Brand Positioning

Brands should aim to have a clear and distinct position in consumers’ minds in order to be more desirable than competitors, and sometimes, these marketing strategies can even influence our lifestyle and language.

Success

Effective advertising attracts customers, but good brand positioning makes them feel privileged.  From Starbucks cups to Louis Vuitton purses, people are willing to pay higher prices for these luxurious products.  Even though I find this quite crazy, I understand their intentions.

Such appreciation could change the brand name into a daily term too; “Google it” and “Kleenex” have been embedded into our vocabulary and now defines the product category.  I sometimes forget that Kleenexes are actually tissues, and that other search engines are available.  This subconscious loyalty is built from brand image.

Fail

But this customer loyalty can be negatively impacted if the company makes the wrong moves, such as the case with Gap’s new logo.  Their attempts to reposition by implementing a “more contemporary and current” logo was beat down.  Customers (me included) preferred the old logo, which was the icon for Gap for over 20 years.  After much criticism, Gap reverted to the old logo.

Old and New Logo

Despite the importance of evolving the brand after its initial creation, protecting it is crucial as well.  Gap’s is an example of a bad and costly strategy that seeked change without maintaining its grounds.  So, while brands should be shy of being obsolete, any repositioning should be of the brand must only improve its place in the consumer’s mind.

References:
–The Gap’s New Logo
–Bloomberg: Gap Scraps New Logo After Backlash, Revives Blue Box

Cooking oil is a very common product, and the use of reusable materials is becomingly popular.  But what if you put these two together?

You get ‘gutter oil’.

By processing anything collected from drains, gutters, and sewers, businesses inChinahave become very profitable from the sales of this recycled waste oil.  It now makes up for one-tenth of the cooking oil inChina.  Hidden behind counterfeit labels and containers, the product is sold to restaurants, supermarkets, and street-side food vendors, then in turn to oblivious consumers.

This is appalling.  People could be poisoned; they may get cancer or even die – just by consuming food!

Though health effects have not yet surfaced, their complete disregard for the public is highly unethical.  This is not a first in China; only three years ago did melamine-milk products cause the death and illness of over 300,000 infants.  Will they ever realize the consequence of their actions before it becomes a public issue?

I truly question the deeper morale of Chinese businesses – is profit the only objective?

Generating profit is a vital part of doing business, but to do so at the expense of people’s lives is utterly irresponsible.  The absence of government regulation is also astounding.  How far will this go before it is stopped?  Do they even feel guilty, or are they too focused on the monetary benefits to be shameful of their impacts?

References:
–BBC: Mass arrests in China illegal ‘gutter oil’ police sting
–The Epoch Times: ‘Gutter oil’ Sold to China’s Restaurants, Supermarkets