Not that many years ago I was working with a colleague — a real natural in the PR business, one of the best – who pushed my buttons at virtually every planning meeting with and without the client. He promised positioning all the time for everything, for the business, the leadership, the products and events. As it does in office work teams, the positioning jargon caught on and everyone used it. In fact I boycotted the word for several years.
But as our communications mission continued to diversify from publicity here, we migrated to integrated communications. Okay, I admit that real integrated communications is truly achieved in aspiration rather than practice! (Humor me, please.) That migration toward comprehensive communications driven by a united strategy drove us deeply into branding — corporate branding, product branding and a mix of both.
We settled on a convention thats worked to this day.
Products and services that are traded are branded. They have brand attributes, benefits, differentiation, value proposition and a brand identity. Brand identity is how the brand is perceived and how we want it to be perceived.
Companies, organizations, leaders that face off with stakeholders and other constituents are theoretically brands, yes. But we dont call them brands. They are different because they live. They do things. They move things and people. They interact taking in information, responding or not responding as the case may warrant. After looking at the qualities and characteristics, after taking account of their unique abilities, and after developing strategies that shape how we want these subjects to be perceived, the positioning is developed.
My only point is that I like the distinctions. They are easy to work with and practical. This afternoon, working with a client team, after more than two hours of brainstorm, we got the positioning — the notion of what the company is really about and where its going.
Its not just another IT supplier, though it is that, but at the core it is moving forward as a partner with growth-oriented life insurance companies to help them win their fair share of the $5 trillion in U.S. retirement assets. Their systems and software are helping these companies change and adapt in marking to their traditional channels while also sourcing life and annuity product to the banks, brokers and financial advisors who are also competing to manage that collective nest egg.
The companys new branded enterprise software and the sub-set products within, remain branded. Work and investment in the product and service branding is untouched. The heart, energy and spirit driving the innovation and delivering it to customers has a positioning that is its own.
