Consumers experience information overload from the various advertisements that they see every single day. It is an advertiser’s job to position their products in the mind of consumers. The easiest way is to be the first.
Take for example the Indonesian company Indofood, which sold the first instant noodles in Indonesia called Indomie. For a long time they had no competition and Indomie’s brand name became so strong that for most Indonesians, the brand is the product. Even as cheaper and better competition arises, Indonesian consumers still refer instant noodles as “Indomie” and still prefer to buy Indomie rather than instant noodles from other competitors.
This does not mean that second place, third place companies and so on could not position themselves. They can do so by occupying a unique position in the consumer’s mind. Take Apple for example, their slogan is “everything is easier on a Mac.” By doing so they position themselves as a more user-friendly alternative to the PC .
However, unique positions are not always available. In such cases, Al Ries and Jack Trout, authors of “Positioning: the Battle of Your Mind” suggests repositioning the competition ina negative light in the consumers’ mind.
