The success of a brand is still viewed as the consequence of product attributes and quality. But it has also been noticed that there are examples where quality products do not perform as expected. The reason for this is failure in communication and the resultant need for a new approach to communication. Al Ries and Jack Trout have found an answer to this problem through a concept called positioning. But some marketers take a myopic view of positioning. This article unravels some ideas about positioning myopia and suggests a few steps to overcome the phenomenon.

Many marketers think that the brand positioning strategy needs to change to meet the ever-changing needs of the customer. But the truth is that many a time marketers spend huge sums of money for positioning and repositioning their brand but the brand ends up as a failure. The new positioning strategy brings them, neither a good image, nor greater market share. Market researchers reveal that this happens due to positioning myopia. Sometimes marketers fail to understand the relationship between advertisement and positioning. But it is also true that sometimes other factors like frequent change in customer needs, product innovation by competitors, entry of new players, etc., have an impact on the success or failure of brand positioning. Before going for any positioning strategy, one needs to have adequate knowledge about the difference between product positioning and brand positioning, and also the relationship between product differentiation and positioning, which will help overcome positioning myopia.

To understand better what positioning is, let us recollect the statement of Al Ries and Jack Trout: "The basic approach of positioning is not to create something new and different. But to manipulate what's already up there in the customer's mind and to retie the connections already existing." Rosser Reeves defines positioning in a more simplified manner: "Positioning is the art of selecting, out of a number of unique selling propositions, the one which will get you maximum sales".

For further clarification, let us take the example of Nestlé's Maggie. In 1982, when Nestlé decided to launch Maggie noodles, the company had several options for positioning this product. The product could have been launched as a Chinese food, a mini meal, or a tasty dish that could be eaten while watching TV, chatting with your family and so on. But Nestlé positioned it as 2-minutes noodles that can be eaten at any time of the day, and targeted the children first. The product was positioned as a quick nutrient food for school going children, instead of adults. Thus Nestlé avoided competing with any form of traditional breakfast and created a separate category which competes with itself.

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