The application of brand purpose does not invalidate the existing, long held rules of brand positioning. It does not represent an addition to positioning strategy either. If you want to get brand purpose to work you must accept that it will need to pass the three traditional, very tricky tests of brand positioning.

First, I want to position on what the customer wants rather than what I can do well or differently from others. I also want to position on something I can immediately deliver. Finally, I want to be able to deliver what customers want in a way that is different or distinctive or superior or simply better than my competitors.

This 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.

There are companies that have used brand purpose to great effect. I’d put Unilever at the very top of that very short list, for example.

Sourced through Scoop.it from: www.marketingweek.com