PositioningstrategiesandincidenceofcongruenceoftwoUK.ppt

Positioning strategies and incidence of congruence of two UK store card brands Charles Blankson Abstract This study examines the activities and congruence of positioning strategies within the UK store card sector. With triangulation research methodology, results confirm branding activities. Most popular position strategies are: Marks and Spender Card brand: “Service,” “Value for money,” and “The Brand Name.” Harrods Card brand: “Top of the range” and “The Brand Name.” There are congruencies between the two card brands, which are marketing “communications” efforts and consumers’ “perceived” strategies. There are no congruencies between managers’ “presumed” strategies and the brand’s marketing “communications” efforts. While “communications” positioning activities are recognized by the target group, managers “presumptions/intentions” are unclear in “communications.” Introduction and background to the study Positioning Activities provide the objectives for products and services, therefore offerings’ positions in the marketplace are/should be assessed to determine if goals of position have been accomplished. Advertisements today, have an objective to position an offering in the consumer’s mind. “…in a real sense, position analysis takes all the materials that have been developed about the situation and puts them together into the message idea…” (Ray, 1992) Therefore, this article looks at two store card brands: Marks and Spencers (or M S) and Harrods and studies brand position strategies and congruence in positioning. Positioning: is concerned with the attempt to modify the tangible characteristics and the intangible perceptions of a marketable offering in relation to the competition. (Arnott 1992, 1993) Formally defined “…positioning is the deliberate, proactive, iterative process of defining, measuring, modifying, and monitoring consumer perceptions of a marketable object…” (Arnott 1992, pp. 111-114) Positioning involves: Defining the dimensions of a particular perc