1: Paper Specifics
That mental shortlist will typically be about 5 to 7 items long and often shorter, almost never longer. For example, when consumers start thinking about buying a new car, they don’t think of the dozens of possibilities out there, they think about choices with which they are already familiar and which stand out from the crowd.
The authors argue that it is the job of marketers to make their brands seem different from competitors and different in ways that the intended target audience will see as important and preferable.
“Positioning” then becomes a process of figuring out a short summary about the brand to make it memorable and likable. Often, this is summarized in a single phrase or sentence, like BMW’s “Ultimate Driving Machine” or Disney’s “Where dreams come true.”
Such statements often take the form of what advertising people call a “tagline” or “slogan.” But this is not always the case. Sometimes brands use multiple approaches to create a brand image that communicates a message to set it apart from competitors. For example, Volvo is widely perceived as a very safe car that will protect people inside the car even when there is a bad accident. Recently, Subaru has also started to use the same idea, and I would argue that this makes Subaru look somewhat like a “me too” brand, one that is “Johnny come lately” to a category that Volvo established years ago.
2: Deliverables:
Nike and “Just Do It” is one of the famous slogans in business. Discuss its positioning and the tactics/actions it uses to get this positioning to “stick” in someone’s mind.
3: EXPECTATIONS:
Length is 5 to 9 pages excluding title page, executive summary (on a page by itself), reference list, and any appendices. Follow APA formatting. Do not include a table of contents.
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