Experts link brand success to impact on mind

Despite technological breakthroughs that are rewriting certain retail rules, masterminding consumer minds remains the top priority for brands as they seek to navigate the increasingly sophisticated and stratified consumer markets, according to a seasoned branding veteran.

To succeed, enterprises need to use "Outside-In" thinking and coordinate all the resources around their designated strategic positioning, said Deng Delong, global president of Trout & Partners, a global consultancy in marketing and brand positioning.

"The answer to success is winning the prospect's mind and making people realize your value in an over-communicated society with jammed messages," Deng said during a recent event in Shanghai commemorating the 50th anniversary of the "Positioning Theory".

Core to the theory is providing an explanation of why some brands outstrip their peers even if their products are of similar quality. The short answer is: to be the defining performer in a unique category.

"Instead of focusing on the product per se, brands should be aware that consumers use categories to store brands in their minds, and the winning recipe lies in creating a new category and becoming the leading brand in that category," Deng noted.

The theory has helped groom and revitalize a number of Chinese companies. It also helped them to either gain an early foothold and carve out a unique niche or reinvigorate as consumer preferences evolved overtime.

The power of the prospect's mind drives the division of labor, while positioning stimulates resource allocation in an enterprise, said Zhou Qiren, a professor with the National School of Development at Peking University.

"While expanding the study of Positioning Theory, people started realizing the crucial importance of the prospect's mind and shifting the main focus from internal operations to external perceptions," Zhou said.

The Positioning Theory has withstood the passage of time, as new technologies bring sweeping changes of traditional commerce. Deng said technological upgrade perfectly represents these changing mindsets and consumer needs; it is imperative that a brand's adjusted positioning reflects such changes. "Still, it's as simple as 'differentiate or die'."

Kuaigou Hailing, an internet-based cargo hailing app, is a recent case echoing such sentiment. According to Chairman Chen Xiaohua, the company has decided to change its name from "58 Express Delivery" to "Kuaigou Hailing", allowing for people's immediate reference to 'hailing', a subcategory of all transportation types.

"Upon the name change, we've noticed multiple times jump in the number of online searches," he said. "This wouldn't have been realized if we maintained the old name, even if we had multiplied our advertising budget by five to 10 times."

Agreed Deng on the importance of names, saying a name is usually the very first thing people experience or encounter about a brand, making it one of the most important assets, in terms of identity.