Brand Positioning Unveiled: An Insider's Perspective from Industry Professionals
(2023) BUSN39 20231Department of Business Administration
- Abstract
- Research Purpose & Aim: The purpose of this thesis is to shed light on how individual marketing- & brand-managers conceptualise and approach brand positioning. This study aims to vertically deepen the current knowledge of brand positioning in practice as well as horizontally broaden the literature by taking a unique managerial perceptual perspective.
Research Question: How do brand- and marketing-managers conceptualise as well as approach brand positioning?
Literature Review: The literature review outlines the theoretical lenses of brand positioning, including brand orientations and schools of positioning. A critical perspective on the difficulties of making sense of branding concepts is further presented. Together these parts... (More) - Research Purpose & Aim: The purpose of this thesis is to shed light on how individual marketing- & brand-managers conceptualise and approach brand positioning. This study aims to vertically deepen the current knowledge of brand positioning in practice as well as horizontally broaden the literature by taking a unique managerial perceptual perspective.
Research Question: How do brand- and marketing-managers conceptualise as well as approach brand positioning?
Literature Review: The literature review outlines the theoretical lenses of brand positioning, including brand orientations and schools of positioning. A critical perspective on the difficulties of making sense of branding concepts is further presented. Together these parts provide the thesis with the necessary tools for analysing the empirical data.
Methodology: A qualitative multiple case study with an abductive reasoning method has been conducted. The empirical data was collected through semi-structured interviews, nine interviews with brand- and marketing-managers were conducted. The data was analysed using a three-step approach: sorting, reducing, and arguing.
Managerial/practical implications: This pioneering thesis emphasises the importance of managerial perception and approach to brand positioning, suggesting discussions on market- and brand-orientation as well as positioning schools of thought for enhanced brand coherence and collaboration within teams.
Theoretical Contributions: This thesis contributes to theory in three key ways. Firstly, it addresses the lack of a unified definition of brand positioning by studying managers' conceptualisations, revealing correlations and shared strategic elements among their definitions. Secondly, it introduces a novel bottom-up approach to positioning, focusing on individual brandand marketing-managers' perspectives and approaches. Lastly, it extends the existing framework
of five schools of positioning by introducing a new school called "Positioning as a Chameleon", which blends multiple existing schools and adapts through strategic camouflage. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/9128183
- author
- Ellqvist, Felix LU and Kjellander, Niklas LU
- supervisor
- organization
- course
- BUSN39 20231
- year
- 2023
- type
- H1 - Master's Degree (One Year)
- subject
- keywords
- Brand Positioning, Brand Management, Market Orientation, Brand Orientation, Schools of Positioning
- language
- English
- id
- 9128183
- date added to LUP
- 2023-06-29 09:04:50
- date last changed
- 2023-06-29 09:04:50
@misc{9128183,
abstract = {{Research Purpose & Aim: The purpose of this thesis is to shed light on how individual marketing- & brand-managers conceptualise and approach brand positioning. This study aims to vertically deepen the current knowledge of brand positioning in practice as well as horizontally broaden the literature by taking a unique managerial perceptual perspective.
Research Question: How do brand- and marketing-managers conceptualise as well as approach brand positioning?
Literature Review: The literature review outlines the theoretical lenses of brand positioning, including brand orientations and schools of positioning. A critical perspective on the difficulties of making sense of branding concepts is further presented. Together these parts provide the thesis with the necessary tools for analysing the empirical data.
Methodology: A qualitative multiple case study with an abductive reasoning method has been conducted. The empirical data was collected through semi-structured interviews, nine interviews with brand- and marketing-managers were conducted. The data was analysed using a three-step approach: sorting, reducing, and arguing.
Managerial/practical implications: This pioneering thesis emphasises the importance of managerial perception and approach to brand positioning, suggesting discussions on market- and brand-orientation as well as positioning schools of thought for enhanced brand coherence and collaboration within teams.
Theoretical Contributions: This thesis contributes to theory in three key ways. Firstly, it addresses the lack of a unified definition of brand positioning by studying managers' conceptualisations, revealing correlations and shared strategic elements among their definitions. Secondly, it introduces a novel bottom-up approach to positioning, focusing on individual brandand marketing-managers' perspectives and approaches. Lastly, it extends the existing framework
of five schools of positioning by introducing a new school called "Positioning as a Chameleon", which blends multiple existing schools and adapts through strategic camouflage.}},
author = {{Ellqvist, Felix and Kjellander, Niklas}},
language = {{eng}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
title = {{Brand Positioning Unveiled: An Insider's Perspective from Industry Professionals}},
year = {{2023}},
}