Brand Repositioning

As we can see from the past and current situation, the marketplace is always changing and not just about purchasing and buying between consumers and sellers. More and more firms begin to concentrate on creating a positive image for a product. A firm can choose several positioning strategies, including strengthening the current position, repositioning or try to reposition the competition. (Hartline,2005) Brand repositioning is one of the most effective ways for a firm to solve tough situation. A firm should reposition its brand under the following four circumstances: when the first position is wrong, when there is strong competition in the marketplace, when the target consumer is to be changed, and to rebuild a brand’s personality.

Every firm knows that “Positioning” is one of the most important steps for itself. But what is “Positioning”? Marshall (2006,p.213) states that “positioning is developing a marketing strategy aimed at influencing how a particular market segment perceives a good or service in comparison to the competition.” Then brand repositioning is redoing a product’s position in order to adapt to the changes of marketplace. So when a firm realized that the first position of their product is not suitable for the marketplace, such as consumers have a poor response to their product and sales results have a large gap between sales forecast.(Marshall,2006) Apparently, it is the right time to reposition their brand. Even though the first positioning is very crucial to a firm which is also means establish the value of a brand as well, the marketplace is always changing, the position of a brand cannot be existed forever. If a firm should reposition, the ways to solve this problem are research, analysis marketplace again and have a sensitive olfaction of marketplace. For example, Marlboro succeed to become one of the most famous cigarette brands in the world after it changed the target from woman to man. (Solomon, 2006) The IKEA in China changed its position from a top grade and modern position to a popular style which all levels people can afford after they realized that the marketplace in China is not suitable for its first position. (Marshall, 2006) As wee can see from the examples, no matter how perfect the first positioning is, if products cannot suitable for the marketplace, firms should make a right decision for itself to solve problems.

Although the wrong original market position is the reason why a firm should reposition its brand, however, it is not the only reason of repositioning a brand. The strong competition in the marketplace which also means the original position weaken the competition of brand is another important reason. Ferrell(2005)states that there are four basic types of competition most firms should face: Brand competitors, Product competitors, Generic competitors and total budget competitors which represent different needs of different consumers can bring strong competition in the marketplace. As we can see from a classic example, “MINI” which was unchanged over 40 years without any significant product development before BMW realized that its car was uncompetitive in the marketplace in terms of size, machine and others aspects. But after it repositioning its brand, “MINI COOPER” is now a major player among branded competition in the car market. (Smith & Trott, 2007). No matter how intense competition in the marketplace, one of the important problems in analyzing competition is firms should frequently ask itself “who are our current and future competitors?” Although the strong competition in the marketplace sometimes is a great challenge for a firm, on the other hand, strong competition can make a firm reposition its brand which means consumers can always have many choices.

In addition to the wrong original positioning and strong competition among the marketplace, consumer needs is another reason why a firm has to consider reposition its rand. Customers are playing the most important role in the marketplace Marshall(2006) states that the consumers behavior is the process which involved when consumers select, purchase, use and dispose of goods, services, ideas or experiences to satisfy their needs and desires. There are many factors which can influent consumers make decision whether they purchase the product or not, such as physical environment, perception, personality, lifestyle and culture. Customers will change their mind to not buy a product because of style, color, price or their own idea changed, such as consumers will notice the image of the brand instead of the function of the brand.(Ferrell, 2005).For example, when P&G has just entered in China, its original position of brand “Rejoice” all-in-one shampoo is bring people convenience and flexibility of their hair. Later, P & G in market development found that consumers most need is to establish self-confidence,