Say “Volvo” to a room full of people and ask for the first word that comes to mind. Most will say the same thing: safety.
That didn’t happen by accident. In 1959, a Volvo engineer named Nils Bohlin designed the three-point seatbelt, the one almost every car uses today. Volvo left the patent open so any carmaker could use it. For decades after, nearly every Volvo ad told one story: this car protects the people inside it.
Other carmakers sold speed, luxury and style. Volvo sold one word, and it still owns it.
What’s going on
This is positioning: the place your product holds in a customer’s mind, compared with the alternatives. Al Ries and Jack Trout made the idea famous in their 1981 book Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind. Their insight was simple. Customers don’t compare products on a spec sheet. They file them away in their heads, usually under a single idea.
The battle isn’t fought in the shop. It’s fought in memory.
Think of a full car park
The customer’s mind is a crowded car park. “Safest car” is taken. “Cheapest phone” is taken. Circling the spot someone else already holds is a waste of fuel.
Good positioning is finding an empty spot, or painting new lines so a new one appears.
A famous example
In 1962, Avis was the second-biggest car rental company in America, far behind Hertz. Instead of pretending otherwise, its ads said: “We’re number two. We try harder.”
Being second became the reason to choose them. Smaller company, hungrier staff, cleaner cars. Avis didn’t fight for Hertz’s spot. It created its own.
Where you’ll spot it
- Fevicol sells glue, but it really owns one idea: a bond that doesn’t break.
- Budget airlines don’t claim comfort. They claim the lowest fare, and they’re proud of it.
- Phone brands split the same market into camera phones, gaming phones, battery phones and “flagship killers”.
How to use it
Finish this sentence before you write a single ad:
For [who], we’re the [category] that [one thing], unlike [the alternative].
Then do the hard part: give things up. Positioning is as much about what you won’t be. A brand that tries to be safe and fast and cheap and stylish ends up meaning nothing in particular.
Pick one word. Earn it with everything you do. Repeat it until the customer says it before you do.
If you stand for everything, the customer remembers nothing.
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