Positioning

1. Positioning

2. Marketing Applications 4.5 Positioning Positioning: The fixing your sports or entertainment entity in the minds of consumers in the target market • Fixing company products in the Minds of Consumers • All about “perception” • Relative to competitor products

3. Marketing Applications 4.5 Positioning Positioning is About Perception In an effort to position its product as beverage that is as effective as traditional sports drinks in replenishing fluids after a workout, Vita Coco Coconut Water signed Major League Baseball star Josh Hamilton to endorse its brand in 2012 along with an announcement on the eve of the kick-off of the 2012-13 NFL season that they signed four NFL players ( Vernon Davis, Larry Fitzgerald, Eric Decker, and Devin Hester) as ambassadors for the brand

4. Marketing Applications 4.5 Positioning Positioning also refers to the place the product occupies in consumers’ minds relative to competing products

5. Marketing Applications 4.5 Positioning Positioning is important to all sports and entertainment products Sports leagues (NFL vs. Arena Football League) Sports teams (The Los Angeles Lakers in the 1980’s as “Showtime”) Sporting goods (Under Armour as comfortable performance apparel)

6. Marketing Applications 4.5 Positioning Positioning is important to all sports and entertainment products Sports drinks (Gatorade as a performance beverage) Movie studios (Pixar as a leader in animated films) Entertainers (Sylvester Stallone, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Bruce Willis and as iconic action film stars)

7. Marketing Applications 4.5 Positioning Positioning is important to all sports and entertainment products Entertainment products (DVD vs. Blu-Ray) Facilities and venues (Premium seating vs. general seating)

8. Marketing Applications 4.5 Positioning Map: Products or services are grouped together on a positioning map High (variable one) ProductB Product A • Products or services are compared and contrasted in relation to one another High (variable two) Low (variable two) Product D Marketers must determine a position that distinguishes their own products and services from competitor products and services Product C Low (variable one) http://www.marketingteacher.com/Lessons/lesson_positioning.htm

9. Marketing Applications 4.5 Ticket Sales Positioning Map High Price Luxury suite at an NFL game Lower level seats for Disney on Ice Client Entertaining Family Fun Club seats at an NBA game “Cheap Seats” at a minor league baseball game Night at the movies Low Price

10. Marketing Applications 4.5 High Price Courtside Seats Lower Level End Zones Lower Level Seats Upper Level Seats Mid/Upper Level Sidelines Top Row Corners Low Price

11. Marketing Applications 4.5 Positioning Strategy Identify all possible competitive advantages Could include: Products, services, channels, people or image can be sources of differentiation Organizations often position their products relative to competitor Weaknesses (5-hour energy)

12. Marketing Applications LESSON 4.5 Positioning Strategy Choose the right competitive advantage • How many differences to promote? • Unique selling proposition • (5-hour energy)

13. Marketing Applications 4.5 Positioning 5-hour Energy Drink focuses on its small packaging size and claims to provide a long lasting energy boost without the “usual jitters associated with energy drinks.” These purported features are intended to provide the competitive advantage necessary for distinguishing this energy drink from the many competitors on the market. Click here to view the latest endorsement from legendary pro athlete, Bo Jackson

14. Marketing Applications 4.5 Positioning Strategy Positioning errors to avoid • Which differences to promote? • Are the differences legitimate?

15. Marketing Applications 4.5 Positioning In 2012, Skechers paid $40 million in deceptive advertising charges to settle a claim made by the Federal Trade Commission that the footwear company’s assertion that its Shape-ups shoes would help people lose weight and strengthen muscles was unfounded

16. Marketing Applications 4.5 Product Differentiation Kentwool (a 168-year-old company known for selling upscale niche clothing) recently introduced a $25 pair of golf socks to the marketplace, positioning the product as “performance” apparel for the golf aficionado Product Differentiation: Refers to a positioning strategy that some firms use to distinguish their products from those of competitors

17. Marketing Applications 4.5 In an interview with CNBC’s Darren Rovell, Kentwool CEO Mark Kent explains: "Ninety-five percent of all socks are fashion based. Five percent are performance based. We basically set out to put ourselves in the top one percentile of that five percent to make the highest performing sock in any market segment. So to differentiate yourself you have to become in layman's terms the Ferrari of the market, you have to be the fastest car on the street or the best performing sock in the marketplace."

18. Marketing Applications 4.5 Re-Positioning A private golf course may be suffering slumping membership sales. Management may choose to open up the course to the public, which will ultimately require a well planned re-positioning strategy Re-Positioning: A marketer’s plan for changing consumers’ perceptions of a brand in comparison to competing brands

19. Marketing Applications 4.5 Re-Positioning • Re-positioning involves identifying who the new target market is and a strategy for creating awareness and demand within that market • Part of the re-positioning effort in this case would require sending a message to the target market that the club is affordable by public standards

20. Marketing Applications 4.5 Re-Positioning Slogan might be “Enjoy the benefits of a private club at public course rates!”

21. Marketing Applications 4.5 Re-Positioning Chocolate Milk has adopted a re-positioning strategy in its efforts to communicate the product’s benefits as a post-workout recovery drink to fitness-minded consumers via its 2012 “My After” campaign