“The old model – the ‘three Cs’ of customer, company and competition – remains the acid test of positioning… I want a position that will be what my target customer wants, and which my company can deliver better or differently or more distinctively than my competitors. It’s not that the three Cs dispel the need for brand purpose but they do provide a stern, rigorous test of whether purpose provides the strategic muster to get the branding job done.”
Professor Mark Ritson, via Marketing Week
When a brand starts expanding into other categories, it needs a proposition that people will pay attention to.
Brian Collins, Chief Creative Officer – Collins
Successful marketing must not be too rational because, as in military strategy, it depends on surprise.
Ian Leslie, brand strategist
Customers are the voters. They can make a brand or destroy it by a shift in their purchases.
Philip Kotler, the father of modern marketing
You don’t need a digital strategy. You need a better strategy, enabled by digital.
George Westerman, principal research scientist – MIT Initiative on the Digital Economy
Ordinary is the enemy
Andy Weir, founder of agency ‘Born + Raised’
“My total impression of any brand is made up of my experience of using it and whatever I have received, digested and accepted from the communications about it. Perhaps most important, my view of a brand’s personality depends on my impression of its competitors. Everything is relative…
How much our brand will appeal to people will depend on its relationships with competitors. This means that advertising [or other marketing communication] objectives must always be set in terms of: the changes desired in our brand; and comparison with other brands.”
JWT Planning Guide
Brand advertising… makes things sellable, rather than selling things directly.
Faris Yakob, Founder – Genius Steals
“We know that when people feel emotionally connected to a brand they are 52% more valuable (Harvard Business Review) – they create more profit for companies. It’s no surprise – making someone feel ignites their brain and earns you a small corner of their memory, which in turn drives their behaviour.
Making people feel – it’s essentially our safest marketing strategy.”
Out of mind, out of business
Al Ries & Jack Trout, founders of positioning theory
Bite-Sized Marcomms 