now, no signup required!
Organizations that go through a tough period implement changes to reposition themselves in the marketplace. This is mostly done to reinvigorate the brand and enhance its dwindling appeal. Before we get into details, let’s understand the meaning of brand repositioning and get the brand repositioning definition right.
-
What Is Brand Repositioning?
-
Other Reasons For Brand Repositioning
-
Brand Repositioning Strategies
-
Difference Between Rebranding And Repositioning
-
Brand Repositioning Examples
-
Other Examples Of Brand Repositioning
-
Conclusion
What Is Brand Repositioning?
Often, when an organization sees a drastic decrease in sales and major changes coming down the road, they deliberately implement changes. Brand repositioning refers to this change of brand status in the marketplace, which typically deals with the product, price, place and promotion. The process of brand repositioning is done keeping in mind consumer wants and needs.
This blog also contains some brand repositioning examples and brand repositioning strategies to help you comprehensively understand the topic.
Other Reasons For Brand Repositioning
Dropping sales and major changes to a product or service are part of the story that lead to brand repositioning, but there are other reasons that force organizations to take up repositioning as well. These include:
-
Increased competition
Quite often, increased competition within the same market space results in a lack of perceived differentiation between brands. This can force a brand to consider repositioning
-
Faulty existing positioning
There can be two scenarios here: either the brand is under-positioned or over-positioned. The former refers to weak or vague messaging that makes no appeal to customers. The latter is too narrowly defined, leaving no room for growth
-
Evolved products
When an organization opts for substantial product improvement, it may offer additional benefits to cater to a larger customer base. In this case, repositioning may become necessary
-
Major changes
As mentioned earlier, major changes in the business environment prompt organizations to go in for repositioning. This can include changes in government policies, economic conditions, technology and industry-related changes
-
Future course
An organization may be growing or evolving, which triggers the repositioning of the brand. Acquisition plans and threat aversion can be the primary reasons that prompt organizations to opt for repositioning
-
New target audience
The primary audience the organization was initially targeting is no longer viable. You may have targeted a young segment that has grown up and no longer uses your product or service. (oxfordbusinessgroup.com) Moreover, there could be different audience segments that hold more promise than the current one
-
The competition offers better value
The marketplace is always evolving with new entrants. So, if your competitors are offering better value propositions, you have no choice but to change your value proposition to avoid losing more customers
These are the main reasons for a parent organization to undertake brand repositioning. Read on for some brand repositioning examples and brand repositioning strategies.
Brand Repositioning Strategies
To execute brand repositioning, the organization must define a strategy and follow through with it. The strategy defines where the focus of the new campaign will lie. Now, let’s understand some known strategies:
-
Image repositioning
Here, both the target market and the product remain unchanged, but the brand image of the product undergoes a change. This kind of repositioning will have marketers work on improving the perception of the product by its customers while leaving the current features intact
-
Product repositioning
The target market remains the same but the product undergoes a change. This can include technological advancements to the product, making earlier versions less desirable
-
Intangible repositioning
This can involve an organization trying to target a different market with the same product. This strategy gets rolled out when marketers discover that the product has extended appeal to a wider range of audiences
-
Tangible repositioning
This happens to be the riskiest repositioning when both the product and target market are changed. Although it may seem drastic, organizations are forced to undergo this repositioning when the product no longer has any customer appeal. This type of repositioning allows organizations to attract a new market with a new product, where it may be received better
These are the different types of brand repositioning strategies.
Difference Between Rebranding And Repositioning
Brand repositioning is exclusively about changing the way your customers view your organization. This may involve altering the messaging or even changing the product altogether. On the flip side, rebranding is solely about changing the brand identity, which would involve changing the name and logo of the organization or packaging of a product. Most times, rebranding is done by organizations when they’re failing completely or have received negative publicity in the press. It’s done when the organization is aspiring to a fresh start. This is the difference between rebranding and repositioning.
Brand Repositioning Examples
Here are some brand repositioning examples that will explain why this is a great strategy to adopt in certain cases.
Domino’s Pizza
Right after it was launched in the US, the pizza brand received a lot of negative feedback and was going through a tough phase with dismal sales numbers. Many even dubbed the brand “garbage pizza”.
To counter the negative trend, the marketers at the organization repositioned the brand by changing the recipe and launched a campaign around the notion that their pizza was “new and improved.” They more-or-less changed their product and the existing perception of the brand.
In fact, they accepted their product wasn’t up to the mark and charmed their way into the hearts of consumers by fixing the main product. They went even further and refreshed their logo, website and messaging, which brought the brand back from the dead.
Other Examples Of Brand Repositioning
These are some household names you must be familiar with. Did you know they underwent brand repositioning?
- Colgate started with selling starch, candles and soap before they repositioned into a toothpaste brand
- Nintendo began as a playing card organization in 1889 before it became the pioneer video gaming organization as we know them today
- Google started off as a search engine organization but repositioned itself into an internet giant offering everything — from payments to translation to email services
- Taco Bell started as a brand offering cheap Mexican food before they switched to being a youth lifestyle brand that’s considered hip
That’s all we have to say about what brand repositioning is and why it’s used. But there’s much more you can learn about this concept.
Conclusion
Establishing a brand is a daunting proposition, but over time, it becomes essential that the brand repositions itself when the chips are down. Through Harappa’s Build A Personal Brand pathway, learn the techniques that go into successfully establishing a personal brand to make your presence felt. We will acquaint you with constructive ways of branding yourself. Learn about body language techniques or nonverbal cues that increase your confidence at work, apart from the process of building a brand.
Personal branding is what you need to succeed today. Start branding yourself now.
