Do you think positioning is still a valid tool for brand strategy, nowadays?
I’ve been asked this question. Well, I obviously do still believe in positioning as a valid tool for brand strategies – it’s just that the actual meaning of the word is changing with the evolution of the markets. Nowadays, the battle for our minds takes place right here, right now, in our sight.
This new, hyper dynamic, social media driven environment is evidently shortening the gap between products (or services) and their target audiences. On the bright side, all these new digital mediums are making almost every interaction between economical agents possible.
On the down side [or not quite so], the economical interactions between people are becoming almost unbearably frequent. The time and adequacy of responding become crucial for the success of a brand. Thus, the people who sustain all these new interactions are now vital to it.
Consequentially, as we become more and more interested in profound human interactions, the branding consultants’ approach should be shifting to branding people, not products. It is obviously more important to feel as belonging, rather than to just be satisfied by one product.
Even though, where I come from, local companies [especially those with product driven business models] still fetishize with the archaic USP model, the narrative of positioning in the branding literature of the day has been radically shifting, in the past decade, to culture-driven strategies.
The global economy is somehow paradoxically isolating groups and peers, rather than culturally bringing everybody closer to each other. As we become more connected de facto, we feel the urge to separate ourselves [and our tribes] from the crowded new social reality.
Thus, positioning strategies [and our relation with the competitive forces] have to adapt to these new realities. We know today that only by mixing economics and innovation within the relevant culture [with and for the right people], we can drive performance and build strong brands.
We are now developing strategic branding models that bring our audiences socially and/or culturally closer to us. We are engaging people in feeling as belonging to one particular group – successful brands create, challenge, and/or sustain tribes and culture(s).
