Starbucks Industry

POP & POD

Arriving at the proper positioning requires establishing the correct point of difference and point of parity associations.

Point of parity

Points-of-parity associations (POPs) are not necessarily unique to the brand but may in fact be shared with other brands.

Two types:

Category pop's: necessary conditions for brand choice. exist more at the product level

Competitive pop's: designed to negate competitor's pod's: trying to find a way to break into areas where competitors have an advantage to have a competitive position.

Point of difference

Points-of-difference (PODs) are attributes or benefits that consumers strongly associate with a brand, positively evaluate, and believe that they could not find to the same extent with a competitive brand.

Different types of brand associations :

-Functional (performance-related)

- abstract (imagery-related)

The concept of POD is similar to the notion of Unique Selling Proposition : USP , idea that advertising should give consumers a compelling reason to buy a product that competitors could not match.

To summarize

• POD = "Reason why"

• POP = "No reason why not"

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Choosing POP's & POD's

The most two important considerations in choosing POD are that consumers find the POD desirable and that they believe the firm has the abilities to deliver on it.

• Desirability criteria (consumer perspective)

3 key desirability criteria for PODs that marketer must assess from a consumer perspective.

– Personally relevant

– Distinctive and superior

– Believable and credible

• Deliverability criteria (firm perspective)

3 key deliverability criteria for PODs that marketer must assess from a firm perspective.

– Feasible : can the firm create the POD?

– Profitable

– Pre-emptive, defensible, and difficult to attack

Desirability is determined from the consumer point of view and deliverability is based on a company inherent capabilities .

Why position your product/ brand ?

Society has an overload of communication:

– print information doubles every 4 years

– every day 4000 books are published

– more tv-stations

– Internet-overload

• 80% of all information leaves the brain in 24 hours

? keep your message simple

How does the brain Work ?

• The brain is limited

– observes selectively

– remembers selectively

– simplifies

• The brain hates confusion

• The brain is insecure

• The brain is slow

POSITIONING

Positioning is choosing a position in the target group's minds, that:

- is distinctive from the competition

- is relevant for the target group

- fits the organisation

with the aim of creating a preference.

• The positioning should be

– Relevant

– Distinctive

– Important in consumer decision proces

– Deliver the promise

– Understandable

– Sustainable (hard to copy)