aspects of the scene; for example, the subject may be asked to describe what led up to this scene, the emotions of the characters, and what might happen afterwards.

The examiner then evaluates these descriptions, attempting to discover the conflicts, motivations and attitudes of the respondent. In the answers, the respondent "projects" their unconscious attitudes and motivations into the picture, which is why these are referred to as "projective tests."

 

iv) Draw-A-Person test: The Draw-A-Person test requires the subject to draw a person. The results are based on a psychodynamic interpretation of the details of the drawing, such as the size, shape and complexity of the facial features, clothing and background of the figure.

v) Sentence completion test: Sentence completion tests require the subject to complete sentence "stems" with their own words. The subject's response is considered to be a projection of their conscious and/or unconscious attitudes, personality characteristics, motivations, and beliefs.

 

vi) Word Association Test:  In this method, the respondent is presented with a list of stimulus words, and for each word, is asked to respond with what he thinks about the word. The respondent is not given time to think of the responses. The idea is that the `first thought' responses are likely to reveal the true feelings of the respondent about the stimulus.

vii) Fantasy Situation: Here, the respondents are asked to imagine that they are converted into a product itself e.g., car, box of chocolate. This leads to the respondent imagining himself to be product itself and give the human characteristics to the product. This method is used for developing brand perception, brand personality.

viii) Cartoon Completion:  In this method the respondent is shown a cartoon that is similar to a comic strip, with "balloons" indicating speech. Usually, two people are shown talking to each other about a particular product/service/situation, but only one balloon contains the speech.

The situation that is shown in the cartoon is obviously of special interest to the researcher, and is part of the research project under hand. The respondent has to fill the other `balloon' with his answer to what the other person is saying.

 

ix) Picture Arrangement Test: Created by Silvan Tomkins, this psychological test consists of 25 sets of 3 pictures which the subject must arrange into a sequence that they "feel makes the best sense".

Discounts, discounts and more discounts

4.  60%+40% off as discounts: This offer looks very attractive on the hoardings. It looks like 100% off. Every shoppers’ dream!. But the discount is not 100%. The second 40% is on the first 60%. That 24% extra. So the effective discount is 84% and not 100%. Similarly 30%+20% off is not 50%. Rather it is 36% discount.

    

5.  Cost to cost discount sale: A sentiment that buyers like very much. The advertisement proudly claims that the shop is offering the product at cost to cost basis. That means the shop is offering the product at a cost at which it is made available to the shop keeper himself. But logic says that it can’t be offered at cost basis. Even if no margin is taken the shop has to still take care of fixed expenditure like shop rent, salaries, electricity, water, interest payment and other expenses. At best the shop can offer a product at no margin basis but can’t offer it at a cost to cost basis.

6.      Export reject discount sale: Very popular in the vernacular (local language) media. The sob story of an advertisement details how a shipment was stopped at Karachi port or at Dubai port and how the consignment was returned to India. Most shoppers buy the story once. But to their surprise the same stunt is pulled many times. The shopper quickly realizes that export rejects are just a ploy to pull the gullible shoppers into the shop.

7.      Tie up sale discount: Here if one product is taken another product is offered at a discount. For example if shirts are taken for Rs1000/- rupees worth, on trousers worth Rs 1000/-, 50% discount will be offered. So the effective discount is 25%. Rs 500 on a total purchase of Rs 2000/-.

8.   Always on discount: Ploy of retailers of the likes of Coupons and Brand Factory. These shops are shoppers’ dreams come alive. These shops offer products always at a discount. The moot point is whether the customers believe that they would always get a discount or the discount becomes a part of the offering itself. A very difficult question to answer.

DISCOUNTS, DISCOUNTS, DISCOUNTS - It is raining discounts

Types of discounts: Discounts are reductions on basic price of goods or services. Discounts are disliked by companies but are routinely offered as they garner quick sale for the company. In the times of recession it is very common to see companies offering price discounts on their products. Many companies offer genuine discounts. A genuine discount is one where the company consciously reduces its margin and offers a deal to the customers. In the modern world customers are very business savvy and can catch on to a genuine offer very quickly. Let us see some methods of discounting that are unethical or downright sleight of the hand.

1.     Upto 60% off discounts: One of the most popular discounting methods. Up to 60% off means that the discount varies from product to product and the item that is offered to at 60% off will be a low priced product like a handkerchief. Even that handkerchief would not be available. Most of the other products sold would be available at a marginal discount of 10% to 15%.

    2.  Buy one and get 12 off discounts: This is an amazing offer. Buy one shirt and get 12 shirts free. Wait there is a catch. The MRP of shirt number one on offer is Rs 4,550/- . 1+12 = 13. 4,550 divided by 13 is Rs 350/-. Thus the cost of each shirt is Rs 350/-.

3.    Mark up and offer discounts: One of the favorite tricks of the retailers. MRP (Maximum Retail Price) is a tool that comes in handy. The shop keeper will mark up the cost of the product and offer the same as discount. For example a shirt’s MRP is Rs 500/-. It would be marked upto Rs 750/-. The shop keeper would offer a discount of 20%. 20% of Rs 750/- works out to Rs. 150/-. Even after giving a discount of 20% the cost of the shirt would come upto Rs 600/-. That is a extra profit of Rs 100/- on the earlier price of Rs 500/-.

TRP ratings measurement - a fine art or pure science?

TRP is television rating point which are an audience measurement  criterion that indicates the popularity of a television channel or programme. The TRP measure is very useful for advertisers, who use it to help them decide which TV channels and programmes to place their advertising in.

The advertiser is very curious to find out which of the channels and programmes are popular. The TRP are critical as TRPs will decide where the advertising money will be put. In a country as big as India it is imperative that data be collected scientifically.

The TRP is a measure of the purchased points representing an estimate of the component of the  target audience  within the gross audience.

The first TRP rating measurement was through a people’s dairy where the respondent was given a dairy where he is supposed to note down all the programmes that he/she has watched. But unfortunately the respondent rarely noted down the progarmmes that were watched immediately. The respondent would inevitable scribble down the programmes on Sunday just before the enumerator (the person who collected the weekly reports) arrived. 

Collection of TV audience data in India: Presently, In India INTAM (Indian television audience measurement) is the only electronic rating agency functioning in India. INTAM uses two methodologies for calculating TRPs.

The first is frequency monitoring, in which  people meters are installed in sample homes. People meters are electronic devices, which continuously record data about the TV channels watched by household members. The 'people meter' is an expensive piece of equipment and is currently imported. It reads the frequencies of TV channels, which are later decoded into the name of the channels. INTAM prepares national data on the basis of these sample homes readings. There is a drawback in the technique, as  cable operators  frequently change the frequencies of channels before sending signals to homes. It may be very misleading to read a channel according to a particular frequency even if the down-linking frequency is same all over India.

The second technique is more reliable and relatively new to India. Via a picture-matching technique, the people meter continuously records a small portion of the picture that is being watched on that particular television set. Along with this, INTAM also records all the channels' data in the form of the small picture portion. Data collected from the sample homes is later on matched with the main databank to interpret the TV channel name, in order to produce national ratings.

But TRP ratings should be accepted with caution. In a country as big as India it is very difficult to extrapolate the results of TRP to the general population based on the small sample. Just because a programme has a TRP of 5.7 does not mean that 5.7% of India has watched the programme. But like a friend was commenting it is better to have something rather have nothing at all!

Innovative methods of marketing - Live-in Marketing (LIM), Wait marketing, Ambient marketing

Live-in Marketing (LIM) is a term used to describe a variant of marketing and advertising in which the target consumer is allowed to sample or use a brands product in a relaxed atmosphere over a longer period of time. Much like product placement in film and television LIM was developed as a means to reach select target demographics in a non-evasive and much less garish manner than traditional advertising.

Unlike traditional event marketing, LIM suggests that end-users will sample the product or service in a comfortable and relaxed atmosphere. The idea behind this technique is that the end-user will have as positive as possible an interaction with the given brand thereby leading to word-of-mouth communication and potential future purchase.

Wait marketing: On public transport, in the doctors’ waiting room, while downloading a video from the Internet, consumers have proved 2 to 3 times more receptive to advertising than when sitting in front of their television. Wait marketing helps companies turn consumers waiting time into the perfect opportunity to communicate in an innovative and effective way.

When elevator pitch turns transforms itself into a plane pitch. Richard Branson has launched a  Wait Marketing initiative called Pitch TV. Entrepreneurs and marketing managers can promote their business in a 2-minute pitch that will be broadcasted on Virgin Atlantic Airlines flights!

Ambient marketing: may be defined as an activity of the business of creating brand recognition without necessarily pushing its product. The campaign is very often carried out by finding a thing that can be clearly connected with the business and by communicating the thing instead of the business itself.

Examples are messages on the backs of bus tickets, on hanging straps in railway carriages and on the handles of supermarket trolleys. It also includes such techniques as projecting huge images on the sides of buildings, or slogans on the gas bags of hot air balloons.

The marketers have turned a traditional and boring luggage claim belt into a giant roulette wheel at Venice Marco Polo Airport.

Ambient marketing on Internet may be performed in form of placing relevant thing (an image of a stylish shoe in case of shoe retailer) as an avatar published with blog postings, commentaries or on social networks.

Innovative methods of marketing - Experiential marketing, Tissue-pack marketing

Experiential marketing — interaction with product – also called Relationship Marketing was first defined as a form of marketing developed from direct response marketing campaigns which emphasizes customer retention and satisfaction, rather than a dominant focus on sales transactions. As a practice, Relationship Marketing differs from other forms of marketing in that it recognizes the long term value of customer relationships and extends communication beyond intrusive advertising and sales promotional messages. With the growth of the internet and mobile platforms, Relationship Marketing has continued to evolve and move forward as technology opens more collaborative and social communication channels. This includes tools for managing relationships with customers that goes beyond simple demographic and customer service data. Relationship Marketing extends to include Inbound Marketing efforts, (a combination of search optimization and Strategic Content), PR, Social Media and Application Development. Brands are now also being driven by the customer themselves, through experiential elements like Converse's co-creation marketing or Nike's iD system, design your own shoes. Nike came up with an innovative idea to gauge customers by giving them an experience of being themselves. Customers can design their shoes according to their likes and dislikes, material, colour, shape etc… which was definitely creating an identity for themselves. In India many companies have tried out the experiential marketing successfully. One Indian company tried out a concept called Create your Own paint. Many paint buyers find it very difficult to decide on the shades provided by the company. To give the customers more choice the company designed paint mixers. In these specially designed shops the customers can decide on a shade or a color by themselves using a computer. Once the shade or color is decided all that the customer has to decide the quantity and the exact shade desired. The paint would be delivered to the customer within a few minutes.

Tissue-pack marketing: Companies use small, portable tissue packages to move advertising copy directly into consumers' hands. About 4 billion of these packages of tissues are distributed on the streets annually in Japan—largely outside of subway stations.

The concept of tissue-pack marketing was first developed in Japan. Its origins date back to the late 1960s when Hiroshi Mori, the founder of a paper-goods manufacturer in Kōchi Prefecture called Meisei Industrial Co., was looking for ways to expand demand for paper products. At the time, the most common marketing freebies in Japan was boxes of matches. These were often given away at banks and then used by women in the kitchen.

Mori figured tissues would have even wider appeal than the matches, and as a result he developed the machinery to fold and package tissues into easy-to-carry, pocket-size packs. The new product was marketed only as a form of advertising and was not sold to consumers.