According to Doyle (1975 and 1990), marketers own the concept of brands in much the
same way that economists own the concept of neoclassic micro-economy or the field of
postmodern philosophy owns the concept of discourse. Very closely linked to the concept
of brands is the concept of positioning (Trout and Rivkin, 1999). Positioning appears both
on a tactic level within the marketing mix framework, besides, price, place and promotion,
and the product to be positioned (Kotler and Keller, 2013). Simultaneously, positioning is
considered as a strategic concept within marketing, over and above the marketing mix in
relation to segmenting and targeting, a concept that adds consistency and coherence to
the marketing mix elements.
For example, given a premium positioning, a brand like Audi may charge a higher price
for their cars (Kotler, 1980) Consequently, positioning constantly reiterates between
strategic and tactic level in the marketing mix; in addition, positioning iterates between
positioning of the physical product and positioning in the mind of the consumer (Ries and
Trout, 1980). A consequence of the positioning as mind-battle is that brands cannot be
leveraged, not even through line extensions. In fact, Ries and Trout (1980) raise a warning
against all forms of line and category extensions:
After its initial success, Volkswagen however fell into the line-extension trap.
In addition to the original Beetle, it began to promote the station wagon, the
larger sedan (the 412), the sporty car (the Dasher) and the jeep-style vehicle
(the Thing).
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