Marketing Dojo #45: 🏆🌈 The Art of 'Obviously Awesome' Positioning!
5 Components of a great positioning statement, Ikea's ads for introverts, Amazon is making new friends and more.
Hello Everyone,
You know who's desperately in need of a vacation?
Me🙋🏽.
I am just back from my 10-day trip to Japan, and I can tell you that getting back to the laptop and real life feels so tiring. It's been an incredible past few days where we walked all day at amusement parks and anime & manga streets and enjoyed some delectable Japanese food.
Anyway, back to the exciting world of marketing.
In this newsletter, we will cover:
🧠 Positioning: 3 Ways to think about your product
🤝 Amazon is making some friends to win in Social commerce.
🛋️ Ikea's holiday season guide for introverts
🔄 Meme-time: New year, old story
Before we deep-dive, my sincere request. If you haven’t already, consider subscribing to Marketing Dojo. Picture this: every week, I sift through an avalanche of articles, handpicking only the crème de la crème of marketing magic, all served up in a snappy, easy-to-digest format.
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With that, let's dive right into the 45th issue of the Marketing Dojo.
Five-Star Positioning: An 'Obviously Awesome' Strategy!
April Dunford's classic "Obviously Awesome" was my travel companion in Japan.
Positioning is the strategic process of framing a product in the customer's mind to highlight its unique value and differentiation from competitors. April is a guru at the art of positioning.
5 ingredients go into a great positioning statement:
Competitive alternatives: Imagine a world without your product. What would a customer use if your product didn't exist?
Key Unique Attributes: What features do you offer that no one else in the market does?
Value: Those unique features you just thought about, what benefits do they provide to the customer?
Customers that care: Who would care about the value?
The market that you intend to win: Which market do you describe as being a part of?
Bonus: Relevant trends - Keep an eye on the trends. What's buzzing in your customers' world that you can tap into (authentically)?
Step #5, i.e. defining the market you intend to win in, is often tricky. But these 3 categories could be a great framework to start.
Head-to-head: If you are a well-established market leader or aiming to be a market leader in an existing category, you should go with a head-to-head approach. Think Pepsi and Coke or, more recently, Bing & Google.
While I was at Nokia, Samsung took us head to head in the mobile phone category. The folks at Samsung did a great job capturing value in a pre-existing market category.
Big fish, small pond: If your brand does not have the resources to go head to head in a well-established market, consider a smaller, underserved niche. Think Wolfram Alpha - a search engine for Academics & mathematicians, or BeReal - for the anti-curation crowd.
Create a new game: If options one and two feel like fitting a square peg in a round hole, think about creating a new category. Creating a new category is a lot of work. Creating a new game involves not just capturing demand but creating a demand that does not exist. Think Tesla, AirBnB, Pleoton or Spotify: high risks, high rewards.
Positioning and segmentation are often the most overlooked and underrated aspects of marketing. The end of the year is a great time to rethink your product/brand's positioning and start your next year with a bang.
Amazon is getting social for the sake of commerce.
Remember when you entered a convenience store with a list and left with a basket full of things you didn't need?
That's the magic of discovery-based shopping, a delightful game of 'I didn't know I needed this, but now I can't live without it.'
Shopping on Amazon often feels different. Speedy checkouts and lightning-fast delivery – they've got it down to a science. But let's face it - one rarely discovers new brands or products on Amazon.
One in three internet users discover new brands or products on social media - A figure that has doubled since 2020.
To crack discovery-based shopping, Amazon made some new friends last week. Amazon partnered with Snap, Instagram and Facebook (Meta) for a new Amazon ad format.
A Snapchat/Meta user must link their social media account once with Amazon. After the setup, they can shop for products from Amazon on Snap or Meta platform itself. Users can complete checkout with Amazon in the product ad using their default Amazon shipping address and payment method without leaving the social app.
Against the background of TikTok's initial success with social commerce, Amazon's collaborative approach may help it plug its gap in the space.
For Snap and Meta, this might be a significant revenue stream. Snap's stocks were up 9% after the partnership announcement was shared.
Creative Excellence: Dear Introverts, Ikea Has Your Back.
It's that time of year again! Lights, laughter, and a lineup of endless social gatherings. Sounds festive, right? But let's be honest, for many of us (my fellow introverts, I'm looking at you), socializing is exhausting.
As an introvert, I steal those minutes alone to recuperate from the celebrations.
That's why IKEA's latest ad, "Take a Holiday from the Holidays," hit me right in the feels—and I bet I'm not alone. It's like they peeked into our lives and created an ad out of it!
The cherry on top: The seamless, almost sneaky way IKEA introduces their products into the narrative. It's not just an ad; it's a slice of life, offering a clever nod to those secret stolen moments that keep us sane.
Ikea's creative team is an expert at identifying key customer insights and turning them into unforgettable ads. From first-time parents to introverts, an Ikea ad speaks directly with everyone.
New Social Media Kid On The Block: Lapse.
Remember the days of clicking a photo and waiting eagerly for the film to develop?
A new fast-rising social media app, Lapse, is trying to recreate the feeling of vintage photo development.
Snap a pic, and then the wait begins. Each photo takes 1-3 hours to "develop", reviving the old-school anticipation we once loved. It's a fresh, nostalgic twist to social media.
One needs to invite friends to join the app to gain entry - a growth tactic driving feels like a "pyramid scheme". Lapse follows the principle of no followers, just Friends - think quality over quantity.
The app is trending at the moment on the iPhone App Store. But honestly, I will be surprised if it keeps its momentum going. Do we need another Instagram? What do you think?
Meme-time: Shrinking Wallet, Soaring Targets.
Nearly 30% of major advertisers reduced their ad budgets in 2023 due to the economic outlook. And by the looks of it - 2024 is offering no respite. For us marketers - let’s just get ready to hear a lot more of “do more with less”.
Short Stuff:
China’s hyper-online elderly are changing the way brands look at them. (They have got the $$$)
American young adults are increasingly turning to TikTok as their source of news. (Consumer trend)
Hyundai will become the first automaker to sell new cars on Amazon. (New type of eCommerce?)
That’s a wrap on this week. Thank you for your time and attention. If you liked this week’s newsletter or found something interesting - please give me a like or drop a comment. Your support helps drive the discoverability of the newsletter.
Once again, thank you for your time. See you in your inbox next Wednesday.
Regards,
Garima
P.S: I had several unique experiences in Japan, but by far, one of my favorites was this Japanese tea ceremony. Ichigo Ichie - a Japanese term that broadly means once-in-a-lifetime opportunity was probably the most appropriate way to describe the experience. Here’s a photo where I am trying to pose on a cold Kyoto autumn day.
Thanks for giving us the crème de la crème, it tastes good!