Though buggy, AIBO scored an immediate hit-selling 100,000 units in its first two years on the market. So it positioned its dog-like AIBO robot as a loveable but otherwise useless pet. Sony knew that making a useful household robot would be daunting. To neutralize apparent shortcomings or even turn them into assets, reposition such offerings-without necessarily changing them. Thus this strategy is well suited to categories-such as nascent consumer technologies-whose products customers perceive as difficult to use, unreliable, or threatening. Stealth positioning moves a product out of a category that customers may resist-and places it in a more desirable category. The product spurred a 10% leap in market share. Households that used to buy ketchup one bottle at a time and consume it slowly began buying several colors at once and polishing them off in days. Children and parents viewed EZ Squirt as an edible arts-and-crafts product, not just a food. Heinz’s advertising encouraged kids to write their names on hot dogs and draw dinosaurs on hamburgers.
Heinz’s EZ Squirt ketchup came in decidedly unketchuppy hues-green, purple, orange-in flamboyant squeeze bottles with kid-friendly nozzles. Yet incremental changes to mundane items don’t ignite the passionate buying that category-defying breakaway positioning stimulates. Thus they welcome fresh options, particularly in mature products. Breakaway Positioning for Packaged Goodsīecause packaged goods are tangible, consumers easily adapt to new features as offerings evolve. From 1999 to 2004, the bank’s deposits quintupled, loans tripled, and number of branches shot from 120 to 319.
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Customers get free coffee and newspapers, plus free use of coin-counting machines.
It provides debit cards while customers wait and offers umbrella-wielding escorts to the parking lot on rainy days. Yet it’s open seven days a week, including evenings. Example:Ĭommerce Bank pays among the lowest interest rates in its market and offers just four (versus dozens) of checking accounts.
Reverse-positioned services enchant “brand missionaries,” people who are so enamored by what you offer that they, in turn, praise your offering to others. So customers welcome elimination of some benefits or options in exchange for simplicity and surprising perks. Simply adding more and more service options confuses consumers (consider the fine print people study to distinguish credit-card services). Select the best positioning strategy for your product category: Reverse Positioning for Services Sony presented its barely functional household robot AIBO as a quirky pet.īy wielding these strategies, you go on the offensive-demolishing your category’s traditional boundaries, creating a lucrative place to ply your wares, and leaving rivals scrambling.