Frame of Reference in Brand Positioning

How does ‘frame of reference’ affect a brand’s positioning?  Let us take Coca-Cola as an
example.  Consider each of the frames of reference outlined in the following table:

Frame of Reference     Potential Competitors     Potential Point of Difference

Cola                                        Pepsi, RC Cola                                    ?
Carbonated beverage (soda)     7 Up, Dr. Pepper                                 ?
Soft drink                                Crystal Light, Gatorade                       ?
Non-alcoholic beverage             Chocolate milk, root beer float            ?
Beverage                                 Wine, beer                                         ?
Liquid refreshment                   Water, bottled water                          ?
Psychological refreshment         A walk in the woods, yoga, a swim      ?

Consider how the competitors and possible ‘points of difference’ change as the ‘frame of
reference’ changes.  Broadening your brand’s frame of reference can help you:

•Identify a strong point of difference within your current narrower frame of reference (for
instance, Pepsi chose to ‘own’ psychological refreshment as a point of difference over Coca-Cola
when Coca-Cola defined its category as human liquid consumption).
•Identify logical areas for brand growth.
•Identify potential substitute products and other competitive threats

Brand Positioning Fundamentals - Frame of Reference

 
In my last post on brand positioning fundamentals, I reviewed the target audience need. The
Motorola Droid was used as our example to illustrate the key elements in a classic positioning
statement which are:

1. Your target customer

2. Their need
3. Their frame of reference
4. Your dramatic difference(s)
5. Your reason(s) to believe
 
Together they give us a positioning statement such as the one I've intuited for the Motorola
Droid:
 
For the technology leader who needs the latest and greatest device, the Motorola Droid is
the iphone killer, with a giant screen and the ability to run multiple applications with ease. 

You'll note that we've set the Droid's frame of reference as "iPhone". Before we explain why, we
need to cover the fundamentals.

Frame of reference can be dead simple or hard - it depends on the nature of your brand. As the
name suggests, it is the target audience's in-built mental frame of reference for your brand. Your
frame of reference for Coke-a-Cola is likely "soft-drink". Your frame of reference for Nintendo
Wii is likely "gaming system".

Bad frame. Bad brand.

The wrong frame of reference reduces brand awareness because your target audience doesn't
immediately "get it." Perhaps the most famous example of this situation is TiVo. Today the idea
of a PVR - Personal Video Recorder - is a commonly understood frame of reference. But when
TiVO launched they ignored the importance of frame of reference. They should have used
"VCR" as the customer's frame of reference saying, "TiVO is like a VCR that can also...". Sure it
may have hurt their pride to lump themselves into the category of the technology they were
disrupting, but it would have increased awareness and consideration of their brand. Instead, it
took a long time, too long, for their brand to catch-on.

Frame of reference frames the competition too

One very helpful quality assurance test of your frame of reference is the competitors it creates.
This is because the frame of reference determines the competition. So if TiVO had used VCR as
its' frame of reference, buyers would have seen other VCR brands as the competition and TiVO
could have given their marketing some bite. But without a quality frame of reference, buyers
weren't sure with what to compare TiVo. This is also a great reminder of the essence of
positioning: to position your brand against others.

Closer to home, a marketing agency client of ours was of two minds - some felt that they were a
"branding agency", others a "digital agency". So we had to have a conversation about their frame
of reference. It was the discussion about competitors that resolved the split. I said "If you are a
branding agency, then you are going to compete against Interbrand, BBDO, and JWT. And you
are going to compete for television spots, direct mail, and lots more. Is that the kind of business
you want to pitch?" The answer was a clear "no." Their portfolio was perfect for winning against
digital agencies like Organic. Thus "digital agency" became the frame of reference they use for
their positioning statement.

When considering your frame of reference ask yourself:

1. Is it one your target audience can instantly grasp without explanation?
2. Is it the right frame of reference?
3. Does it define competitors for your brand?

In my next post, I'll tackle the frame of reference used for the Apple iPhone and the Motorola
Droid. Both are great examples of strategic positioning wherein wherein frame of reference plays a
critical role.

Brand Positioning Fundamentals - Innovation and Frame of Reference

We're now half-way through my mini-series on Brand Positioning Fundamentals. You'll recall
the key elements:

1. Your target customer

2. Their need
3. Their frame of reference
4. Your dramatic difference(s)
5. Your reason(s) to believe

In my last post, we covered the customer's frame of reference. Let's go a bit deeper here because
it is especially easy to get this wrong if you are marketing a highly innovative or disruptive
brand.

Take a look at the iPhone. When Steve Jobs introduced it what frame of reference could he have
used? He could have invented any term for the frame of reference and the fanboys would have
internalized it instantly. Internet Telephone Device? Web Handset? Superphone? What term did
Apple use? The video below makes it pretty clear.
 
The iPhone frame of reference 

Apple took great pains to make the frame of reference the dumb old "phone", showing 70+ years
of cinema stars answering them. Apple understood that using the phone as a frame of reference
made the device instantly familiar to the masses. Notice that they didn't use a frame of reference
for their fanboys. They were focused on the mass market opportunity. Too many innovators
overlook this most basic piece of brand positioning hygiene - focusing on the right target
audience.

Was that it then? Decided and done? No. As mentioned in previous posts, brand positioning must
be ready to change with the competition, the market and the customer. When the iPhone as
familiar phone-like object was successfully embedded in the minds' of the masses, the company
then expanded its' frame of reference to include browsing the web, email, music, applications,
and much more.
 
Motorola Droid frame of reference
Jump ahead three years to the recent launch of the Motorola Droid. As previously posted, I've
intuited the droid brand positioning at launch to be:
 
For the technology leader who needs the latest and greatest device, the Motorola Droid is
the iphone killer, with a giant screen and the ability to run multiple applications with ease. 

Notice the frame of reference in the video below...

 

In the subsequent commercials, the brand gets way more creative and I have to admit to being a
little uncertain. Is the frame of reference iPhone or "robot"? The robot theme is played hard,
saying "Instead of a smartphone, we made a robot phone."
 
  
But without getting into the semantics of artificial life, I think they are simply saying they made
a phone that kicks iPhone butt. (comments welcome).
 
This is something Blackberry or Windows Phones don't have the feature set to do, but the Droid
does. If you really can take on the number one player, and their brand is ubiquitous like the
iPhone, you can make them your frame of reference with brilliant results.
 
Palm Pre - Missed positioning opportunity 

Sadly, this is a tactic Palm could have taken with the Pre. Instead, their frame of reference was
just like Apple but two years too late: the plain old phone. And now, as the Droid grabs mind
share with their strategic brand positioning, Palm, Windows, Blackberry and other smartphone
players are getting pushed down the brand ladder, while the Droid gets comfortable (at least for
now) in the number two customer loyalty spot behind the iPhone.

Brand Positioning is not some abstract concept. It is a set of simple, plug and play rules that you
can ignore or exploit to your advantage.
 
Ask yourself (especially if your brand is innovative):
  Is my frame of reference designed for my target audience?
 Is it instantly familiar and orienting?
 Am I missing a massive brand positioning opportunity? One where I could use a
ubiquitous competitor as a point of reference, and in so doing slingshot my brand into
greater awareness?
 Your Competitive Frame of Reference
 Often, exploring different competitive frames of reference will help you choose the most
powerful brand benefit.  Here are some questions to help you determine your brand’s
optimal frame of reference:
 •    Within what product/service category does our brand operate?
•    Within which product and service categories do our customers give us “permission”
to operate today?  Do they give us more permission than we give ourselves?
•    Does our brand stand for something broader than its products and services?  Does that
give it permission to enter new product and service categories?
•    What compromises do we make with our customers that we take for granted but that
might cause our customers to pursue alternative solutions to meet their needs?
•    What could another company give our customers that would cause them to become
disloyal to our brand?
•    Could another brand within our category credibly insert its name into our brand’s
promise/positioning statement?
•    What are the most likely substitute products for our product?
•    What could neutralize our point of difference?
•    What could make our point of difference obsolete?
•    What could ‘kill’ our category?

Find out how choosing alternative frames of reference will alter competitive sets,
products and services and points of difference.  Broadening your brand’s frame of
reference can help you:
 (1)    Identify a strong point of difference within your current narrower frame of reference
(for instance, Pepsi chose to “own” psychological refreshment as a point of difference
over Coca-Cola).
(2)    Identify logical avenues for brand growth.
(3)    Identify potential substitute products and other competitive threats.
 Sponsored By: The Blake Project - 2008 Brand Education Seminars
  


The Value of Frame: Theory

Tim Smith, PhD, Chief Editor
July 2004
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“She who controls the frame, controls the decision.”

Frame refers to the perspective used in evaluating different options in a decision making
opportunity. As business executives involved in sales and marketing, the issue of the framing
affects our performance in how we sell and how we make decisions.

The Frame’s Effect

The way in which a proposition is framed determines the lens through which it is evaluated. It
sets the questions, metrics, and expectations. This relationship between the frame of perspective
and the decision criteria can be understood by considering some simple examples. The following
points provide diametrically opposing frames and the resultant concerns that are raised when
considering an approach.

 Is the approach considered a cost-of-doing-business or an opportunity-to-improve-return?

These frames determine whether solutions are evaluated for cost-minimization or gain-
maximization.
 Is the approach known by the decision maker or is it a new best practice? These frames
determine whether the approach is undertaken with an eye toward incremental improvements
or strategic change.
 Is the approach driving business performance or ensuring career stability? These frames
determine whether profit maximization or political buy-in is the stronger influencer.

Framing and Selling

The issue of framing affects the sales and marketing message and approach directly. The specific
message and approach are crafted in order to shape the frame of reference for prospects towards
a more positive position that is likely to induce purchase. A short business article such as this
cannot explore all of the means through which sales and marketing attempts to shape prospect’s
frames, we can only provide a few examples.

 In crafting the brand message, market research and customer interactions reveal the most
positive frame through which an offering can be examined. This most positive frame is then
reflected back to the market through branding in order to maximize the attractiveness of the
offer.
 In managing the buying process, experienced salespeople seek to develop interactions with
prospects early in their buying process. Developing interactions early in the buying process not
only increases the potential to develop stronger and broader relationships with prospects, but
also enables the sales team to set the expectations or, in other words, shape the frame of
reference to reflect more positively on their offering.
 In “bake-offs” when multiple pitches are to be given by competing vendors for a single selling
opportunity, salespeople will seek to be either the first or last presenter. The ability to make a
memorable impression is often cited as the reason to select these presentation slots, but of
corollary importance is the potential to set the frame of expectations by presenting a strong
proposition early.
Framing and Decision Making

Just as sales and marketing shapes the frames of prospects to influence buying decisions, the
management decisions of the sales and marketing executives are shaped by their own frames. In
many instances, the frames of experienced sales and marketing executives enable heuristics for
fast decision making and avoiding junior pitfalls. In some instances, managerial frames inhibit
innovation and encourage ruts. Driving out-of-the-box thinking requires deliberately breaking
the decision frames to which executives have become accustomed.

Breaking the corporate frame of reference requires injecting new ideas into the decision making
process. Analogies to other industries, revealing customer research, and interactions with
outsiders, each supports better decision making because of their ability to reshape the frame of
reference and thereby enable new ideas to develop. While many of the new ideas will be found
less fruitful than the current approach, some will deliver blockbuster results.

Driving Performance

Framing affects the performance of sales and marketing teams in two critical dimensions. First,
our individual sales and marketing messages influences the frame through which prospects
evaluate our offerings. Second, our own decisions are guided by the frame through which we
evaluate an opportunity. If we agree that the issue of framing drives performance, then the
following questions should be raised and reconsidered from time to time.

 What is the customer’s frame of reference? How will your company shape their frame?
 When is it necessary to break your own managerial frame? How will you deliberately take steps
to inject new ideas into your thinking?

In summary, consider where people are coming from, consider where you are coming from, and
consider how you can shape their perspective to your advantage.