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12 Brand Positioning Statement Examples and Why They Work

December 28, 2021 No Comments

By Stevie Snow

What does your brand positioning statement say about you? Is your brand motivational like Nike, environmentally focused like Patagonia or a trend-setter like Outdoor Voices?

Maybe your company doesn’t sell activewear, but you get the gist. Strong brand positioning gives your target audience a solid idea of who your brand is and why they should choose you over your competitors.

As any respectable marketer in need of inspiration does, looking to other brands that you know and love — or know and compete with — will help you determine what you should incorporate in your own brand strategy.

Lucky for you, we compiled some brand positioning statement examples that will do just that.

What Is a Brand Positioning Statement?

Brand positioning is all about setting your brand apart from the crowd. A full strategy includes branding elements like your logo and tagline that build your brand’s identity.

Your brand positioning statement is a grounding summary of your products or services and how they fill specific needs for your target audience. It’s an internal tool used to ensure all brand communication and marketing efforts are consistent with the identity, purpose and values that make your brand different from others in your target market.

By and large, a brand positioning statement conveys the distinct value your brand offers customers.

Why Do You Need a Brand Positioning Statement?

A brand positioning statement helps align your internal teams so that everyone is creating and delivering on-brand user experiences.

Remember that your brand identity is all yours! More important than boiling it down into a statement is whether your brand walks the walk. Your brand strategy should ensure that your company’s values and personality shine through all of your branding, marketing and communications materials. Customers are looking for authenticity and consistency — not a perfectly polished positioning statement.

Internally, though, that perfectly polished statement could be the exact internal tool you need to make sure everyone in the organization is aligned.

What Are the Core Elements of Strategic Brand Positioning?

The elements to consider when crafting your strategic brand positioning include your target audience, target market category, customer pain points, brand promise, brand identity, core values and mission.

To position your brand and stand out from your competition, your positioning should answer questions like these:

Who do you serve?
What do you serve them with?
How do you serve them?
Why do they need your product or service?
How do you solve a problem for your target audience?
What makes your brand trustworthy?
How is your brand different from others that offer similar products or services?

If it helps to get your gears going, here are simple formulas you can follow to create a winning positioning statement:

[Brand name] provides [benefit] because [compelling reason] for [target audience] with [specific need or want].
[Brand name] serves [target audience] who [specific need or want]. [Brand name] offers [how your company responds to need or want] to make customers feel [outcome of buying your product or service].

How Is a Positioning Statement Different From Other Marketing Statements?

It’s worth noting that your brand positioning statement is not the same as other classic marketing statements, including your mission and vision.

For starters, your positioning statement is used internally while your other statements are often shared externally. Your mission statement is the “why” behind your brand, your vision is where you’re headed, and your brand positioning statement is the value that your brand adds to your area of focus.

Your positioning statement is also different from your value proposition, which explains the benefits and desirable outcomes of your product or service. You can use your value proposition as part of your positioning statement, but the latter will also get into your brand’s differentiators.

12 Brand Positioning Statement Examples We Love

Full disclosure: These examples are not necessarily the exact positioning statements that these brands created! As mentioned above, brand positioning statements generally stay within the four walls of an organization. That said, if executed well, you can get a good idea of how a brand positions itself because it’s woven into the fabric of all of its external messaging.

Insider tip: You can also look at press releases for clues on a brand’s positioning statement. Generally, in the “About Company” section, brands will highlight their products, services and key differentiators.

These examples from well-known brands work on a basic level because we can take a solid guess at the positioning statement that grounds the messages they share with external audiences. We’ll also let you in on more reasons why we think these brand positioning examples work so well so you can use these as inspiration when crafting your own.

1. JetBlue Airways

For travellers across the U.S., the Caribbean and Latin America, and between New York and London, JetBlue is a leading airline choice that puts customer safety and comfort first. With features like the most legroom in coach, free Fly-Fi, and award-winning customer service, JetBlue is on a mission to bring humanity back to air travel.

Why it works: Travel can be a hassle, but JetBlue is here to make it more fun and comfortable by caring for its customers and crew members like family.

2. Apple

Apple provides innovative personal technology for individuals who want the best computers and mobile devices. With several product offerings and software platforms, Apple offers a seamless and connected experience that empowers people to easily access breakthrough technology that’s designed to leave the world better than how we found it.

Why it works: With its suite of easy-to-use products, Apple makes the latest in technology accessible to everyone from tech-savvy Genius Bar employees to everyday people trying to keep up with today’s digital world. Nowadays, Apple also relies on its established brand identity and history for credibility, though its consistent branding helps position the company as a mainstay in the circle of technology leaders.

3. Coca-Cola

Coca-Cola is a total beverage company that offers a wide range of refreshing drinks for customers around the world. With a focus on positively impacting lives, Coca-Cola is about creating happiness, reducing environmental impact throughout the supply chain, and providing thousands of economic opportunities in local communities worldwide.

Why it works: Coca-Cola is aware of the Coke vs. Pepsi debate and it distinguishes itself by being an iconic brand focused on happiness and positive impact. The company’s focus on customer needs and current trends is also likely behind their attention to sustainable practices and economic opportunities.

4. Girlfriend Collective

Girlfriend Collective is a slow-fashion and size-inclusive brand for those looking to shop for sustainably and ethically made activewear. With a deep focus on people and the planet, Girlfriend Collective is a community of responsible and well-dressed shoppers.

Why it works: Sustainable fashion is becoming a trend capitalized by greenwashing brands but with transparency from the beginning and a competitive range of sizes, Girlfriend Collective is uniquely positioned as one of the more authentic brands to choose from.

5. HubSpot

Straight from the marketing guru itself: Since 2006, HubSpot has been on a mission to make the world more inbound. Today, over 100,000 total customers in more than 100 countries use HubSpot’s award-winning software, services and support to transform the way they attract, engage and delight customers. Comprised of HubSpot’s CRM, Marketing Hub, Sales Hub, and Service Hub, HubSpot gives companies the tools they need to Grow Better.

Why it works: HubSpot shows off its impressive reach and lineup of services to position the brand as an inbound marketing leader and top choice for effective marketing tools.

6. Slack

Slack is a leading messaging platform for business communication, used by millions to align their teams, unify their systems and drive their businesses forward. No matter the size of the team, Slack allows people to collaborate more effectively and get work done.

Why it works: While Slack serves businesses of various sizes and industries, the company’s brand positioning focuses on the universal outcomes of using the service.

7. Mailchimp

Mailchimp is an all-in-one marketing platform that empowers small businesses to launch, build and grow with help from easy-to-use marketing and commerce tools, award-winning support and inspiring content.

Why it works: With a crowded market of similar business tools, Mailchimp differentiates itself by being an approachable, one-stop shop specifically for smaller businesses that need help scaling.

8. Zoom

For people and businesses who need to meet with others virtually, Zoom offers a seamless video communications platform. As the only platform that started with video as its foundation, Zoom’s platform set the standard for innovation in intuitive, scalable and secure digital connections.

Why it works: Zoom leans on its history of being the first video communications platform to reinforce its credibility and leadership in the market.

9. LUSH Cosmetics

LUSH offers fresh, organic and handmade cosmetics for people who are conscious about the products they use on their skin. From inventing bath bombs and creating new, innovative products to ethical campaigning and fighting animal testing, LUSH has come a long way since its humble beginnings.

Why it works: LUSH isn’t shy about boasting its original inventions and activism, while also remembering its roots. This translates to a welcoming, approachable and authentic brand, as well as messaging that leads with the differentiators that encourage shoppers to choose LUSH over other cosmetic products.

10. Blueland

Blueland is the answer for those who want sustainable alternatives to traditional household cleaning products and personal care items. A cleaner planet starts at home, so Blueland’s effective products eliminate the need for single-use plastic packaging and make it easy, convenient and affordable to be eco-friendly.

Why it works: Sustainable products have a reputation for being more expensive and less effective than their traditional counterparts, so Blueland positions itself to debunk those perceptions.

11. Hollaback!

Hollaback! is a non-profit organization that’s dedicated to ending harassment in all of its forms. The organization leads a people-powered movement to raise awareness about harassment against women, the LGBTQIA+ community and other marginalized identities as well as to conduct intervention trainings for people who want to take action to ensure equal access to public spaces.

Why it works: Hollaback!’s messaging encourages supporters to attend intervention trainings and donate to the organization by communicating its mission and the impact of getting involved.

12. Volvo

Volvo is one of the most well-known and respected car brands in the world with sales of 661,713 cars in 2020 in about 100 countries. Volvo aims to provide customers with the Freedom to Move in a personal, sustainable and safe way.

Why it works: We all know that buying a Volvo car isn’t about speed or sex appeal — it’s about safety and quality. And that’s because they’ve focused on this unique position since day one.

What Will Your Brand Positioning Statement Say About You?

We started by asking you what your brand positioning statement says about you and now we’ll leave you with the same question. As you write your own brand statement, ground yourself in your valuable differentiators and use these brand positioning statement examples for inspiration as needed.

And remember: Once you have your statement, make sure you have a strong positioning strategy in place so that your messaging repeatedly demonstrates your value to your audiences.

You know your brand’s worth, now make sure everyone else does!

By Stevie Snow

Stevie Snow is a writer at Brafton. Yes, she is named after Stevie Nicks. She’s a believer in “to life, to life, l’chaim!” because life is what brings us the Obamas, a really smooth vodka tonic and that moment on the dance floor when your favourite banger plays.

Sourced from Brafton

In Uncategorized

What’s the Difference Between Brand Positioning and Brand Strategy? Does It Matter?

December 2, 2021 No Comments

By Nick Liddell

It’s one of the great ironies of branding that, while we tend to care passionately about the precision and quality of the words that brands use to communicate, the language we use ourselves is hopelessly vague. Often, we use identical terms to describe different ideas and concepts. At other times, we use different words to describe identical ideas and concepts.

One of the most glaring examples of this is the confusion that often exists between ‘brand positioning’ and ‘brand strategy’. Positioning is often described as “the space in people’s minds that a brand wants to occupy”. The term was popularized in the 1970s by advertising executives Al Ries and Jack Trout, who argued that brands wishing to cut through in a noisy, over-communicated society, needed to develop an oversimplified message capable of reaching an oversimplified mind:

Avis: we try harder.
Seven-Up: the uncola.

In the words of Ries and Trout:

“Along Madison Avenue, these are called positioning slogans. And the advertising people who write them spend their time and research money looking for positions, or holes, in the marketplace.”

And here’s where the confusion begins: Ries and Trout flip-flop between two different definitions of positioning:

1. Positioning a brand in a marketplace;
2. Positioning a brand in people’s minds.

These are related, but different activities. What happens in someone’s mind is not the same as what happens in a marketplace. ‘We try harder’ and ‘uncola’ are not parts of a market, they are ideas that brand owners want to establish in our heads.

Philip Kotler is pretty firm in his point of view on which of these two activities is best described as ‘brand positioning’. As he explains in his 2017 book, Marketing 4.0:

“Since the 1980s, brand positioning has been recognized as the battle for the customer’s mind… Brand positioning is essentially a compelling promise that marketers convey to win the customers’ minds and hearts.”

That’s good enough for me. There are as many definitions of positioning as there are brand consultancies, but I’m happy to go along with the intention expressed here. It’s about hearts as much as minds.

It’s about belief.

The precise form of this belief can vary significantly. Over twenty years ago, I was told that a brand positioning is best expressed as a vision, mission, and set of values. Years later, it became popular to distil these into an ‘essence’ or a ‘brand DNA’. Subsequently, ‘brand purpose’ reinterpreted brand positioning for a generation in search of a deeper form of meaning. In reality, these are all variations on the same theme.

They are all about establishing a belief about a brand in people’s minds.

None of these describes strategy, although I’ve noticed that ‘brand positioning’ and ‘brand strategy’ are frequently used interchangeably. I find it helpful to think of them as distinct.

Here’s why:

Strategy suggests an analytical, insight-rich, data-informed, logical process. In broad terms, it’s about deciding where to play and how to win. Brand strategy comes in many forms, but I’ve always found it helpful to think in terms of the 5Ws:

WHO: Which groups of people do we want to prioritize?
WHY: What are the most powerful motivations and attitudes we can appeal to?
WHERE: Where are the best places for us to reach them?
WHEN: What are the most important moments and occasions to focus on?
WHAT: What competing offers exist, and how can we improve upon them?

If you don’t have a clear idea of who you want your brand to resonate with, why they should care about it, where and when you need to be available to them, and what competing offers you’re up against, then you don’t have much of a strategy. When someone talks about ‘positioning a brand in a marketplace’, then I tend to think of brand strategy, not brand positioning. It’s the part of my work when I expect to be wading through data, facts, and insights. It’s when I expect to be spending my time scrolling through Excel spreadsheets. The result should be a laser-sharp definition of what a brand wants to achieve and how it intends to get there. This is the realm of KCQs, KPIs, and BHAGs.

Brand strategy is a dispassionate, rational process.
Brand positioning is the opposite.

A solid brand strategy is necessary, but not sufficient if you want to create a great brand.

It’s not enough simply to set out which parts of a market you want to compete in, or who you want to appeal to, or which of their unmet needs you intend to fulfill. This gets you to something like Marty Neumeier’s ‘onlyness’ statement for Harley-Davidson:

WHAT: motorcycle manufacturer;
HOW: that makes big, loud motorcycles;
WHO: for macho guys (and macho wannabes);
WHERE: mostly in the United States;
WHY: who want to join a gang of cowboys;
WHEN: in an era of decreasing personal freedom.

It doesn’t exactly grab you. When I look at it, I wonder, ‘what’s the point?’ This is more compellingly articulated in Harley-Davidson’s mission statement:

“More than building machines, we stand for the timeless pursuit of adventure. Freedom for the soul.”

That’s a statement of belief. Although the two are clearly related, it’s more than a simple summary of the brand strategy, because it involves a creative leap. Without this, it would be as dry and uninspiring as a brand onion.

Great brand positioning is an antidote to indifference.

In contrast to brand strategy, positioning a brand is a creative act. It’s based on imagination, not insight; inspiration, not analysis. This is the part of my job where I spend time listening to people: What motivates them? What makes them proud? What inspires them? What are their hopes for the future? What does sustainability mean to them? How do they define success in its broadest possible sense? This part of the job is about understanding the future people want to create and the role they would like their brand to play in creating that future.

Brand positioning and brand strategy play complementary roles. Without a brand strategy to back it up, brand positioning risks being a hollow statement of ambition. Without a brand positioning to make it sing, brand strategy can descend into dull, lifeless drudgery. I’ve seen examples of both. There are organizations that love the fun part of coming up with a beautiful, bold promise, but shy away from the dirty, difficult task of working out how exactly that’s going to be delivered, to whom, and how. There are also organizations that create intricate brand onions, wheels, bridges, or platforms, but are utterly bereft of a creative expression that people can actually care about and believe in.

Trying to pin precise definitions on vague marketing concepts is generally a fool’s errand, but I’ve found the distinction between brand strategy and positioning is a helpful way to make sure when I’m speaking to a client that I’m fixing the right problem. Sometimes the issue is a lack of creativity. Sometimes it’s a lack of rigor. Often, it’s both. I’ve also found the distinction is a helpful way to critique my own work: Is the positioning ‘idea’ compelling enough? Is the strategy sharp? Is there an appropriate balance of rigor and creativity?

One final thing worth mentioning is that the relationship between brand strategy and positioning is similar to the relationship between a chicken and an egg: It’s not obvious which comes first. I’ve noticed that B2B brands tend to lead with positioning, while B2C brands lead with strategy.

“Brand positioning and brand strategy play complementary roles. Without a brand strategy to back it up, brand positioning risks being a hollow statement of ambition.”

For example, when Google says it wants to ‘organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful’, it’s not describing a strategy. It’s making a promise with the expectation that this statement will establish a firm belief in the minds of its employees, its investors, its customers, and the rest of the world. The role of brand strategy is to translate the positioning into a concrete activity that stretches the brand into specific areas and specific audiences: maps, news, academia, communication, hardware, and beyond.

On the other hand, when Guinness shifted its brand strategy to focus on occasional drinkers, the brand team realized that the positioning would also need to change: The brand’s emphasis on ‘waiting’ was seen as a barrier to consumption for this group. The result was a shift of positioning and comms that moved away from ‘good things come to those who wait’ and instead repositioned the brand to celebrate people with the character and confidence to stand out from the crowd.

Honestly, I don’t think it matters which comes first. What matters most is that a brand’s strategy and positioning are mutually supportive: A clear strategic direction, married with a compelling positioning that’s capable of inspiring strong creative execution. Great brand strategists seamlessly bring together the analytical and the imaginative. This is how they do it.

Feature Image Credit: cottonbro

By Nick Liddell

I’m a brand strategist with over 20 years of experience. I began my career at Interbrand, where I led their brand valuation offer, and have subsequently developed and spearheaded the consultancy teams at M&C Saatchi Clear, Dragon Rouge, and The Clearing. I’m a member of the Superbrands Council in the UK, as well as a regular conference speaker, contributor to marketing publications, and author of two books on business, branding, and sustainability.