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MarketingWeek
just recently published an article about how brands are able to stay competitive
in the market, while other brands fail maintaining their brand positioning. The
article mostly focuses on the choice of taking the brand to the mass market
instead of sticking to its core market.
Going to the mass market makes it even more difficult for brands to
stand out from the rest. Keller (2008) has an important view towards
brand positioning. He points out the importance of Points of parity (POP’s) and
points of difference (POD’s). POP’s are the associations common for all brands
in a category, while POD’s are associations that are specific to one brand. The
POD’s is considered to be the key to achieve a unique position in the market.
This will give the brand competitive advantages. Hence, when a brand defines
the Brand Positioning it is important to look at how the brand
should be able to stand out from the rest.
In relation to this
article there is a Norwegian brand that has, at least in my opinion, made the choice
of going from their core niche market to
become a brand for the mass market. Moods of Norway has the last years become one
of the most fast-growing and succesful brands in Norway. They started off in
the niche market, and all of their different products had history and specific
details that made them stand out from the rest. Moods
of Norway clearly had a unique position in the market. Now, almost 10 years after they started off,
the brand has a broad product line and they are present in both national and
international markets. This has obviously led to greater profits, but at what
cost? I believe that the brand has taken advantage and abused their unique
position. Their newly developed products
no longer has the uniqueness attached to
it, and it seems like the brand is more about making short-term profits than “keeping
their cool”. Moods of Norway has to go
back to their roots before its too late, and rediscover their unque brand
positiong. What is your view on this,
and do you have any similar examples?
To read more about
this topic I highly recommend this article:
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