Positioning Strategies for Brands

                                Positioning is the pursuit of differential advantage.

Brands can create franchises of loyal customers only when they are seen to be different in some way which is persuasive for the target segment. Recall that famous article by Prof. Levitt, “Marketing success through differentiation- of anything”. There is no such thing as a commodity, he argues. All goods and services are differentiable.

We know that as brands tend to become physically similar – as the better mousetrap is followed by a dozen “me too” mousetrap more or less equal in performance – the brand manager falls back more and more on non-functional factors to distinguish his brand. Persuasive differentiation becomes an increasingly difficult task.

One of the major contributions of positioning theories to marketing strategy has been in the ‘perceived space’ of the prospect and to uncover the many opportunities for such perceived differentiation based upon the capabilities of the product and its antecedents.

Positioning puts in the hands of the brand manager an entire array of differentiating strategies. He must judge which of these strategies can help him locate a niche in the market where his brand may be perceived by his target segment as unique and where it will hold a competitive advantage.

These strategies revolve around different aspects of the brand which can be expressed ss four questions posed on its behalf.

Who am I?

1. What am I?
2. For whom am I?
3. Why Me?

The answer to these would determine the brand’s position in the prospect’s mind.

GK

1. Which recently was appointed Governor of Uttarakhand Congress leaders. 

(A) Aziz Qureshi (b) Rashid Alvi (c) MK Narayanan 

2. India is a missile, destroying the enemy's radar system to increase the ability to attack. L will. It will be the Sukhoi fighter plane. What is the name of the missile? 

(A) anti-radiation missile (ARM) (b) Fire 5 (c) Earth 

3. President Pratibha Patil to visit Seychelles and South Africa have been. Seychelles is a group of 116 Dbeepon, in which 15 people live. The population is just over 90 thousand. What is the name of the President of Seychelles? 

(A) James Alix Michel (b) Botrs Ghali (c) Henry Clinton 

4. These days in a Rajya Sabha nomination is discussed cricketer Sachin Tendulkar. But in 1978, which the player had turned down the Rajya Sabha to nominate? 

(A) Sanjay Manjrekar (b) Kapil Dev (c) Vijay Merchant 

5. April days are over, the Jammu - Srinagar Jammu and Kashmir will be the capital. It is known to move court. Maharaja Gulab Singh in the capital within six months of 1872 was beginning to change. From May to October is the capital Srinagar and Jammu from November to April. How many days takes to the capital. 

(A) Three weeks (b) a week (c) two weeks 

6. Indian Open badminton tournament men's singles title in South Korea which is the player's name. 

(A) Wan Shan Ho (b) Jui (c) Tantovi

answer 1. (A) 2. (A) 3. (A) 4. (C) 5. (B) 6. (A)

Indian Rupee plunged at historical lowest

Indian Rupee plunged to its historic low mark of 54.56 against the U.S. dollar on 16 May 2012. At the Interbank Foreign Exchange market, the rupee opened sharply lower at 54.06 and plunged to all time low of 54.56, surpassing the previous all-time low of 54.30 recorded in December 2011. It finally closed at 54.50.

A falling rupee will adversely affect the economy by raising the cost of imports, which in turn will hike the price of important items in the economy. The falling rupee is largely attributed to the factors like swelling trade deficit, which widened to over 10.9 per cent of gross domestic product in the fiscal years 2011-12, and grim economic outlook.

Rupee was not the only currency which fell down amidst the global pressure but many of the major currencies witnessed the same fate as the dollar was viewed by the investors as the safest bet.  While Euro hit its four-month low mark, dollar geared up for its highest level since September 2010.

C Rangrajan, the prime minister's economic advisory council chairman advocated the use of India's foreign exchange reserves to keep in check the consistent depreciation of the rupee against the dollar. India has a total of nearly 290 billion dollar as its foreign exchange reserves.

ISHAQZAADE -A deadly romance!

Ishaqzaade is a love story set against the backdrop of two political families – the Qureshis and the Chauhans – living in a small town called Almor in what looks like Northern India. The patriarchs of both families are fighting to become the next MLA, involving in caste politics to fill their vote bank. It’s an environment of hooliganism and hatred.

Parma Chauhan (Arjun Kapoor) and Zoya Qureshi (Parineeti Chopra) too get involved in the fight for power and supremacy. While Parmar wants to prove his worth to his grandfather, Zoya harbours political ambitions. Can love bloom between these two gun-toting hot blooded youngsters, amidst all the hatred and politics? It can and it does, as one would have expected it to from the beginning. But it is the ‘how’ that makes the film exciting.

The chemistry between Arjun Kapoor and Parineeti Chopra is excellent. Parineeti Chopra is outstanding! Watch her emote and deliver her dialogues. Parineeti definitely has the 'ingredient' to become the number one actress in Bollywood. Arjun Kapoor is fantastic too. He does complete justice to his role. Gauhar Khan is good and dances very well. Habib Faisal has managed to extract the best performance from all other actors as well.

The overt thrust on violence doesn't leave much scope for chemistry but the greenhorn cast must be applauded. Arjun Kapoor's scoundrel Parma is believable. The scenestealer, however, is Parineeti. The prop actress of Ladies Vs Ricky Bahl gets to sink her teeth in her first fullfledged heroine's role here. Watch her go, you won't dismiss her as the 'other Chopra girl' anymore.

Hatf III Ghaznavi missile

Pakistan successfully test-fired Hatf III Ghaznavi missile on 10 May 2012. The missile has a range of 290 km and it can hit its target in India. The missile is capable of carrying nuclear warheads. The missile was launched at the conclusion of the annual field training exercise of Army Strategic Force Command.
Pakistan conducts missile tests on routine basis. The Muslim nation over the past few years has developed a good stock of nuclear arsenals, raising the concern of world community. Pakistan like India is not a signatory to the NPT.