Brand Building and Positioning Strategies in the Wine Market
Lifestyle Segmentation in the Wine Market
Lifestyle segmentation is highly relevant in the wine market due to religious and health factors. Wine is often associated with sophistication and intelligent weekend entertainment, such as winery visits and tastings.
The perception of wine has shifted from an everyday product to a luxury, making it increasingly lifestyle-oriented.
Besides lifestyle, other segmentation criteria include:
- Geographic location
- Age
- Income
- Gender
- Education level
- Buying habits
Positioning Maps and Their Importance
Positioning maps are valuable tools for targeting specific consumer segments. They visually represent the gaps between consumer ideals and current brand offerings.
Example: Smartphone Market
The smartphone market utilizes positioning maps with axes like “Price” and “Feature Richness” to position brands like Apple, Samsung, and Xiaomi. This visualization helps identify unmet demands, such as the need for mid-priced, feature-rich phones. New brands can strategically enter the market by targeting these gaps, offering value without premium pricing. This strategy is effective for creating new markets or improving competitive positioning.
Joint space maps in marketing illustrate consumer preferences (marked as ‘X’s) and brand perceptions (represented by circles). These maps are instrumental in identifying and targeting segments and adjusting marketing and product strategies to align with consumer needs. For a new smartphone brand, ideal positioning aligns with unmet needs in the price-feature dimensions, optimizing market entry and success.
Product vs. Brand
A product is a tangible item with functional value. A brand, however, encompasses the design, mark, and name that enhance a product’s value beyond its functionality. It adds other benefits, such as social, environmental, emotional, or price-related advantages.
Brand Structure
- Core: The fundamental principle of the brand.
- Inner Layer: Quality and specific criteria.
- Outer Layer: Design, logo, packaging.
The “I” and “Me” of Consumer Perception
The concept of “I” represents an individual’s self-image, while “Me” reflects how they perceive themselves through the eyes of others. Often, a person’s “I” onion model differs from their “Me” onion model.
Layers of Self-Perception
- Value & character
- Body image
- Success & accomplishments
- Subject personality traits
- Social roles
- Possessions
These layers are prioritized based on personal values. In branding, companies strategize to resonate with target personas, influencing emotions based on these priorities.
Pricing Strategies
- Value-oriented pricing: Targets consumers willing to pay a premium for perceived value.
- Cost-oriented pricing: Calculated as production cost plus a markup.
- Competitor-oriented pricing: Prices are set relative to competitors’ offerings.
Brand Personality
Brand personality refers to the set of human characteristics associated with a brand. Brands can be characterized by demographics (age, gender, social class, race), lifestyle (activities, interests, opinions), or human personality traits.
Five Dimensions of Brand Personality
- Sincerity: (Low example: RedBull)
- Competence: (Low example: Hubba Bubba)
- Sophistication: (Low example: Trabant or Lada)
- Ruggedness: (Low example: Hublot)
- Excitement: (Low example: any law firm)
Measurement: Assessed through consumer reactions to packaging, design, and overall presentation.
Influence: Brand personality is shaped by marketing tone, message, channel, and timing.
Contextual Example: During football matches, ads for cars, beverages, and grills target mainly male viewers, aligning offers with the event’s audience.
Brand Positioning: Brands guide consumer identification by aligning their personality with the interests and preferences of their target demographics.
Brandscaping
Brandscaping helps firms create a distinctive image and unique positioning. The service environment influences buyer behavior in three key ways:
- Message-creating medium: Uses symbolic cues to communicate the brand experience’s distinctive nature and quality.
- Attention-creating medium: Makes the brandscape stand out from the competition and attract customers from target segments.
- Effect-creating medium: Utilizes colors, textures, sounds, scents, and spatial design to enhance the desired brand experience.
Brandscaping Components:
- Ambient factors: Scent, color, light, sound.
- Spatial or layout factors: Floor plan, flow of experience, furnishing.
- Signage: Clear and informative signs that set the tone, convey competence, and guide customers through the purchasing phase.
All these elements impact consumers’ purchasing intentions.
Logo Design and Its Importance
A well-designed logo evokes positive feelings towards the brand. It conveys a strong symbolic message, representing the company’s core values and purpose. Consumers, in turn, respond to the logo with affection and a desire for belonging. A good logo has high recognition and a strong connection with the brand name.
Key Aspects of Logo Recognition
- Correct and false recognition
- Affect
- Meaning
Brand Endorsers
Brand endorsers act as messengers, effectively outsourcing marketing to trusted and popular figures that consumers identify with and connect with.
Types of Brand Endorsers
- Prominent endorsers (Celebrities): Models, actors, athletes, and entertainers. (Models leverage the “beautiful is good” stereotype, facilitating emotional transfer.)
- Fictional Characters: Carefully crafted to evoke specific needs, wants, and emotional triggers in consumers (e.g., Ronald McDonald, Mr. Clean).
- Experts: Trusted for their competence and expertise (e.g., Robert Parker in the wine world).
- Typical consumers: Relatable figures representing the target audience.
Brand Benefits
Benefits for Consumers:
- Functional Benefits: Linked to basic motivations like health or well-being.
- Experiential Benefits: The feeling of using the product.
- Symbolic Benefits: Underlying needs for social approval, personal expression, and outer-directed self-esteem.
Benefits for Companies:
- Preference development
- Price markup
- Potential for growth
- Targeting segments
- Customer retention
- Equity