July 13, 2005

The Death Of Brand Positioning

“Positioning” is dead, and McDonald’s has just put up the tombstone. But what is really interesting for branding is what is taking its place, Nick Wreden writes in Branding Asia:

The signs of “positioning’s” demise are everywhere. The number of branding failures, many based on “positioning,” exceeds 90%, according to the consultancies Ernst & Young and McKinsey & Co. McDonald’s, the premier mass market branding giant, announced that it has abandoned positioning. Says Larry Light, McDonald’s chief global marketing officer: “Identifying one brand position, communicating it in a repetitive manner is old-fashioned, out of date, out of touch.” Even more bluntly, Light highlights “the end of brand positioning as we know it,” calling it “marketing suicide.” Even a top executive at advertising giant Leo Burnett is willing to stand before his CEO peers and admit, “the old ways of marketing are not working any more.”

Branding Asia

Article categories: Branding