三问品牌定位-外文翻译.doc

三问品牌定位-外文翻译外文翻译原文Title:Three Questions You Need to Ask About Your BrandMaterial Source: Harvard Business Review Author:Kevin Lane KellerTraditionally, the people responsible for positioning brands have concentrated on points of difference ?the benefits that set each brand apeirt from the competition. Maytag is distinguished by dependcibility, Tide by whitening power, BMW by superior handling. Such points of di ffere ntiati on are, in many cases, what consumers remember abo ut a bra nd. But points of differentiation alone are not enough to sustain a brand aga inst competitors. Managers often pay too lit tie attention to two other aspects of compctitivc positioning: understending the frame of reference within which their brands work and addressing the features that brands have in comm on with compe tito rs. There are always circumstances in which it s necessary to break even” with competing brands. Effective brand positio ning requires not only careful con sideration of a brand s points of difference, but also of what we call its points of paritywith other products Have We Established a Frame?Brand positioning starts with establishing a frame of reference, which signals to consumers the goal they can expect to achieve by using a brand. Choosing the proper frame is important because it dietates the types of associations that will function as points of parity and points of difference. In some cases, the frame of reference is other bra nds in the same category. Coca-Cola is a soft drink. It compe tes with Pepsi-Cola and RC. But in certain instances, the frame of reference might be bra nds in quite disparate categories. Coke, Gatorade, and Snappie bel ong to the soft drink, sport drink, and iced tea catcgories, but they potentially share the frame of reference that consists of all thirst-quenching drinks.One variable that may influence the choice of frame of reference i s the product s st age in the life cycle. Whe n a new product is 1 aunched, competing products are often enlisted to serve as the frame of reference so that consumers can quickly discern what the product is and what goal it serves. In later st ages of the produc t life cycle, grow th opportu nitics and threats may emerge outside the product category. Accordingly, shifting the frame of referenee may be necessary. The case of FedEx illustrates this evolution.When Federal Express launched its service, it offered a clear point of difference from traditional mail delivery via the U. S. Postal Service: overnight delivery. As other providers of overnight delivery services appeared, the new compctitors served as a new frame of reference- FedEx positioned itself as superior to them based on speed and dependability. This point of difference was reflected in its advertising slogcin, "When it absolutely, positively has to be there overnight.While FedEx continues to be concerned about competitors in the overnight delivery category, some of its stiffest competition now comes from other forms of document transmission. For example, many documents that once would have been sent by overnight delivery can befaxed or e-mailed more quickly and inexpensively- FedEx" s uspeedy deliveryn point of difference is rendered meaningless when the frame of referenee is expemded to include fax or e-mail• A new point of difference is required. Against this new frame of reference, FedEx could choose to differentiate on security, confidentiality, and attentiongetting capability. This type of differentiation would be supported by FedEx" s heavily promoted tracking capabilities, which distinguish it not only from fax emd e-mail, but from other overnight delivery carriers as well.Are We Leveraging Our Points of Parity?Once you ve chosen an initial frame of reference, think through the points of parity that must be met if consumers are to perceive your product as a legitimate and credible player within that frame. Consumers might not con sidcr a bank t ruly a “ba nk” uni css it offers checking and savings plans, safe-deposit boxes, trave1er s checks, and so on. The approach you use to meet these minimum requirements for playing the game will depend on where your product is in its life cycle.New Brands- Marketing strategists generally recognize the importance of identifying points of parity when introducing a new brand, as the FedEx example illustrates. But the more innovative the product, the greater the clifficulty of fitting it into an established frame and meeting the frame" s minimum requirements. The brief, lonely life of Motorola" s Envoy underlines this point.Envoy was a personal digital assistant launched in 1994.It received messages wirelessly like a pager, but no one viewed it as a pager because it was too large the size of a VI1S tape and too expensive $1, 500. Envoy sent e-mail and faxes like a laptop computer, but it couldn" t substitute for a 1aptop because it lacked a keyboard and sufficient storage. Envoy could store calendar and conta。