MAKING THE MOST OF A POLARIZING BRAND

CONTENTS

1)WHAT ARE POLARIZING BRANDS ?

2)HOW TO CAPITALIZE ON POLARIZATION?

3) WHY POLARIZE? (POINTS-OF-PARITY & POINTS-OF-DIFFERENCE)

WHAT ARE POLARIZING BRANDS?

THESE ARE

“LOVE THEM OR HATE THEM” BRANDS

I’m lovin’it McDonald’s SUCKS!!

WHEN A BRAND HAS HIGH NUMBER OF LOYAL CUSTOMERS AS WELL AS HIGH NUMBER OF BRAND HATERS, THE SITUATION IS

KNOWN AS HIGH DISPERSION

HIGH DISPERSION

POLARIZED BRAND

EXTENT OF POLARIZATION OF FEW POPULAR BRANDS

THIS COMPANY BELIEVES IN HIGH POLARIZATION

THIS IS WHAT THE COMPANY’S CEO HAS TO SAY

“In every school there are the cool and popular kids, and then there are the not-so-cool kids,” he told the site. “Candidly, we go after the cool kids. We go after the attractive all-American kid with a great attitude and a lot of friends. A lot of people don’t belong [in our clothes], and they can’t belong. Are we exclusionary? Absolutely.”

Saying something controversial that gets

you lots of coverage and wins you favor in your

target audience’s eyes.

Smart Marketing!

ANOTHER GREAT EXAMPLE

MIRACLE WHIP (SLIGHTLY-SWEETER-THAN-MAYONNAISE SANDWICH SPREAD)

WHAT DID THE MARKETERS FIND WHILE DOING A MARKET RESEARCH ?

MANY PEOPLE LOVED THE PRODUCT

A SUBSTANTIAL AMMOUNT OF POPULATION HATED IT TOO

WHAT DID THE MARKETERS DO?

They came up with a series of ads in 2011 to capitalize on this polarized nature of the products.

Some characters in the ads praised Miracle whip, while others said stuffs like “I’ll break up with my girlfriend if I find that she loves Miracle Whip” and “I’d rather lick your shoe”

AS A RESULT…

Miracle Whip experienced a 631% surge in social media postings and a 14% increase in sales

PLEASE DON’T MISS OUT ON THESE AMAZING ADS BY KRAFT MIRACLE WHIP

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IjSqKDRglHY&list=PL689FD340D490506D

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=epA8-Xw-aoE&list=PL689FD340D490506D&index=2

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lLYlCJd_UTE&list=PL689FD340D490506D&index=6

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6n1vtZR16RY

BY NOW YOU MUST HAVE UNDERSTOOD THAT

“POLARIZATION ISN’T THAT BAD”

Managers should Avoid relying on

averages Dig deeper to

uncover and understand the full range of attitudes toward their products

HOW TO MAKE THE MOST OF POLARIZATION?

THERE ARE

3 MAIN WAYS TO DO IT

1) PLACATE THE HATERS

After few videos went viral, which claimed that Kurkure has plastic content, the sales of Kurkure dropped by 33%.

To counter this, the company came up with a “No-Plastic-blog”. It also started campaigns in support with the parent company products like soft-drinks, fruit juices etc.Later on a clean chit was provided through a test conducted at AIIMS.Ingredients and manufacturing process of the product was also made public.

2) POKE THE HATERS

POKING CAN BE DONE THROUGH SEVERAL WAYS INCLUDING ADVERSTISING

WHAT IT DOES ?• BRINGS LOYAL FANS CLOSER TO THE BRAND

• THROUGH LOYAL FANS’ SUPPORT, IT IS POSSIBLE TO CONVERT NEUTRAL CUSTOMERS INTO SUPPORTERS OF THE BRANDS

SAMSUNG GALAXY S5’ AD WHICH MOCKED APPLE USERS

WHAT DID THE AD DO? HIGHLIGHTED THE DIFFERENCES WHICH PEOPLE REALLY CARE

ABOUT

IT USED HUMOUR TO TAKE THE EDGE OFF THE COMPETITIVE ATTACK

MOST IMPORTANTLY, IT MOCKED THE iPhone USERS WHO PAY SO MUCH FOR DIFFERENCES THAT DON’T MATTER MUCH

3) AMPLIFY A POLARIZING ATTRIBUTE

A GOOD INDIAN EXAMPLE

The recent “Cleavage Controversy” between Times of India and Deepika Padukone

IN SPITE OF CRITICISM, TOI REMAINED UNAPOLOGETIC IN ITS STANCE AND CONTINUED PUBLISHING MATERIALS WHICH OBJECTIFIED WOMEN.

HOW DID IT HELP?

SALES OF THE NEWSPAPER IMPROVED!

“GOOD OR BAD, PUBLICITY GENERALLY HELPS”

DO MARKETERS INTENTIONALLY POLARIZE?

DO YOU REMEMBER POINTS-OF-PARITY AND POINTS-OF-DIFFERENCE?

POLARIZATION HELPS IN DIFFERENTIATION FROM A STRONG COMPETITOR OR TO MAKE A BRAND STAND APART FROM A SIMILARLY POSITIONED GROUP OF BRANDS

POINTS-OF-DIFFERENCE

These are attributes or benefits that consumers strongly associate with a brand, positively evaluate, and believe they could not find to the same extent with a competitive brand.

Associations that make up points-of-difference may be based on virtually any type of attribute or benefit.

CRITERIA FOR POINTS-OF-DIFFERENCE

DESIRABLE TO CUSTOMERS

DELIVERABLE BY THE COMPANY

DIFFERENTIATING FROM THE COMPETITORS

THE SAME VALUE PROPOSITION CAN CREATE LOYAL CUSTOMERS AS WELL BRAND HATERS

IT DEPENDS ON HOW THE VALUE IS PERCIEVED BY THE CUSTOMER

NO! I DON’T

AFTERALL, MARKETING IS DRIVEN BY THE DIFFERENCE IN PERCEPTION AND REALITY

Created by Akash Yadav, IIT Kharagpur

during an internship

by Prof. Sameer Mathur, IIM Lucknow.

www.IIMInternship.com