Unpacking Product Positioning and Branding

Businesses lacking a proper strategy are unlikely to compete effectively in the long-term. It would be recommended for companies, regardless of what growth stage they are in, to reflect on their product positioning, branding and overall strategy. The following is a summary of topics that could be discussed in such a course:

Product Positioning

• Product Positioning and Market Share
• Product Positioning Strategies
• Product Differentiation (including a comprehensive discussion on product quality) and brand differentiation
• Product Differentiation — successful examples
• Product Positioning: Harvard University –Case Study https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=48007
• CASE ABSTRACT: Executives from Portland Drake Beverages (PDB) are meeting to determine the appropriate product positioning and advertising campaign for the launch of Crescent Pure, a specialty organic beverage. They have 3 options for positioning: should Crescent Pure be positioned as an energy drink, a sports drink, or should it adopt broader positioning as an “organic health and wellness” beverage? Students studying this case explore customer segmentation, product differentiation analysis, and the evaluation of perceptual maps as a market research technique.

Branding:

• Creating a new brand name and creating brand equity (including brand assets, brand liabilities and brand equity)
• Building Brand Awareness
• Harvard University — Case Study: edX — Strategies for Higher Education https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=47945
• CASE ABSTRACT: ABSTRACT — In May 2012, Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) founded edX, a new non-profit joint venture that would provide a platform for massive open online courses (MOOCs). edX did not produce original courses or instructional content — it made a web platform through which Harvard and MIT, and subsequently dozens more “partner” universities, could offer their lecture courses as MOOCs. While the future role of MOOCs in higher education remained a topic of public debate, edX needed to answer concrete managerial and strategic questions. For example, what should edX’s scope be? Should edX try to develop a consumer brand of its own or rely on the brands of its partners? And how could edX monetize its services to recoup university’s investments and reward participating universities? This case presented the history of edX and the online education market as background for a discussion about edX’s strategic choices.

This course outline has been suggested by AllaVolodina who teaches in university and corporate settings. Alla has developed a variety of workshop outlines and course outlines (at York University). Check out AllaVolodina blog: allavolodina.com.