Here’s an example from the Real Estate category for one of our clients.

Using the ‘Pepsi strategy against Coke’, we have used the principal of taking a leading competitor’s strength “Hardest working Real Estate Agent” by Hocking Stuart and developing a positioning statement that capitalizes on their weakness:

• Everyone knows that it’s not about working harder but SMARTER
• We all have the perception of Real Estate agents being ‘sharks’ who only care about their bottom line and have hence made the Bayview positioning statement all about the buyer – YOU!

The result was “Working Smarter – For You”

It is interesting to note that Hocking Stuart, the very firm that became the marketing thought leader in their field has since changed their positioning twice since I first wrote this and now has no slogan or positioning statement at all! Do they now think that they are all grown up and don’t need one? I wonder how this will effect them…only time will tell and unless something drastic happens only they will know! What I am confident about is that they would have been much better off by sticking to and reinforcing their original slogan “Hardest Working Real Estate Agent”. Their size in the market (number of franchises / outlets) together with their marketing budget would have ensured their prominence and top of mind awareness in the minds of their customers and prospects.

For in depth exploration of the laws and principles of Positioning in the marketplace, you can’t go past Al Ries – http://www.ries.com/.