What People Are Consuming (Ad Age)

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When is Depositioning a Good Positioning?



Depositioning- Do you see pain or victory?



You’re sitting on your couch watching “the game” on your device of choice- Tablet, TV etc.  Something happens.  It’s one of those ads that took only 30 seconds but you said to yourself- “boy that’s sure going to “expletive” off the competition.  Maybe as a consumer it made you take pause and consider that product or service that was so bold.  Maybe you saw it as mudslinging and turned you off completely.

Depositioning is a marketing approach that not all marketers are comfortable with because they either are not sure how customers will respond or how the competition will react.  As a result calling out the competition directly or in general can make many marketers “itchy”.  For people in senior leadership positions of a company that are not marketing professionals, it can be more of a concern.  Some executives I have crossed paths with will provide a general rule to Depositioning (even though they don’t know the term) and advise their marketing departments to avoid it at all costs.  It is a safe decision but is it a good one?  Let’s explore.

As with any game, competition or war understanding the rules of engagement at the time are important.  Marketing is no different in that the strategy to engage the customer is to create a specific outcome aka “winning” as defined by you.  It could be to get more draw to your store or to get consumers to prefer your product over the competitive offering.   So what are some of the rules of engagement to call out the competition at some level?  Why are so many companies using it – and apparently successfully?   I will share some real examples and video of how Depositioning has been used and a few rules to consider.  One thing to note is don’t decide for or against the approach until you are familiar with all the rules because as you go deeper, you may realize the earlier rules could become less or more of a barrier.

Rule #1: Know your competition   

So are you competing against a “Crazy Eddie” who will react emotionally to being called out?  Do they have a lot of marketing ability (funds or social reach) to retaliate?  Could they burry you in advertising?  Most importantly is do they have something to say?  In other words does the competition realize a hole in your value proposition where they have a strength (that’s relevant to the customer)?  If so, that could be problematic.  If they don’t, their war chest may not be so daunting.

Rule #2: Know yourself

Most importantly is do you really have something to claim?  Something of substance that could be considered news worthy such as a new feature, benefit, claim or a exclusive product that separates you from the pack?  In essence your marketing departments better have a SWOT analysis together for your company as well as your rivals.  Understand your differentiation.

Below is link showing how Southwest Airlines depositions the competition around change fees. LINK to SOUTHWEST COMMERCIAL It appears to be a very effective way to promote a benefit of flying the airline.  Southwest is comfortable with Rule #1 and #2 knowing that other major airlines will not retaliate and if they attempted to come back at Southwest it may only legitimize them even more.  Southwest is definitely competing on the Strength in their SWOT.  This brings me to the next Rule…

Rule #3: Re-Define the Fight

Defining a war you can win is important in Depositioning.  Its obvious Southwest strategy is to target consumers who are budget conscious.  As a result offers flyers may convenient flight times at low costs.  Everything else (except for Safety of course) is a bonus.  So Southwest did a good job of defining the fight- in this case price was the rule of engagement.  On their SWOT price was strength perhaps because of their cost structure (no diversity in your planes fleet make for cheaper for maintenance, training etc.) which can allow the airlines to have “bags fly free” or “no change fees”.  Southwest has weaknesses in their value proposition as any company does.  No real options for first class travelers or knowing your seat assignment before you get on the plane could be negatives to some would be flyers.

American Airlines could come back to attempt to Deposition Southwest by talking about knowing your seat before you get on the plane is a great thing and it avoids you sitting between two huge, smelly and talkative bookends flanking your either side- but who would that message be for?  It would not be for the cost conscious traveler looking for a flight from Cleveland to Chicago for less than $100 on short notice.   If American would like to strike back, they will have to get into a fight they would probably rather avoid, a price fight.

·         Bonus Thought: So here is what I like to call a bonus thought.  Think about a competitor who we call “Solid Red” who is doing well with their marketing and advertising strategies.  Surprisingly some competitor called  “Cheap Blue” calls out “Solid Red” in an ad on price saying “Cheap Blue” is always cheaper.  So “Solid Red” responds and starts talking about the value they provide to the customer.  Was this bad for “Cheap Blue”?  Not necessarily.  In sports you can find the language “taking them out of their game” all the time.  It can happen in basketball regularly where a team that is not that athletic “slows the game down”.  Walks the ball slowly up the court milking the shot clock, passes a lot and is very surgical when they try to score.  Whereas the more athletic team who is used to a fast pace game of running and high scoring finds themselves lulled into a plodding slow paced game that actually favors the less athletic team.  Coaches (like marketing strategist) would or should call a time out and demand a more up tempo approach.  So why the long analogy?  It’s not because of the current pro basketball lockout but rather to warn you to beware of a company like “Cheap Blue” who can take you off your game.   Retaliation for the sake of doing so distracts you from doing what has made you a winner to date- you were “Solid”.  So unless company “Cheap Blue” has found your Achilles heal you may want to keep the tempo where you want it- “on solid ground”.   If Cheap Blue did hit a deadly nerve, time to revisit your value proposition and strategy to redefine your own fight weather you deposition or not.

Rule #4: Choose Between Specific or General Depositioning

So if you have made it to rule #4 and still interested in Depositioning - congrats for making it this far.  So if you want to make consumers aware of your differentiation vs. the competition you will come to the fork in the road to either call them out by name or in a vague way.  So what’s the correct way? 

·         Consider the awareness level of your competition.  If the competition is relatively unknown (a new internet insurance company) you could help create awareness for them by marketing their name if you are State Farm.  Not recommended in most cases.

·         Is there multiple or “groups” of like competitors or just one main one? 

o   MULTIPLE: For example fast food restaurants.  There is an endless amount of “burger joints” from McDonalds, Burger King, Wendy’s but also mom and pop places across the country.  So if you’re Burger King and going to say something such as “Flame Broiling Beats Frying” you could refer to the competition as “other places” while Depositioning since you have a so many competitors to choose from that fries food.  Here is an interesting Subway ad that takes on all the grease without confronting any one chain.  SUBWAY COMMERCIAL

o   SINGLE: In other cases you may know that there is just one main competitor in your sights and as a result you want to take the guess work out of it for your potential customer.  For example Infinity Automobiles currently has a campaign on the air stating “Luxury sometimes is a sedative and sometimes it’s a stimulant” while showing a Lexus lulling people to sleep vs. a roaring Infinity on the open road. Infinity wants the Lexus customer- period.  INFINITY COMMERCIAL

·         Another reason when you may want to use a general “other guys” call out is if you are concerned about retaliation.  Using another companies name will definitely get their upper management talking in the morning.  Remember rule #1.

·         How much “internal motivation” does your company need could play a role in your decision.  Not only can calling out the competition excite them but also your internal workforce.  Example, recently Sears ran a campaign called Turf Wars for their Lawn & Garden business.  It was as direct a Depositioning campaign as you will find as the commercials were filmed in front of the competitions store.  The evidence I witnessed in stores was a great air of enthusiasm by the Sears Blue Crew employees.  A dose of confidence and adrenaline seemingly untapped before.  Also, industry data shows there was a considerable amount of market share captured during the quarter by Sears in this business.  TURF WARS COMMERCIAL

Rule #5: For Market Leaders and Followers

Some believe if you are #1 you should never look back and deposition the competition.  It can be viewed as a ploy only for companies trailing the market leader.  Generally this could be pretty solid thinking but one factor to take into account is the acceleration of the competition.  Meaning is the image in your rear view mirror getting bigger and is that object closer than it may appear?  In other words- momentum!  Who has it can be just as important as who is #1. 

If you are a market leader but find yourself seeing a competitor rally in a way that could become a threat, then a preemptive strike may be acceptable.  Recall when Sony was #1 in about everything that was consumer electronics?  Today Samsung has leaped forward to leadership positions in many categories such as large screen TV’s.  Should Sony have been more dramatic in calling out Samsung while they were still #1?  One will never know if it could have made a difference and the 20/20 hindsight says it couldn’t have hurt (although I don’t believe Sony’s situation was all marketing driven by any means).

Another interesting approach was Apple’s Depositioning campaign- Mac vs. PC.  Apple a company of dominating growth and has cult like status with many consumers called out the competitive “platform” or PC’s in a very entertaining way.  MAC vs. PC COMMERCIAL  Even though Apple as a company is a market leader in some categories like MP3 Players and Tablets they are not the leader in computing.  They took the opportunity to call out the competition while not in a #1 position.  In return PC came back not calling out Mac’s but reaching to acknowledge their own following with the “I’m a PC” campaign attempting to inject pride back into ownership.  I’M a PC COMMERCIAL  It seemed as Apple created such evangelists that the fight was defined around pride of ownership (Rule #3) to some degree.  In this case two market leaders in their own right took to Depositioning.  Mac came directly at PC and PC returned serve with a campaign that only spoke of themselves but poked a little fun back at Mac (but in a unique way that said “we have a cult too”).

Rule #6: Know Your Target Customer

This rule is my favorite of all.  It is at the basic heart of everything a marketer does- know your target customer.  How will they react and feel about you Depositioning?  Most importantly do you know what they value the most and can you Deposition around it?  If the customer values price the most then a price message will resonate well in Depositioning (or any advertising) unless there is an equal trade in their subconscious.

Example: One of my favorite campaigns of all time is Allstate’s Mayhem campaign created by Leo Burnett in Chicago.  What is so brilliant about the campaign was it took full advantage of so many rules in the right way.  First Allstate needed to “re-define the fight” (Rule #3).  It had become popular for so many insurance companies to win based on price- see PROGRESSIVE COMMERCIAL LINK, GEICO COMMERCIAL LINK (Rule #1 Know Your Competition).  This was a fight Allstate could have taken head on but it appears they didn’t want to take on price alone (Rule #2 Know Yourself).  In fact Allstate determined their best customer was not solely concerned about price (Rule #6 Know Your Customer) but also about security or peace of mind. 

Let’ face it, when your house burns down there is a group of people who want to be sure it will be restored.  If that means “potentially” paying a few more dollars- it’s worth it to these consumers.  Additionally, based on past experience I’m sure there is a profile of a customer who buys on price alone and they probably have some higher risk attributes which make them less desirable for some insurance companies.

Soon the Mayhem campaign was born from a market leader reminding consumers of how accidents happen in life all the time and “if you go with one of those other cut rate guys you might not be covered” was a key closing remark of each spot.  Allstate and Leo Burnett took Rule #4 of “General Depositioning” against the field vs. acknowledging by name (the competition was newer- less awareness, and in multiples so a “General Depositioning” vs. specific call out was a smart choice).  LAWN MOWER MAYHEM COMMERCIAL  More recently though Allstate in particular must feel that Geico is becoming a more worthy adversary because new Mayhem advertising literally calls out the “15 minutes saves up to 15%” mantra that is a staple in Gieco’s ads but never mentions Geico by name.   RACCOON MAYHEM COMMERCIAL

Summary

In the end the best Rule about Depositioning is don’t make a blanket rule to do it or avoid it.  Depositioning is being done every day by market leaders and followers with great precision and effectiveness- Allstate, Apple, Infinity, PC, Sears and Southwest just to name a few.  It’s a great way to call out a myth, redirect the conversation, re-frame the fight or spread some new differentiated news.  It appears to be human nature to pay attention to a conflict and as marketers it’s our job to direct people to pay attention.  It’s when Depositioning is used without regards to some of the rules above or in bad taste that it gets a bad name and many marketers are asked not to use it resulting with one less effective tool in the marketer’s tool box.

Sincerely,
Eddie Combs

MarketingGr8nes

Not a Declaration, An Aspiration

Follow Me on Twitter: @MarketingGr8nes