Understanding Positioning – Learning Activity

This week is a lot about «behind the scene» of a brand. Touching on market position and ideals. What are these brand’s position? Look at the following logos and explain in your own words what you consider their positioning to be.

I sat like a confused dog with my head tilted when saw this assignment, didn’t really understand what positioning I was supposed to describe. I hadn’t got my books by then, so I did had to research positioning first of all. The position we’re describing is market positioning, then it all made sense to me and it made me realize how much a logo carries.

Position – per definition
“a place where someone or something is located or has been put/placed”.
In this sense we’re thinking of market positioning, who’s the brand’s audience.

Coca-Cola

When I look at Coca-Cola’s logo I immediately get associations with Christmas, family time, weekends, football world cup, memories and gatherings. When marketing, Coca-Cola really takes charge of every occasion there is, doesn’t matter if is the world cup or just by your dinner table. Over time they manage to make their product a everyday staple. I remember as a child, I was shocked when commercials showed Coke at the dinner table everyday, while we were only allowed Coke on weekends. Me and my teeth are forever grateful to my mom for that.
The Coca-cola logo is such a timeless and easy recognizable logo. It has class that feels like quality, it’s simple and it carries so much warmth within the red color. You just feel great because of the lovely associations. I looked through their slogans over the years and I picked three that I think really speaks what Coca-Cola was accomplished, “Thirst Knows No Season”, “Where There’s Coke There’s Hospitality” and “Things Go Better with Coke”. Looking at this from a marketing point of view, Coca-Cola has conquered everyday life and everybody.

Volkswagen

Volkswagen is German and literally translates to “People’s car”. I don’t have cars as a subject in my daily life as we speak and I’m not that updated with the market. When I hear Volkswagen I think of the classic beetle, hippie vans and all together I get a robust car with a classic design for the everyday man. From the beginning Volkswagen has been advertised as a affordable and sustainable for everyone.

Visa

Like the previous brands, Visa’s position is very central. It everywhere and so widespread, as the tagline says «Everywhere You Want To Be» so shall it be. Visa is in simple words, a access to your bank through the Visa network with a Visa card.

Apple

I see Apple as different, unique, professional. The brand goes beyond just phone, it is software, iCloud, iTunes, App Store and so on, everything is connected and flows easily between devices. They really established a strong brand through consistency in looks and products. When looking for a phone or computer, I always think “choosing Apple is so easy”, there are few models, they stand out and everything about it seems so easy. They comes of as a customer friendly, easy to use, stylish, all-in-one device.

As for now I think iPhone/Apple is at the same level as many other brands, it’s still solid as a brand. But I think phones in general now has other standards then 10 years back. Almost all of them look the same but the software and specialties are the deal breakers. Now, I’ve only owned a iPod in my life and never upgraded further, so I may be biased. Sorry ’bout it.

I think Apple has a strong following, once a customer always a customer, this can defiantly be for other brands, but only Apple has its kind software. If you own one Apple device they can easily connect with other Apple products, this courage customers to buy all Apple products. From my personal perspective; before iPhone, mp3 players and iPods was very popular among kids and teens, the brand was setting roots. When iPhone released a touchscreen phone, which was rare and no other company had have breakthrough with that, it was revolutionary, new, innovative and it looked real good too. I especially remembered when iPhone 4 was launched, ‘cause everyone was having it.

As for how they researched for iPhone, I think they saw how more and more touchscreen devices were coming up, like handheld gaming consoles and other attempts of touch phones. I think they just polished their design really good and came up with a easy-to-use, polished phone.

I think the logo fits great with the brand identity, it’s simple and it’s a solid statement. The logo is positioned at the upper back of the phone and I recall it working wonderfully as a mirror and handy when taking pictures. And we stan a multi-purpose logo!