Business Positioning Secret: Be Congruent

Posted by Sant Qiu in : Strategic Positioning & Branding on October 5, 2007 , trackback

Would you pay a Hugo Boss suit’s price to get a G2000 suit…?

I think it is a pretty common sense answer. Unfortunately, nowadays common sense is pretty uncommon; especially in business. In their bid to frantically create a meaningful difference for their businesses in a razor-sharp competitive market; many companies forget the most basic common sense such as: Congruency.

Congruency is not only critical to create and build a powerful positioning and brand, but without it your company is built on a wobbly foundation that can give way any second. Without it you are sabotaging your own business!

Here’s a powerful and clear example:
Recently I read in my national newspapers, the closure of a restaurant that had opened barely 10 months ago amidst much fanfare and a blitz of publicity. Überburger—whose claim to fame was its reputed USP of being “Singapore’s first gourmet burger restaurant”, was also featured in the media for its signature $101 prime wagyu beef burger. In fact, the $101 wagyu burger was part of their branding. Almost every time they were featured in the media, the $101 wagyu burger would be mentioned.

So in simple terms, their positioning is: “Singapore’s first gourmet burger restaurant”. And they have 2 distinct factors going for them namely:

1. The word “über” of überburger comes from the German language that means super. So their name essentially means superburger, which is supportive of their claim of a gourmet burger restaurant.

2. Their signature dish is a premium $101 wagyu burger. The extravagant price of the burger also supported the gourmet restaurant’s image.

BUT…

When you arrive at the place, you would be surrounded in what would seem to be a typical American diner filled with a big screen TV tuned to the ESPN channel, plastic chairs (even though they were designer plastic chairs, they didn’t look like it) and bright lights.

An absolutely jarring contradiction of the positioning they were trying to create! Shocking incongruity!

Do you expect to go to a “gourmet burger restaurant”, paying premium prices, expecting superburgers… only to sit on plastic chairs? You see, positioning and any other marketing activities are about the perception created in the minds of the prospects. Unfortunately, the décor as described above connotes “cheap”. Frankly, they also look uncomfortable to sit in.

A while ago, my wife asked me to try the place out after we finished a meeting nearby the restaurant. We walked passed the place and saw the interior from the outside, and I decided to go elsewhere. I remembered thinking that some of favorite casual dining restaurants seemed like a much better place to dine. In fact, one diner who ate at Überburger once even commented that the place was like an “American diner” instead of a gourmet burger place.

Perception is an extremely powerful force. Generally, if it is expensive, we will expect it to be exclusive, luxurious, comfortable, great-looking and all the other characteristics attached to luxury. Consumers nowadays think nothing of digging into their deep pockets to patronize high-end places like these and enjoy the experience of tasting gourmet food. The question is…

Do they want to? If they do, they will be expecting to be pampered. And that is just plain common sense, isn’t it?

Let me ask you again:
Would you be willing to pay a Lamborghini’s price for a Nissan?

The answer is pretty obvious.

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