Today’s real competition doesn’t come from other companies but from the extreme clutter of the marketplace. You can’t fight clutter with clutter and expect better results because the human mind deals with clutter by blocking most of it out. Only the most interesting or useful stuff is retained.

In order for your brand to stand out in all this clutter it needs to be RADICALLY DIFFERENT.

Posted by Craig on July 16th, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Posted under: Strategy | Zag Theory | branding

Source: Jack Trout, Branding Strategy Insider

What seven concepts are critical to positioning?

1. Perception (their’s, not your’s)
2. Differentiation
3. Competition
4. Specialization
5. Simplicity
6. Leadership
7. Reality

Read the rest of this entry »

Posted by Craig on June 20th, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Posted under: Strategy

Source: Jack Trout, brandingstrategyinsider.com

To apply positioning thinking to your own company’s situation, here are six key questions to ask yourself:

1. What position, if any do we already own in the prospect’s mind?

Get the answer to this question from the marketplace, not the marketing manager. If this requires a few dollars for research, so be it. Spend the money. It’s better to know exactly what you’re up against now than to discover it later when nothing can be done about it.

2. What position do we want to own?

Here is where you bring out your crystal ball and try to figure out the best position to own from a long-term point of view.

Read the rest of this entry »

Posted by Craig on June 19th, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Posted under: Strategy

Source: Branding Strategy Insider

It’s really quite simple. There are two parts to it. The first part is to find something important to say about your product. Search very, very hard for a point of superiority and difference in your product as against competition. If it doesn’t exist, work with your client to make it exist. We’ve done this a good many times. One of the great writers said, “You say something better if you have something to say.” And we always look for something to say.

Now, whereas at the time we started (DDB) most agencies felt that once they’d found something to say they’d done their job, our point of difference was the belief that at this stage your work was only beginning.

So the second part of our philosophy of advertising is that, having found something better to say, it is more than worthwhile to say it memorably and artfully and persuasively so that it is remembered and acted upon. We look for a way to say it in an original, fresh and imaginative way. As soon as you say it in a way that has been said before, you reduce your impact. We came into this business with that philosophy. It was more than a philosophy — it was a deep conviction. And it was DDB, I believe, that brought the full meaning of disciplined artistry into advertising.

Artistry is, of course, a very difficult thing to measure. It’s an intangible thing. But we had the job of convincing business — selling them the idea — that this unmeasurable, intangible thing could give them maximum impact for their dollar.

- Bill Bernbach, Advertising Legend, Circa 1969 in DDB News

Posted by Craig on June 18th, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Posted under: Strategy